iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Patrick Thomson @patrickjthomson.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Lithuania? GDP growth and population decline?

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Patrick Thomson @patrickjthomson.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Inset Day but the thirst for learning never ends!

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Patrick Thomson @patrickjthomson.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

First week back at school successfully completed! -Children: 3 -Water bottles: 3 -Water bottles lost: 4* Mission Accomplished! *bottle found and "re-lost"

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Patrick Thomson @patrickjthomson.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

And you can see the immediate impacts of having a basic income for everyone above that age Are people ready for a State Pension age of 67? share.google/bYT2L25i6Z14...

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Patrick Thomson @patrickjthomson.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Excellent piece from @stephenkb.bsky.social The real world UBI that most people in the UK get on reaching a certain age - the State Pension Revealing when you consider the reasons people give for working just below and above the State Pension age www.ft.com/content/337b...

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Patrick Thomson @patrickjthomson.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Cursed headline. Finger closes on the monkey paw as the country enters 6 months of rain from September

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Patrick Thomson @patrickjthomson.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Also handy to share as an attachment with your kids on their 18th birthday. So they'll think twice about screening your calls going into adulthood. 'Oh those little 10,000 hours I cared for you before you were sentient? Twas nothing...'

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Patrick Thomson @patrickjthomson.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Me trying to downplay the size of my emergency by putting on a whimsical French accent:

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Patrick Thomson @patrickjthomson.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Amazing. Normally they stop working when you leave Zone 3

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Patrick Thomson @patrickjthomson.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

Little set of micro screwdrivers from W Germany, many of the things I unscrew would have been utter Sci Fi when they were made On the other hand - often walk around where I live and almost everything man made (other than canal infrastructure) in every direction has been built in last 15 years old

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Patrick Thomson @patrickjthomson.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

I remember telling my 96 year old Great Aunt that I was working for the organising committee of the London 2012 Games "Extraordinary, a boy like you?" I was 28

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Patrick Thomson @patrickjthomson.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

Ah that's good, and sorry didn't mean to detract from anything. Was just thinking these are difficult things to measure sometimes. Great report!

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Patrick Thomson @patrickjthomson.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

Important topic well done, personally see Breakfast Club expansion has made a difference One thought methodologically- families change and grow rapidly. Parents reflecting back 5 years - children were much smaller/ate less, hadn't been born, didnt have a sibling etc But no criticism of paper!

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Patrick Thomson @patrickjthomson.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

Yes that is very true, you are right. We really struggled to think of the best question we could set to try to compare it in a simple way. So some of it was the limits of getting some result in a general population survey. So do treat this as indicative!

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Patrick Thomson @patrickjthomson.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

Interesting as well when you compare with what people think contributes to their pension wealth...

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Patrick Thomson @patrickjthomson.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

The Commison also reference our work on how people are making these big, life-changing decisions on entering retirement, having been on a default system when saving. Complex decisions alongside divorce, bereavement, and other big life changes share.google/fe4RGBkVNMKB...

share.google

Decisions in the dark: How the DC pioneer generation are navigating retirement income decisions

Retirement in the UK is changing. The shift from Defined Benefit (DB) to Defined Contribution (DC) pensions, combined with pension freedoms, longer working lives and a rising state pension age, means ...

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Patrick Thomson @patrickjthomson.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

We've modeled the 2040s being the peak years when undersavers will hit retirement. And many in Gen X will receive a 'pension shock' before then. Question is - how will they react when they do Are Generation X in for a pension shock? share.google/kqbDHSFmykhI...

share.google

Are Generation X in for a pension shock?

As a think tank focused on the future of retirement, we want to see more people have financial security and a decent standard of living in their later lives.<br/>However, many people in Generation X (...

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Patrick Thomson @patrickjthomson.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

The Commission used some of our research - 3 in 5 Gen Z and half of Millenials think being auto-enrolled means they are saving enough for retirement. For many on the minimum rates that will not be the case share.google/HR4dudM2keHa...

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Patrick Thomson @patrickjthomson.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

Could be! Although for the economic one, having the right on the right does seem fair enough

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Patrick Thomson @patrickjthomson.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

In the analytical team at DWP we put this out as a data viz in December of 2010 or so, as a 'fun' press release to help people think about longevity. I remember it being one of the most downloaded government web pages during that Christmas period. Make of that what you will...

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Reposted by Patrick Thomson

David Sinclair @sinclairda.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

The question this King’s Speech poses – even if it does not intend to – is whether governments are capable of thinking in the long-term demographic timescales that the challenge demands. The answer, on today’s evidence, is: not yet. ilcuk.org.uk/the-kings-sp...

ilcuk.org.uk

The King's Speech 2026: does the government understand demographic change? - ILCUK

The word "ageing" does not appear once in today's King's Speech briefing notes – yet demographic change is the single most predictable force reshaping Britain's public services, economy and society ov...

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Patrick Thomson @patrickjthomson.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

Worryingly accurate reflection on today's intergenerational situation

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Patrick Thomson @patrickjthomson.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

I had been seeing lots of chat about DWP2 being out at the cinema. Ashamed my first thoughts were - do I need to watch the first one? or is it mostly just the origin story of how they merged the DSS and the Employment Service

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Patrick Thomson @patrickjthomson.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

At least giving people the option to refuse to go along with it all next Wednesday is somewhat liberating

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Patrick Thomson @patrickjthomson.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

Both in terms of risk taking behaviour and embedded tacit knowledge that comes with age and length of tenure

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Patrick Thomson @patrickjthomson.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

A related factor but I wonder how this interacts with workforce age as well

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Patrick Thomson @patrickjthomson.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

If things are properly functioning from a life course perspective, you would expect and hope for people's peak point of wealth and assets to be the day they retire. It's a good thing people are relatively wealthy when they reach retirement

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Patrick Thomson @patrickjthomson.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

Here we have a rare Question To Which The Answer Is Yes: Are Generation X in for a pension shock? share.google/uEcac5rwbcWa... Half of Gen X on track for inadequate retirements and one in 7 have no other way out

share.google

Are Generation X in for a pension shock?

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Patrick Thomson @patrickjthomson.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

It's a bitter pill to swallow but it's the truth

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Reposted by Patrick Thomson

Helen McCarthy @historianhelen.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

A graphic from a 1953 government booklet exhorting employers to retain their older employees lest too many of the economically inactive become 'carried' by the producers.

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Patrick Thomson @patrickjthomson.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

While other metro systems have big trains, they just have these special Lille trains

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Reposted by Patrick Thomson

Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

If I were a government minister and I had a magic wand, I think 'make people more aware of pensions and how they work' is the thing that solves so many political problems.

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Reposted by Patrick Thomson

Andrew Phillips @andrewphillips.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

This week, the State Pension age started to rise from 66 to 67. Our new research with people in their 60s shows that most people know about this change. However, our research also highlights the issue of pre-retirement poverty among people aged 60 to 65. www.standardlife.co.uk/centre-for-t...

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Patrick Thomson @patrickjthomson.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

Home Alone Home Alone 2: Lost in New York ...

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Patrick Thomson @patrickjthomson.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

I'm going down the route of just lying to mine. They'll be disappointed when they turn 18 and find out I was lying about setting one up but we'll deal with that when we get there

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Patrick Thomson @patrickjthomson.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

Things could be worse. Just saw a dad frantically on the phone, with a kid in *FULL DINOSAUR COSTUME* at the school gates who had turned up for World Book Day a week early...

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Patrick Thomson @patrickjthomson.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

Ooh - handy list of PRACTICAL TIPS FOR WORKING PARENTS for anyone after some childcare hacks for the "summer childcare crunch" Not sure why I hadn't thought of...*checks notes*... the Ritz-Carlton, Gleneagles, Southern California or one in Fiji who actually 'get' what parents need lnkd.in/eRSJVrUN

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Patrick Thomson @patrickjthomson.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

Our research and views from few years ago still relevant library.standardlife.co.uk/Reaching-a-c...

library.standardlife.co.uk

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Patrick Thomson @patrickjthomson.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

3) social status and identity derived from work for some (evidence shows *men*) who struggle with cliff edge retirement. Lose identity, don't form new social bonds, "A two week holiday and then... the rest of your life...") means planning for this lifestage need to go beyond do I have enough money?

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Patrick Thomson @patrickjthomson.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

Agree with the piece We can learn a lot about 1) what value people get from work beyond money (from pensioners who continue to work beyond neccesity) 2) the economic essentialness of unpaid work (volunteering/caring from pensioners)...

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Patrick Thomson @patrickjthomson.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

100 years ago old age was a very good proxy for need for income replacement and reduced ability to work If you were designing a UBI system today would you target it exclusively based on 'reaching a certain age' when the association with inability to work and lack of other income is weaker?

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Patrick Thomson @patrickjthomson.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

Be interesting to see if as many would agree 'one age group in society should receive a UBI'?

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Patrick Thomson @patrickjthomson.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

This is the right framing and question. We can learn a lot about the real world experiment of UBI in a socially/politically acceptable packaging (the State Pension) Most agree the State Pension is there to ensure everyone has a minimum level of income in retirement.

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Reposted by Patrick Thomson

Andrew Phillips @andrewphillips.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

New research from us at the Standard Life Centre for the Future of Retirement: "Decisions in the dark: How the DC pioneer generation are navigating retirement income decisions" Report explores the psychology and emotions of accessing DC pension pots. www.standardlife.co.uk/centre-for-t...

standardlife.co.uk

Decisions in the dark: How the DC pioneer generation are navigating retirement income decisions

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