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Stefan Czerniawski

@pubstr.at
978 followers 337 following 2K posts

Blogging less than the olden days. Still working to make public services better, now in healthcare regulation.

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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 29/09/2026
"Quite often the technology is simply the place where a much messier organisational problem has chosen to make itself visible." @sharonodea.com in characteristic top form on what ineffective search demonstrates about intranets and their organisations - much of which resonates much more widely
sharonodea.com
Intranet Findability: Why Employees Can’t Find Information
Better search won't fix an intranet nobody can find anything on. Here's why findability fails in complex organisations, and how to diagnose it with research, card sorting and tree testing.
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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 24/09/2026
Naive panaceas for fixing the state are frustrating not just for the reason @hetanshah.bsky.social gives, but because there is never any serious attempt to describe why things are as they are and what it would take to change them.
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Anthony Moser @anthonymoser.com · 21/09/2026
8. often, when people say LLMs "can do" something they mean LLMs can produce output that looks like the output of doing something 9. producing something that looks like the output of doing something is not the same thing as doing it
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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 19/09/2026
Good for the British Museum to be bringing the logistics of the battlefield to life and not just the fighting
A cafe display fridge with shelves of cardboard boxes printed with Bayeux Tapestry images containing 'kids meals'
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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 08/09/2026
The decades just rush by. There was a moment of optimism and possibility which #OneTeamGov embodied - still much needed, but feeling a bit more out of reach.
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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 03/09/2026
TfL uncharacteristically responsive to feedback
Arrivals sign on a crowded tube platform with a message "trains are not stopping at Pimlico"
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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 01/09/2026
A little gem for @paulclarke.com (via @diamondgeezer.bsky.social) "Unfortunately, there is incorrect signage in place where the image of the motorcycle has been omitted" tfl.gov.uk/corporate/tr...
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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 25/08/2026
Still not over Horizon, in so many creative ways: “He gave an account that he would go to a car park at Asda, and someone would give him a carrier bag full of cash, and he would then take it away, and then send them some crypto,” said Highway. “He didn’t feel that was suspicious. We did.”
theguardian.com
The other Post Office scandal: how organised crime launders money on the high street
The long read: Hundreds of millions of pounds of dirty money are being deposited at post offices every year. So why are the police reluctant to investigate the scale of the problem?
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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 24/08/2026
Somehow and very indirectly this reminds me of a long ago encounter. I was selling tickets for a student theatrical production. Cash or cheques accepted - there wasn't anything else.
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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 23/08/2026
Seventeen percussionists (and two more on timps) at tonight's prom for Varèse's Amériques. It was quite a ride. Is there anything else that comes close - or needs more still?
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Antonia Lloyd-Jones @antonialloydjones.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Please be sure not to overlook this superb, alarming book, finally published in its uncensored version in English translation by Sean Bye. www.theguardian.com/books/2026/a...
theguardian.com
Conversations with an Executioner: a chilling classic reveals the mind of a Nazi mass murderer
Nearly 50 years after it was published, a book written by a Polish war hero, outlining his dialogue with an SS general cellmate has finally been translated into English
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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 16/08/2026
The theme of the walk was aridity* *Not applicable to golf courses
A view from a hillside - the hill itself, normally green, is completely brown. Trees in the valley below make the more distant view appear more normal.A large complex fungus growns on a tree stump, with a line of blackberries beneath itDry brown grass in the foreground, turning bright green in the middle distance. A sand bunker and a small flag indicate an irrigated golf course.A path curves through woodland. A coal post [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal-tax_post] stands on the side of the path
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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 13/08/2026
"A world that keeps removing the unlikely also removes the things that could have become the next likely." - more great statistical thought provocation from @laurenleek.eu
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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 04/08/2026
The sale of indulgences may be keeping the NHS afloat
A direction sign in a hospital, with an arrow pointing to "Cashiers & Prayer Room"
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Rachel Coldicutt @rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
I really need someone to form a social movement standing up for people (me) who have used em dashes for decades and are also big fans of Emily Dickinson. No one really enjoys the appearance of a colon in a sentence and, to be clear, I do not care about the grammatical rules.
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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 30/07/2026
Describing this as merely having blogged rather undersells the breadth and depth of this grand tour of how government works and doesn't.
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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 21/07/2026
Here we go again
The Albert Hall, orchestra on stage, audience anticipating
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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 14/07/2026
Unsuitable for motor vehicles. For the avoidance of doubt.
An overgrown path disappears among trees. To the side a road sign, 'unsuitable for motor vehicles' - itself half covered in undergrowth.
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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 14/07/2026
Sheep delineate shadow
A single tree stands in a large field of yellowing grass. The shadow cast by the tree is densely packed with sheep. There are no sheep to be seen outside the shadow.
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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 13/07/2026
Out to dinner in the English countryside. Polish chef spots a Polish name on the order chit and adds a complimentary off-menu mizeria in a spirit of solidarity. Perfection achieved.
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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 12/07/2026
In pleasing coincidence, this quotation appeared moments after finishing @bluejo.eurosky.social's Everybody's Perfect, a beautifully written ode to the hazy rumour of the Serenissima, set in a world where the stones have yet to harden.
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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 17/06/2026
An anecdote told against Burnham, but which actually illustrates why the Treasury is such a defective organisation. (I have no idea whether he can or would make tough fiscal decisions, but this story tells us nothing either way)
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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 15/06/2026
Legislative minds assume too easily that legislation solves problems. Writing rules is easy (though writing good rules is very much harder); changing behaviour is hard. What the government needs but does not have (or show any understanding of needing) is a theory of change.
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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 13/06/2026
The northern line is experimenting with autonomous route creation. This is a southbound train with ideas of its own. As an opening move, Borough has been relocated to the Charing Cross branch. But wait for the punchline in the final seconds.
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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 10/06/2026
A great sub-thread by @cjforms.bsky.social (responding to an equally great post by @rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social) on how sorting out the easy but unglamorous stuff is essential but exposes the harder and even more important stuff behind.
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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 06/06/2026
The postman delivers a single CD in a ludicrously oversized box. Which suddenly makes sense when the box is opened - a page to disc ratio of 230:1 must surely be unbeatable
A CD cover face on looking perfectly normal (the CD is Polish Nostalgia played by Cyprien Katsaris)A CD cover edge on revealing it to be a fat hard cover book with the CD tucked in at the back
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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 05/06/2026
Thanks @jukes.ie - the only endorsement a job can ever need :-)
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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 05/06/2026
Help me find an outstanding Senior Digital Comms Manager - with a brief to build something new and exciting by helping an organisation shift on a generation in its understanding and approach. And getting to work with the incomparable @joannerewcastle.bsky.social - either of us happy to talk/DM
ce0668li.webitrent.com
ce0668li.webitrent.com
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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 02/06/2026
Tube strike with a twist - trains, but apparently not for passengers
A tube station departure board showing eight trains, but all are marked 'not in service'
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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 01/06/2026
Autobiographical memory is a deeply weird and very variable thing. This is a story of two brothers, one of whom seems so strange to me as to be almost inhuman (and it's not the one who wrote the story). (@neillyneil.bsky.social - you might find this interesting)
theamericanscholar.org
You Must Remember This - The American Scholar
On the nature of autobiographical memory
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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 01/06/2026
It is pretty obvious from the design of lasting power of attorney forms that they are set up for bulk scanning, as is entirely sensible. So to require six weeks just to open an envelope and drop the contents into a hopper is quite remarkable, and not in a wholly reassuring way.
A screenshot of a web page, which includes the text:

We're waiting to confirm receipt of this LPA
It will take up to 30 working days for us to add this LPA to our records and confirm we've received it. It will then take up to 8 weeks to process the LPA if there are no mistakes in the application.
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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 25/05/2026
Lasting Power of Attorney is an important and sensitive government service. Once the form has been filled in, it has to be sent off - to an address in Birmingham which Royal Mail doesn't believe exists. Hardly reassuring. #FixTheForms
A page of instructions for a form, including the address to send it toA screenshot from the Royal Mail showing a form to enter address details. The postcode from the LPA form has been entered, but no match has been found.
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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 25/05/2026
Albert aglow
The Albert Memorial in early morning sunshine, the golden figure silhouetted against a deep blue sky
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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 25/05/2026
Landscape with lime bike, Hyde Park
A large tree stands in parkland.  There is nobody to be seen, but under the tree, just catching the sun, stands a lime bike.
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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 18/05/2026
1455: email from TfL announcing that tube strikes this week are cancelled. Helpful. 1838: bus dot matrix display warns of impending tube strikes this week. Not helpful. Message consistency is a fine thing.
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Reposted by Stefan Czerniawski
David Durant @bowsy.co.uk · 18/05/2026
I've been involved with government transformation efforts for 15 years and, like many other veterans of this kind of work, have come to the conclusion that fixing the majority of the most important issues in government can't be done without a fundamental change in how government is structured.
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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 12/05/2026
Hammersmith, Albert, now Vauxhall. The secret plan to revive the fortunes of Thames watermen gathers pace.
tfl.gov.uk
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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 09/05/2026
The root cause of many government problems is that the government does not exist. Sometimes the polite fiction holds up, and sometimes the seething mess is laid bare. The question of why a login service requires 1700 words of Ts&Cs we can leave for another time.
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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 08/05/2026
Lambeth announces its results with characteristic branding panache
A screenshot showing early election results. At the top of the page there is a banner with the text, "This is a default template, your custom branding appears to be missing."
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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 03/05/2026
An election leaflet drops through the letterbox - one of many, this is the most intensively leafletted election I can remember. But I've never seen anything quite like this before.
MEDIA REPORTS THAT TWO LAMBETH GREEN PARTY CANDIDATES ARRESTED ON SUSPICION OF STIRRING UP RACIAL HATRED

May 2026

Dear Neighbour,

It is important you know this ahead of choosing how to cast your vote at the local election this Thursday 7th May.

The Metropolitan Police have told the media that they have arrested two women on suspicion of stirring up racial hatred. It is being widely reported in the press that those arrested are Green Party candidates in Lambeth: Sabine Mairey and Saiqa Ali.

According to multiple press reports, Sabine Mairey, a Lambeth Green Party candidate in Clapham, allegedly shared a post which said that "ramming a synagogue isn't antisemitism. It's revenge".

Meanwhile, it has been reported in the press that Saiqa Ali, a Lambeth Green Party candidate in Streatham allegedly shared racist and antisemitic conspiracy theories online including claiming that the 9/11 terror attacks were faked.

We must do everything we can to make sure there is no place for this poison in Lambeth.

We urge you not to vote for the Lambeth Greens on Thursday 7 May.
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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 02/05/2026
"It could be that what’s happening is incentivized stupidity." Or it could be worse than that.
chrisdillow.substack.com
The stupidity of politics
No sane person would run a household or business with the lack of thinking that the government devotes to its affairs.
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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 30/04/2026
How is it possible to tell this story without acknowledging the perfection of its nominative determinism?
theguardian.com
‘There’s no streetlights’: North Yorkshire restaurant told to stop driving diners home
Award-winning chef and husband ordered to stop offering lifts home from rurally located Hansom
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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 28/04/2026
I was going to pull out a quotable one liner, as you do. But this whole post by @pollymackenzie.bsky.social is end to end quotable one liners, so if you have any interest in a better civil service and a better government, just read the whole thing.
howtorunacountry.substack.com
Going for gold
Thoughts on civil service reform
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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 04/04/2026
@edent.tel I seem to have joined a club. Not sure what Groucho Marx would have to say about that
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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 30/03/2026
"I'm not even a Man United supporter, but it's a big week for Hildegarde of Bingen" Radio 3 makes unexpected connections.
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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 02/03/2026
This is an excellent overview, expressed with impressive clarity - the reminder of the dimensions of reliability is one we should all be keeping in mind
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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 20/02/2026
It would be churlish not to #ENOMahagonny
A draped theatre curtain with a small screen, "Please feel free to take photos of our theatre and tag @E_N_O with #ENOMahagonny
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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 15/02/2026
The theme of the walk was blue astonishment.* *That was yesterday. Normality has resumed today
The view from a hilltop of the flat landscape below. A village is surrounded by green fields, the spire of its church a distinctive copper green. The big sky above is deep blue with scattered white clouds.A clear blue sky with a few white clouds - and a deep red paraglder hanging in mid air.A line of trees on the horizon silhouetted by the sunlight coming from behind them. There is a meadow in the foreground with scattered grazing sheep.A path stretches out ahead towards the horizon with a line of wooden fence poles on each side and deep green fields beyond, under a wide blue sky and patches of cloud.
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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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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 07/02/2026
The long now
The cover of a magazine called "Philosophy Now" promoting a lead article "Roman philosophy"
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