iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

John Hannen @jhannen.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

This seems to be an admission that the investments wouldn't be justified on the basis of financial return alone - they expect a political return. Which raises questions about local growth strategies

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John Hannen @jhannen.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

It'd help if these private conversations were also held with the public. Same for social care tbh. Public consent is a critical component of state capacity and there needs to be credible people and organisations outside of parliament involved for a contentious change to become politically viable

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John Hannen @jhannen.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

and being active by walking/cycling in your neighbourhood is big for social cohesion as well - being visible in a place and having other people visible to you really reduces the risks of isolation whether you speak to anyone you see or not a sense of familiarity is the foundation of civic life

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Reposted by John Hannen

Jon Dean @jondeanstuff.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Last week, at the UK volunteering conference, my colleague Jurgen Grotz said he felt it was no longer safe to volunteer in the UK. That no one would protect you. We now have far right thugs trying to drown RNLI volunteers at sea. What the fuck are we doing?

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Reposted by John Hannen

Dreadnought Holiday @dreadships.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Deeply upset with @wellcomecollection.bsky.social including AI "artwork" in their latest exhibition. This is "artwork" based on theft, and cheapens the work of every other artist contributing to the exhibition - I'm so angry I can't actually engage with the rest of it.

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John Hannen @jhannen.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

The problem with this kind of initiative is that universities can't create placements - only employers can and the placement has to work for them Not impossible to do but needs a good understanding of relevant employers, what they would gain and what barriers they face www.ft.com/content/1e9d...

ft.com

UK universities pledge work experience to more than 1mn students

Initiative comes amid growing concern among employers about young people’s readiness for workplace

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John Hannen @jhannen.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Uh oh. Something odd happening with the sun. Hope it's not the jaguar god Tepēyōllōtl trying to consume it

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Reposted by John Hannen

Leonardo Carella @leonardocarella.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

If you give the vigilante mob what they want - nodding and agreeing as you understand their "legitimate concerns" - what you get is more vigilante mobs. www.bbc.com/news/article...

bbc.com

Further arrests in Thetford as disorder continues for third night

The arrests follow disorder linked to anti-immigration protests in the Norfolk market town.

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John Hannen @jhannen.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

not just a London story - a lot of health services in the last 5 years have been unsustainably funded through deficits and that has to end at some point not a lot of slack for immediate savings to be made to fund social care and other wellbeing priorities www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

theguardian.com

NHS mental health trust plans £25m in cuts to jobs and services

Body providing care in east London and Bedfordshire accused of ‘unfathomable and unacceptable’ move

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John Hannen @jhannen.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

"the new Mayor will face a much tougher task, presiding over a politically balkanised combined authority where opposition parties with wildly different agendas wield power in the boroughs." yeah - I don't think many institutions are ready for this kind of political change - it's coming though

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Reposted by John Hannen

Manchester Community Central @mcrcommcentral.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Greater Manchester's Mayoral candidates are taking questions from the VCFSE sector and sharing their vision for tackling inequality, empowering communities and shaping the future of our city-region. 🎥 Live on YouTube at 6:45pm today: ow.ly/ikvv50ZogGY

ow.ly

GM Mayoral Election Hustings for the Voluntary, Community, Faith, & Social Enterprise (VCFSE) Sector

How will the next Greater Manchester Metro Mayor work with the VCFSE sector?

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John Hannen @jhannen.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

the north, south and midlands are overlapping concepts that resist being mapped. Drawing lines on maps and using them to define cultural boundaries is a mug's game. But some people do like the attention that comes with a bit of kayfabe

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John Hannen @jhannen.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

the gap between families is larger than the gap between generations

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John Hannen @jhannen.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Date Yourself with a snap of your first ever computer.

a picture of an old box for a Dragon 32 microcomputer

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John Hannen @jhannen.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

The green man changes too quickly on pedestrian crossings. This local tree was never going to get across in time

a large, fallen tree branch lies across a pedestrian crossing in front of a small supermarket

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John Hannen @jhannen.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

I hate terms like "working people" when used in this way. Pretty much meaningless. My landlord works (sometimes) but he makes money from rents and I make mine from labour. We have different interests

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John Hannen @jhannen.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Is there really $3tn+ available for misallocation in the economy right now? I've a horrible feeling that the answer is "there always is"

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Reposted by John Hannen

Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

There is no safe age to be exposed to unending footage of atrocities, pro-anorexia content, or images of child sexual abuse:

ft.com

Perhaps we should all be banned from social media

Focusing only on under-16s obscures the lack of internet safeguards for everyone else

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John Hannen @jhannen.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

a problem with attempts to find a narrative for Burnham's time as mayor is that reality doesn't neatly conform to narrative structures Working with GMCA before and during his time I think it's more useful to look at each manifesto as a separate period, as he and the LAs have adjusted to each other

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John Hannen @jhannen.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

2nd city discourse is only marginally less annoying than food discourse. But I guess it's not hard to have an opinion about it, not matter how meaningless a term. Mine is that only one of these candidates has nationally significant cultural institutions - but from a nation most surveyed don't get

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John Hannen @jhannen.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

I remember during the pandemic where some people couldn't use emergency food deliveries because the "essential" goods chosen weren't essential to them. There are lots of cultural and health issues that shape what we eat Better to just increase benefits www.theguardian.com/business/202...

theguardian.com

UK supermarkets urged to consider voluntary price caps on essential foods

Retail sources rebuff government proposal as ‘unjustified’ and likely to push costs up across board

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John Hannen @jhannen.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

It's good that Milburn is expected to highlight the restrictions on Further Education funding. Without action colleges are expected to be turning away 1000s of young people in the Autumn. And we wonder why NEET numbers are high www.ft.com/content/c8f7...

ft.com

Too many young people pushed towards university, says UK government adviser

Former cabinet minister Alan Milburn to call for more funding for technical and vocational courses

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John Hannen @jhannen.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

This is a good overview of the situation for labour in the context of the by-election But I'd add that the campaign Burnham runs here could well shape his leadership bid. The views of people in Makerfield could be quite consequential www.ft.com/content/d1b1...

ft.com

No good outcomes for Starmer

Andy Burnham’s entrance into the Labour leadership race has left Keir Starmer in a lose-lose-lose position

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John Hannen @jhannen.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

the news is just getting worse for Starmer

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John Hannen @jhannen.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

I do not support the building of offshore wind turbines in Manchester. I'm also not massively convinced about hydroelectric dams

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John Hannen @jhannen.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

that's quite a large "screw the lot of you" vote in second place - appreciate though that the incumbent resigned last November and was linked to the infamous WhatsApp group

Election results for Denton South, showing Reform UK win. Candidate Audra Murray (Reform UK) elected with 1,732 votes (52.6%). Other candidates listed with vote counts and percentages: Lord Febrezeo Quinnoa-Stakebake (The Official Monster Raving Loony Party) 692 (21.0%), Peter James Cotton (Conservative) 606 (18.4%), Alexander Culbert (Labour) 217 (6.6%), and Jackie Olden (Green Party) 48 (1.5%).

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John Hannen @jhannen.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

anecdotally this is not a post austerity problem. Maternity care has been failing in some areas for decades - although it may be more widespread now

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John Hannen @jhannen.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

Amazing how AI is improving productivity Just throwing sand in the gears everywhere

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John Hannen @jhannen.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

And not just long covid as a condition itself - the lockdowns saw a lot of physical deconditioning of people in mid-to-later life which didn't just go away when things re-opened. These will have had long term impacts both on health and the ability to maintain employment www.ft.com/content/de44...

ft.com

Long Covid to cost OECD economies up to $135bn a year

New research predicts impact of lower productivity and workers quitting because of long-term illness after Covid-19

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John Hannen @jhannen.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

oh great - today's the day where news includes hackneyed made up nonsense.

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John Hannen @jhannen.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

if you see this, post a concert photo you took

A live band performs on a stage bathed in red light, with four musicians playing guitars and drums.

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John Hannen @jhannen.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

"Gulf states account for 49 per cent of globally traded urea and 30 per cent of ammonia, perishable contributors to the nitrogen cycle that makes high-yield agriculture possible" may be worth taking a moment to look beyond oil prices and look at food shortages www.ft.com/content/c139...

ft.com

Hormuz fertiliser block will upend world’s food production

Any ceasefire negotiations must include a humanitarian carve-out for such shipments

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John Hannen @jhannen.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

RIP Len Deighton - had a check and the only physical copy of one of his books that I still have is perhaps one of his least well known

A book: Len Deighton's French Cooking for Men

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John Hannen @jhannen.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

I'm in the 2% In the British Isles I think you end up with more realistic expectations of weather if you recognise that May is in Summer, August in Autumn, November is in Winter and oh, doesn't Spring come early these days

Table detailing the Irish seasons, their start and end dates: Winter begins November 1st, Spring on February 1st, Summer on May 1st, and Autumn on August 1st.

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John Hannen @jhannen.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

It's a disgrace they've referred to this animal as a sly fox without any reference to it going all the way

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John Hannen @jhannen.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

my "niche yellow powder" of choice is hing - and since Iran is the world's second largest exporter of that I have additional concerns

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John Hannen @jhannen.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

this is really good but primarily focuses on the impact on insurance coverage from climate. Throw in population ageing & geopolitical fractures and the whole thing looks even shakier. Our models of society and economy aren't built for this and won't survive as they are aeon.co/essays/how-d...

aeon.co

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John Hannen @jhannen.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

this is so dumb govt won't confirm investment figures tech firms have produced. Tech firms won't confirm job figures govt has produced. but it's all the standard industry approach ofc www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

theguardian.com

Revealed: UK’s multibillion AI drive is built on ‘phantom investments’

Exclusive: Rented datacentres and unrealised supercomputer site raise questions for Starmer’s push to ‘mainline AI into veins of economy’

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John Hannen @jhannen.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

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John Hannen @jhannen.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

Whether this succeeds depends on the ability of local economies to create good, accessible work At the moment there's a reduction in hiring, a lack of entry level jobs and work is becoming more intense for those in employment www.ft.com/content/6943...

ft.com

NHS in England to be set targets on getting people back to work

Ministers also planning to link patient data to benefit claims and employment statistics

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John Hannen @jhannen.bsky.social · 17/02/2026

Ever get the feeling that you've been cheated?

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John Hannen @jhannen.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

The Schweine Museum in Stuttgart - a giant golden pig (might just fit in my living room if I move the table - a good conversation piece and I wouldn't be paranoid about damaging it)

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John Hannen @jhannen.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

where algorithmic tools can work it's clear that management needs to adapt to ensure they're used well - workers can feel empowered to take on new tasks in areas they're not expert in and that has knock on effects - and risks!

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