iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Chris Barnes @leodensian.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

Is there a good Parkway station. Because, lads, Bristol Parkway ain't it...

Chris Barnes @leodensian.bsky.social · 23/06/2025

London, where there is zero investment in infrastructure. Nothing new ever gets built. All the money going to the provinces, again...

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Chris Barnes @leodensian.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

Me, ranting at clouds: "Just put a tram down the A65 all the way to Guiseley, you cowards!"

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Chris Barnes @leodensian.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

Leeds getting a tram is still, despite the announcements, very much in my "I'll believe it when I see it" bucket. It's only been my entire life waiting. Only have to wait till 2028 to get spades in the ground. Absolutely no chance of it all going wrong before then.

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Chris Barnes @leodensian.bsky.social · 02/06/2025

Restating my "National Highways should just do all roads" opinion as local highways works are, by necessity, way down the list for a lot of LAs (and will only become more pronounced).

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Chris Barnes @leodensian.bsky.social · 30/05/2025

I joke, but if anyone on here is going to the data Community Connect North session in Manchester on Monday, give me a shout. Would be ace to meet some fellow northerners in similar roles.

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Chris Barnes @leodensian.bsky.social · 30/05/2025

Looking forward to getting out and about next week, for the first time in ages. Manchester, Nottingham, Coventry! The excitement knows no bounds... What joys do TransPennine, Northern and CrossCountry have in store for me? I am, almost, too excited for words. #CivilServiceLife

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Owen Boswarva @owenboswarva.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

Anonymised MOT tests and results www.data.gov.uk/dataset/c63f... annual release of a big useful dataset from the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (Great Britain) Data for earlier years from DfT www.data.gov.uk/dataset/e393... #transportdata #opendata

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James O'Malley @jamesomalley.co.uk · 22/05/2025

In this piece, I actually reveal some of the intriguing political shenanigans that happened behind the scenes when the new government came in, which might of interest to political people. But of course I framed the piece around the MUCH MORE EXCITING car park data platform.

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Rachel Coldicutt @rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social · 21/05/2025

We're getting used to cyber attacks that cause massive service outages, assuming every unknown number is a scam, not being able to tell what's real from a deep fake. We're walking through a digital junkyard in which nothing really does what it's meant to do, but sure, AI can make Jesus ride a prawn

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Chris Barnes @leodensian.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

Very interesting point. Safety, obviously. As long as they are demonstrably safer than today. Another q: What level of safety are we prepared to accept from AVs? How many fatalities will cause the end of the experiment? Probably very few. When we accept ~1600 deaths a year on the roads?

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Chris Barnes @leodensian.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

Exhibit 106 in the series "Dutch cannot possibly be a real language"

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Chris Barnes @leodensian.bsky.social · 18/03/2025

Urgh, the mobile version of Teams is the worst. Get a notification of a message so open the app... Hey, Teams, where's my chat? Teams: Lol, no chat for you.

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Michael Savage @michaelsavage.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

NEW: Peter Kyle has had his ChatGPT prompts released under FOI. An unprecedented move, secured by @stokel.bsky.social. What does it mean? Google searches next - and some sweaty palms in Whitehall… My analysis of a rare FOI win: www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

theguardian.com

Release of technology secretary’s use of ChatGPT will have Whitehall sweating

Use of Freedom of Information Act to reveal Peter Kyle’s ChatGPT queries has shocked experts and left journalists wondering what to request next

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Chris Barnes @leodensian.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

Haha, this is brilliant. I mean, why wouldn't they be releasable? But also, yikes!

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Chris Barnes @leodensian.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

My train from New Street is delayed by 32 minutes meaning I've been on the platform for almost 45. My life expectancy is now two years shorter from all the fumes.

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Chris Barnes @leodensian.bsky.social · 10/03/2025

I've often suspected these fesses are fake, and this confirms it. Why would anyone willingly take a train via Castleford (full stop), especially when there are other Northern trains that are, at least, 25 minutes quicker?

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Chris Barnes @leodensian.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

"including the £4.1m cost of hiring and then dismissing former sporting director Dan Ashworth within five months." Yikes. That is mental.

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Chris Barnes @leodensian.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

Huh? Still a bit of time before GenAI makes us all redundant...

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Chris Barnes @leodensian.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

Very "Lionel Hutz" feel to this Northern notice...

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James O'Malley @jamesomalley.co.uk · 28/01/2025

This should be released for free as open data.

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Chris Barnes @leodensian.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

I can believe this. Same with wages chat. I get lots of responses to job adverts which often fall down at the offer stage.

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Chris Barnes @leodensian.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

Oh wow. Southampton really Leeds'ed it.

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Paul Connell @paulcconnell.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

Data & AI Jobs in Leeds!

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Paul Connell @paulcconnell.bsky.social · 15/01/2025

Tracking the Buses in England by @OpenInnovates open-innovations.org/blog/2025-01... We've got data for everywhere -2 weeks in September 2024- but the tool only works for The North West and Yorkshire & The Humber - hit us up if you want to do more with this data, infrastructure & tools.

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Stephen Frost @sfrost.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

Interesting insights from this survey in Leeds. Topping the list of journeys people would find hard without a car are orbital ones: “Radial journeys in and out of the city centre are easy. Anything vaguely circumferential is impossible unless you go into the city and out again.” Same in Bristol.

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Chris Barnes @leodensian.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

And this is my fear, that many in the public sector will neglect investing in the foundations and leap straight to implementation. You need good data and good governance (as well as good security) to make best use of AI. These things take time, and they need investment.

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Chris Barnes @leodensian.bsky.social · 12/01/2025

Sooooooo many hours playing this game. One of the best soundtracks ever.

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Jonn Elledge @jonnelledge.bsky.social · 09/01/2025

The biggest question raised here must be: who on earth is choosing to drive in London, the city with by far the best public transport system in Britain? me in the Guardian on the most congested city in Europe, apparently

theguardian.com

London has a congestion charge – and traffic in gridlock. We need other ways to end the obsession with cars | Jonn Elledge

The charge was seen as draconian, but new thinking is now essential. Look to the cities trying a range of bold ideas, says author Jonn Elledge

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Chris Barnes @leodensian.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

Is open data dead? TfL were the bastion, the exemplar, for open data. Is that over now?

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Chris Barnes @leodensian.bsky.social · 07/01/2025

One good thing about being a civil servant is that you can see what your equivalent armed forces rank would be. I think I'm going to start referring to myself as a Group Captain.

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Chris Barnes @leodensian.bsky.social · 06/01/2025

New Year, New You?? I'm hiring for a Senior Data Architect to work with me at DVSA. Help me to deliver an ambitious data strategy which invests in good foundations whilst getting the Agency ready for the future with whatever autonomous vehicles and AI can throw at us.

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Chris Barnes @leodensian.bsky.social · 05/01/2025

The key to winning any war is preparation...

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Chris Barnes @leodensian.bsky.social · 31/12/2024

FOI releases from 2003/4! Bahaha... Please excuse me whose I go crumble into dust.

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 30/12/2024

The full-time minimum wage from April is about £24,000 a year. This is absolutely a good thing. But I suspect that's going to start to cause some real ructions in badly-paid 'skilled' and 'professional' jobs – not least journalism, where early career jobs paying under £30k are *still* common.

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Chris Barnes @leodensian.bsky.social · 30/12/2024

Was in Bridlington for the weekend. Would be so much better if it was better served by trains. 2 hours to get to either York or Sheffield?? Leeds to Scarborough - 1 hr 18! Part of the reason Scarborough gets twice the number of tourists?

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Chris Barnes @leodensian.bsky.social · 29/12/2024

In Bridlington for the weekend which reminds me that the only acceptable donuts come from the coast!

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Chris Barnes @leodensian.bsky.social · 26/12/2024

This. But not just London. I guess a lot of people don't understand that Brits set themselves down somewhere for Christmas and don't really move. As Jonny also says, definitely a cultural thing for as few people as possible to work so a full service isn't really necessary.

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Chris Barnes @leodensian.bsky.social · 24/12/2024

The kids are asleep and I have just demolished a large plate of delice de Bourgogne and some rillettes. Merry (almost) Christmas!

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Chris Barnes @leodensian.bsky.social · 21/12/2024

This implies the existence of Aldi-style knock offs... Valiantor? Courageoun?

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Chris Barnes @leodensian.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

That looks like it's going to encourage vehicles to get right up to the give way line and across the crossing... Hopefully the trials show these new style junctions are no less safe.

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Chris Barnes @leodensian.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

My Dad's firm did the accounts for Sam Smiths. He told us some great stories about the weird and wonderful things Humphrey would get up to.

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Chris Barnes @leodensian.bsky.social · 19/12/2024

Always amuses me that the discussion around HS2 is around "blight on the landscape". This is my view from our office window - the main line from Leeds taking trains to York, Newcastle and Edinburgh... You can barely see it! Far less obtrusive than the bit of city centre loop...

A photo showing the railway line from Leeds towards York and the Leeds city centre loop road.

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Chris Barnes @leodensian.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

Really good post and use of the data. Nice to have so many options etc etc grumble grumble

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Chris Barnes @leodensian.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

Fantastic bin chat. Leeds has just (in August) allowed glass to go in our recycling bins. Revolutionary - no more walk of shame! Still have no food waste collection though so it all goes in general waste. So, yes, more bins council? Or should Westminster decide what we do?

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Chris Barnes @leodensian.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

The problem is, as with many car related things, the sell. #waronmotorists

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