iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Harry Metcalfe

Lana Harper @lanawrites.co.uk · 12/07/2026

Published my first Substack post in six months - it's about losing and regaining momentum with your writing and, as the title suggests, telling people the difficult life shit that gets in the way #amwriting #writingcommunity #writerssky open.substack.com/pub/lanaharp...

open.substack.com

On making the deeply personal public

Yep, I'm gonna do it here, strap in

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Harry Metcalfe @harrym.com · 13/05/2026

When will this totally mad nonsense end? I mean _really_. www.owenboswarva.com/blog/post-ad...

owenboswarva.com

Owen Boswarva's blog

This is Owen Boswarva's blog.

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Harry Metcalfe @harrym.com · 08/05/2026

Amusing Claude Code phrase number 761: "permissive footgun". Indeed Claude, indeed. Naughty robot.

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Harry Metcalfe @harrym.com · 07/05/2026

[boomer-esque rant warning] There really is something about people outsourcing their responsibility to insurance companies "because of insurance reasons" that grinds my gears very loudly Don't blame the insurance monster, just own your decision

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Harry Metcalfe @harrym.com · 09/04/2026

Just watched two founders on a panel, both who sell services to the NHS, both just answered a question about how to sell into the NHS by saying that it's too hard, and they shouldn't try. "Choose another vertical", one said. This makes me sad. If worked in the NHS it would be make me very sad.

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Harry Metcalfe @harrym.com · 06/03/2026

New writing! On finding meaning in work, and the effect AI will have on that, and what to do about it. blog.harrym.com/p/the-specta...

blog.harrym.com

The spectator at the desk

On the troubling emptiness of extraordinary productivity

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Reposted by Harry Metcalfe

Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

More pondering on AI as I wrangle with what it means for public servants... Here's where I've got to so far: There is a useful path to take between hype and doom. It's time to keep experimenting and learning as nobody knows what the future will bring. jasonkitcat.com/2026/03/02/s...

jasonkitcat.com

Some thoughts on AI

“Anyone who tries to tell us they know the future is simply trying to own it.” — Margaret Heffernan in her introduction to Uncharted Take a deep breath. Nobody knows what is going to happen with AI…

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Lana Harper @lanawrites.co.uk · 23/02/2026

A new post on something I've been wanting to talk about for a longgg time #writing open.substack.com/pub/lanaharp...

open.substack.com

Reason 4: Why haven’t you written that novel yet?

Virginia Woolf knew it: money, money, money

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Reposted by Harry Metcalfe

Tom Loosemore @tomski.com · 23/02/2026

Brilliant, geeky, healthy news... well done to @bengoldacre.bsky.social et al.

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Harry Metcalfe @harrym.com · 21/02/2026

How can it possibly be the case that a fresh Ubuntu install, in 2026, still doesn't understand what monitors I have and what resolutions they support? This was annoying and weird ten years ago

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Harry Metcalfe @harrym.com · 17/02/2026

The lack of coverage on this story is surprising, but ho hum. TL;DR: the medics who broke windows at JP Morgan as part of a climate protest, and who suffered a mistrial two years ago, have just been retried and found unanimously not guilty. thedoctor.bma.org.uk/articles/hea...

thedoctor.bma.org.uk

Doctors cleared of criminal damage

Six healthcare workers, including four doctors, say their climate activism has been vindicated after being found not guilty of criminal damage for breaking glass windows at the offices of JP Morgan th...

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Reposted by Harry Metcalfe

peterkwells @peterkwells.com · 15/02/2026

"The Ministry of Justice will deploy machine learning to identify at-risk children for early intervention and to help prevent them falling into a life of crime" <- focus on structures and causes, not individuals, and look deeper than just "data" [repeat forever] www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

thetimes.com

The machines that will predict the criminals of the future

The Ministry of Justice will deploy machine learning to identify at-risk children for early intervention and to help prevent them falling into a life of crime

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Reposted by Harry Metcalfe

Alex Hern @hern.bsky.social · 15/02/2026

I’m pretty confident in calling this fake. The user who posted it seems to be part of a substantial network of accounts with similar usernames all posting and commenting on each other’s content. Ironically it’s a great example of an AI agent making stuff up to tell you what you want to hear

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Harry Metcalfe @harrym.com · 14/02/2026

A certain campaign website launched last week was a bit security-broken, in a way that has wider lessons for AI-coded stuff. Writing 👇 blog.harrym.com/p/hold-the-s...

blog.harrym.com

Hold the security: a vibe-coding story

Vibe-coded doesn't mean vibe-secure, so we should try and stop the internet being full of even more broken things

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Reposted by Harry Metcalfe

The Empty City @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

NEW The High Court rules the proscription of Palestine Action was unlawful. What did the judgment say and not say, and what has changed and not changed. And what happens next. Quick explainer by me at @prospectmagazine.co.uk www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/th...

prospectmagazine.co.uk

The High Court rules the proscription of Palestine Action was unlawful. What next?

This is a big judgment. But not everything has changed

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Harry Metcalfe @harrym.com · 12/02/2026

👇Just an hour left to go on this! Go on and pop a quick response in before bed. Every little helps.

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Caroline Jarrett @cjforms.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

If you haven’t quite yet found the time to do this, please scrape together a few minutes this evening - the consultation closes just before midnight UK time. If time is tight, skip the 200-word open answers. Your votes on closed answers matter. www.gov.uk/government/c...

gov.uk

Earned settlement

The government is consulting on how the current settlement system should be reformed and how those reforms should be implemented.

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Harry Metcalfe @harrym.com · 12/02/2026

I've just responded to the Earned Settlement consultation. It closes tonight. The whole idea is dreadful but what stuck with me most is the gross arrogance of the whole exercise. A (cross) thread 🧵

gov.uk

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Simon Evans @drsimevans.carbonbrief.org · 12/02/2026

NEW ANALYSIS: China's CO2 has now been 'flat or falling' for 21 months * Down in 2025 * Still below Mar 2024 * Clean energy wave a key factor If this is China's peak (TBC) it's the climate story of the century so far… www.carbonbrief.org/...

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Harry Metcalfe @harrym.com · 06/02/2026

@garycp.bsky.social Hello, I notice that you were the first person to post about holdtheline.org.uk on here and Twitter, is it yours? If so please could you follow back for a DM?

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Harry Metcalfe @harrym.com · 31/01/2026

Fun new problems for 2026: Claude Code puts API keys in its plan, and then puts its plan on Github/Gist

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Harry Metcalfe @harrym.com · 24/01/2026

Rather gratifying, mid-debug on an annoying problem and having asked Claude Code "Is this just stupid Windows bollocks" when it replied "Yes, this is just stupid Windows bollocks" (I have learned my lesson and moved to Ubuntu)

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Harry Metcalfe @harrym.com · 16/01/2026

I hope all the UKGC26 folks have a great time tomorrow! I'll be looking out for the highlights

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Harry Metcalfe @harrym.com · 16/01/2026

Quietly amused that the Substack article reader pronounces Badenoch "Baddy-knock"

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Harry Metcalfe @harrym.com · 13/01/2026

New writing! On realism and antirealism and their mutual unhelpfulness open.substack.com/pub/harrymet...

open.substack.com

Realism, antirealism and the middle way

I'm calling it Demirealism, but that's mostly an in-joke

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Harry Metcalfe @harrym.com · 15/01/2026

Sorry to hear of Mark's passing 😔

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Harry Metcalfe @harrym.com · 13/01/2026

I don't think any TV people follow me except James, but if you're a TV person who isn't James, you should hire James and also watch his shows. He's rather good.

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Harry Metcalfe @harrym.com · 13/01/2026

New writing! On realism and antirealism and their mutual unhelpfulness open.substack.com/pub/harrymet...

open.substack.com

Realism, antirealism and the middle way

I'm calling it Demirealism, but that's mostly an in-joke

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Harry Metcalfe @harrym.com · 08/01/2026

AI code reviewer just told the other AI code reviewer, which is itself in another tab, that it was bikeshedding. Quietly amused

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Harry Metcalfe @harrym.com · 06/01/2026

Snow in N19! Which of course now means snowy hens 🐔🥰

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Reposted by Harry Metcalfe

Russell Garner @rgarner.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

Life is just one endless round of saying "both of those things can be true at once" and sobbing quietly into a beverage

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Reposted by Harry Metcalfe

The Empty City @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

Juries are not perfect. Many of the worst miscarriages of justice have followed jury trials. But the merit of juries is not so much the power they have, but the power they prevent others from having. They mean a judge cannot just nod-along with prosecution evidence and give a guilty verdict.

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Harry Metcalfe @harrym.com · 10/11/2025

1/ It's interesting, and I am fairly sure good, that the prompts for analysing consultation responses are open source github.com/i-dot-ai/the...

github.com

themefinder/src/themefinder/prompts at main · i-dot-ai/themefinder

A topic modelling Python package for analysing one-to-many question-answer data. - i-dot-ai/themefinder

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Harry Metcalfe @harrym.com · 21/10/2025

I blogged - about problems, answers, plans and the illusion of control open.substack.com/pub/harrymet...

open.substack.com

The Answer and The Plan

Problems, answers, planning, and the illusion of control

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Harry Metcalfe @harrym.com · 14/10/2025

Gosh. Someone working on One Login should reealllly take another look at these 👀 signin.account.gov.uk/terms-and-co...

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Harry Metcalfe @harrym.com · 29/09/2025

Life (and the school tea) finds a way

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Reposted by Harry Metcalfe

Jerry Fishenden @ntouk.bsky.social · 28/09/2025

Using AI to automate and accelerate what government currently does replicates the same mistaken approach as the “website government” mindset of the past three decades: it’s “faster horses” instead of improving how government — and democracy — works

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Harry Metcalfe @harrym.com · 25/09/2025

ICYMI: a post about the unintended effects of organisational policy and a different, values-based way of thinking about it harrymetcalfe.substack.com/p/all-policy...

harrymetcalfe.substack.com

All policy constrains good action, as well as bad

On bad days, perhaps it constrains good action rather more often

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Harry Metcalfe @harrym.com · 23/09/2025

New writing! I've posted on Substack about the limits of organisational policy and the importance of creative interpretation. blog.harrym.com/p/all-policy...

blog.harrym.com

All policy constrains good action, as well as bad

On bad days, perhaps it constrains good action rather more often

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Harry Metcalfe @harrym.com · 03/09/2025

I asked my podcast app to play episodes of More or Less and it decided to start right at the beginning and go through their (entire?) back catalogue. Which has been delightful. It's like visiting another, saner little universe with sensible problems and normal politics and hardly any fascists

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Harry Metcalfe @harrym.com · 31/07/2025

According to Yougov, 69% of people support the Online Safety Act's age verification, but only 24% of people think it'll actually work. Meaning a considerable group of people support it even though they don't think it will work. Which is a bit depressing, isn't it? yougov.co.uk/technology/a...

yougov.co.uk

How have Britons reacted to age verification? | YouGov

Most Britons support the new rules, even though only a small minority think they will be effective

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The Empty City @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

NEW What the Afghan ‘super-injunction’ tells us about the UK polity Parliament and regulators are shrugging off a decision that freed the government from accountability By me, (back) at @financialtimes.com www.ft.com/content/1f1c...

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Harry Metcalfe @harrym.com · 16/07/2025

This data breach is bad, but the existence of the app in the first place is even worse. Bleak.

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