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Simon Worthington

@simonwo.net
165 followers 44 following 89 posts

Building data tech that works for real people. MD of data specialists team @register-dynamics.co.uk. Don't DM me, email. He/him. All content CC-BY-SA4

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Simon Worthington @simonwo.net · 21/09/2026
The best data conference in the UK is back! Open Data Camp 11 is coming to Birmingham this November! #odcamp isn't your typical conference. It's a free unconference entirely devoted to open data - a weekend where you shape the agenda. Free tickets are now available: www.odcamp.uk/odcamp-11-bi...
odcamp.uk
Open Data Camp 11 is coming to Birmingham!
This November, we’ll be rolling the Open Data Camp charabanc into central Birmingham and parking up (next to Brum!) at Birmingham City Council House! 📍Where: Birmingham City Council House, B1 1BB 📆…
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Simon Worthington @simonwo.net · 20/09/2026
If you want something doing… Still mad about DIT/DBT/DBIST/whatever closing their tariff management open source repositories for no good reason at all (many bad reasons, in fact), I have dug out my aged Windows laptop to retrieve a number of old tariff repositories. github.com/register-dyn...
github.com
GitHub - register-dynamics/tamato: DBT's Tariff Management Tool (TaMaTo) used to manage import and export tariff data used by the UK Border.
DBT's Tariff Management Tool (TaMaTo) used to manage import and export tariff data used by the UK Border. - register-dynamics/tamato
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Simon Worthington @simonwo.net · 19/09/2026
I've updated the `freeagent-cli` gem to now support working with tasks, bills, invoice items and transactions. The latter also has SQL output! So you can pipe the results of an API query into SQLite to work with the results. github.com/register-dyn...
github.com
Comparing v0.2...v0.3 · register-dynamics/freeagent-cli
Access and control Freeagent data from the command line - Comparing v0.2...v0.3 · register-dynamics/freeagent-cli
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Reposted by Simon Worthington
Matthew Somerville @dracos.co.uk · 05/09/2026
“One of the clearest findings from the discovery is the importance of consistent ways to describe people, organisations and locations.” Councils, for example. It’d be good for the government to have an official reusable list of them. Or countries. Could call it, I dunno, a register?
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Simon Worthington @simonwo.net · 05/05/2026
Oh man I love signing up to yet another government Jaggaer instance.
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Simon Worthington @simonwo.net · 01/05/2026
Hey @theatricalia.com, looks like you don't have anything from Network Theatre, which is a society (and venue) that has existed since 1939! I have access to archive material from that period to now, I guess 000's of shows. Happy to prepare and contribute in bulk if you can tell me how!
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Simon Worthington @simonwo.net · 04/03/2026
Yes! People seem to be blissfully unaware of the GTIN lifecycle, and products having multiple 😔 So far we're matching manufacturers, then products, and using edit distance – would really like to know more about the phonetic algorithms. Our fallback is a human-in-the-loop for low confidence matches.
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Simon Worthington @simonwo.net · 04/03/2026
Ah yes, it's time again for one of our finest traditions, the Great British Panic Buy
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Simon Worthington @simonwo.net · 06/01/2026
Amazing news! They don't know (yet) how lucky they are!
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Simon Worthington @simonwo.net · 20/12/2025
We put together a consortium of fuel industry and digital experts that bid and lost, on price. It was clear from the scores that VE3 had no plan, but won anyway because 80% of the quality score was "can you answer 'yes' on a spreadsheet". It was a fatally flawed procurement and this is the result.
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Simon Worthington @simonwo.net · 17/12/2025
A predictably disappointing response from the Department of Business and Trade. Obviously I will appeal. This nonsense that closing source code improves security has been repeatedly proven false and whatever tyranny is being wrought using this idea must end. www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/sour...
whatdotheyknow.com
Source code for the UK tariff management tool, documentation, and dependencies - a Freedom of Information request to Department for Business and Trade
Please can you provide all of the source code associated with the Tariff Management Tool used to author changes to the UK Tariff, all of the associated documentation including the repository including...
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Simon Worthington @simonwo.net · 27/09/2025
It reads like it had 5 different authors, all of whom have different agendas.
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Simon Worthington @simonwo.net · 20/09/2025
Did you roll your own with IntersectionObserver? Or did you use loading=lazy? P.s. I'm a bit baffled why browsers can't just decide to lazy load images below their waterline without developer intervention.
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Simon Worthington @simonwo.net · 17/09/2025
It's an interesting list. It may conflate a few things under the word "error". Is non-uptake really an error? In the example given (supermarkets) the user would not regard it as such.
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Simon Worthington @simonwo.net · 16/09/2025
I've finally updated the GOV.UK Tech Docs Wiki template with everything that's happened in the last five years. It now uses the latest tech docs template and takes account of more maturity in the Github Pages and Actions features. github.com/simonwo/tech...
github.com
GitHub - simonwo/tech-docs-wiki: Automatically build and deploy GOV.UK-style technical documentation based on updates to a GitHub Wiki.
Automatically build and deploy GOV.UK-style technical documentation based on updates to a GitHub Wiki. - simonwo/tech-docs-wiki
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Reposted by Simon Worthington
Open Data Camp @odcamp.uk · 10/09/2025
We’d like to thank our Silver sponsor, Register Dynamics @register-dynamics.co.uk, for helping to make Open Data Camp 10 possible. www.register-dynamics.co.uk We are looking forward to seeing everyone in Edinburgh. We really appreciate the support from all our sponsors. #odcamp #opendata
register-dynamics.co.uk
Register Dynamics - data focused technology consultancy based in the UK
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Simon Worthington @simonwo.net · 09/09/2025
If LG could just get their TVs to stop forgetting about BBC channels every week, it would save my parents a fortune in landline phone costs ringing up their favourite son to sort it out for them.
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Simon Worthington @simonwo.net · 02/09/2025
I'm sure answering Social Value questions on Government tenders is the bane of many bid teams. For me I think it's one of the parts of my job I enjoy the most. It does force me to engage with what we as a small company can do to help. The answer is usually quite a lot – just not easy things.
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Simon Worthington @simonwo.net · 01/09/2025
GOV.UK CSS moved to using a mask image of the Royal Arms in the page footer, where it used to be a background image. Why? Turns out it's more accessible, as that way it can inherit the colour of the text, which the user might have overriden for better contrast! TIL. github.com/alphagov/gov...
github.com
Mask instead of filter to change footer crest colour · alphagov/govuk-frontend@4c8d91a
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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 24/08/2025
This feels like a spot of good news www.sciencedaily.com/releases/202...
sciencedaily.com
Scientists found the missing nutrients bees need — Colonies grew 15-fold
Scientists have developed a breakthrough food supplement that could help save honeybees from devastating declines. By engineering yeast to produce six essential sterols found in pollen, researchers pr...
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Simon Worthington @simonwo.net · 21/08/2025
Nevertheless major points for using that quote, it's one of my faves!
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Jacob T. Levy @jacobtlevy.bsky.social · 19/08/2025
The fact that the thing we're calling artificial intelligence *can't do math* and yet we're jamming it into programs that successfully *have done math* for decades, then warning people against using the AI to do math, seems like an excellent summary of where we are.
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Simon Worthington @simonwo.net · 19/08/2025
Nearly every paragraph in that article is full of crazy talk.
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Simon Worthington @simonwo.net · 18/08/2025
Let's goooooooo 🔥🔥🔥
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Simon Worthington @simonwo.net · 17/08/2025
I attended a talk by design studio Ustwo once who said that no matter how high they set the maximum price on their in-app transactions, a handful of people always paid it. It was really striking for just how rich some people are!
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Simon Worthington @simonwo.net · 15/08/2025
Not much has changed since 2018. medium.com/@shevski/are...
medium.com
Are Personal Data Stores about to become the NEXT BIG THING?
Written by Irina and Simon Worthington.
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Simon Worthington @simonwo.net · 15/08/2025
Hi Jason, is there any update on this? For obvious reasons I would like the tariff-related repositories to come back, as there is a lot of domain knowledge represented in there.
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Simon Worthington @simonwo.net · 15/08/2025
It's pretty damning that nearly all of these issues are "we implemented a new system and didn't think to make it do everything the old system did".
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Simon Worthington @simonwo.net · 08/08/2025
As a reminder, this is the AI that people say is as important as oxygen.
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Simon Worthington @simonwo.net · 07/08/2025
I think I was cooking with this graph tbh
A diagram titled "What input method works for users?" The vertical axis is titled "Volume of things". The horizontal axis is titled "User capability". There is a thin triangle entitled "web forms" that has its height edge on the far bottom left, and declines to the right to an apex on the bottom right. There is a thin triangle entitled "APIs" that has its height on the far top left, and declines down to an apex in the bottom right. The rest of the space is largely taken up by a polygon marked "spreadsheets".
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Simon Worthington @simonwo.net · 29/07/2025
If your new "digital platform" requires running 90 minute webinars to explain how to use it, might I suggest that you have somewhat missed the point?
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Simon Worthington @simonwo.net · 24/07/2025
"Data Visualisation in Cloth and Stitch" I don't think I've ever bought anything so fast.
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Simon Worthington @simonwo.net · 22/07/2025
On web archive if helpful: web.archive.org/web/20230321...
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Simon Worthington @simonwo.net · 11/07/2025
The numbers here are absolutely amazing.
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Simon Worthington @simonwo.net · 08/07/2025
Suspect you're looking for something more central, but I have one for Richmond incl. the Park specifically if that is of interest!
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Register Dynamics @register-dynamics.co.uk · 04/07/2025
Have you ever thought about how Government services handle errors when uploading #data? Do you find that data upload #templates don't work for you? Explore the reasons why we believe #services suck at #spreadsheets! www.register-dynamics.co.uk/... #GovServices #GovUK
register-dynamics.co.uk
Why services suck at spreadsheets — Register Dynamics - data focused technology consultancy based in the UK
We've seen the challenges that pop up when relying on spreadsheet templates and the resulting frustration from users when they are forced to grapple with submitting their data using one. We've come to a worrying conclusion: asking users to fill out spreadsheet templates in the way we do it today does not meet user needs and should not be used as a design pattern in usable and accessible government services.
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Tony Vaughan KC MP @tonyvaughanmp.bsky.social · 02/07/2025
🏳️‍⚧️🚨 New letter from MPs on trans rights & EHRC Consultation on the #ForWomenScotland ruling. I have written a letter to the EHRC to urgently raise concerns about the Draft Code of Practice consultation after the ruling. I am proud to say that 32 of my colleagues have signed it too.
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Simon Worthington @simonwo.net · 19/06/2025
Wow. What the fuck?
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David Durant @bowsy.co.uk · 16/06/2025
This is great, not only for the cool tech and the outcome it delivers but for working in the open. Seems we're seeing more of that from small companies like @dxw.com and @register-dynamics.co.uk than from teams inside government.
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Simon Worthington @simonwo.net · 16/06/2025
I'll roll with it if we can reclaim golf courses from being ecologically barren wastelands and terraform them into beautiful green public spaces
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Simon Worthington @simonwo.net · 04/06/2025
I've noticed lots of DBT open source repositories have disappeared from Github, such as github.com/uktrade/sqli... which had more than a hundred stars and is still published on PyPi: pypi.org/project/sqli.... Does anyone know why these have been removed?
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Simon Worthington @simonwo.net · 03/06/2025
Not yet! They said they are waiting for a critical mass of followers. So for now it sounds like following the kickstarter would help!
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Simon Worthington @simonwo.net · 03/06/2025
The game I'm most excited for following #UKGE is "Last Week Of Summer" by @alliesorenemies.bsky.social – looks absolutely gorgeous, sounds like a fun set of approachable mechanics and should have plenty of replay value. And maybe I can convince Celia to play it… www.kickstarter.com/projects/all...
kickstarter.com
Coming soon: Last Week of Summer
A modular board game set in 1986. High school is over, and you have one more week to make the most of summer.
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Simon Worthington @simonwo.net · 03/06/2025
A great series! I didn't see half of this stuff. I wish I'd had a few more days to check it all out!
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Simon Worthington @simonwo.net · 03/06/2025
Yes, we (@register-dynamics.co.uk) use it and it does a good job for basically everything we need.
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Simon Worthington @simonwo.net · 02/06/2025
Let me know if they find it and it helps for me to pick it up!
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Simon Worthington @simonwo.net · 30/05/2025
Yes I think a lot of transactional service teams don't think they have "data" and thus don't think of "data quality". Ppl think Excel when they say data. The magic word which engages ppl is "fraud", e.g how much fraud in your service and how do you detect it. Its a good first approximation at least.
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Simon Worthington @simonwo.net · 29/05/2025
Ooh, pick me! ✋ We used it to explain our methodology to DHSC policy folks. The context was a system that was making use of external bulk datasets, so not assessment of transactional data. (& caveat: I know some of the people at DQHub, so was already aware of the Framework). Happy to help if i can.
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Simon Worthington @simonwo.net · 19/05/2025
The problem with letting 1000 flowers bloom is that I'm really proud of the work I did on the other 999 flowers
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Simon Worthington @simonwo.net · 14/05/2025
Data-driven decision-making begins with understanding user needs. If you don’t research and design for data creators, you’ll end up making poor quality and risky choices. Sign up for tomorrow's webinar to learn why this happens and how to avoid it! www.linkedin.com/events/howda...
linkedin.com
How data and design can transform philanthropic decision-making | LinkedIn
To join, sign up via StreamYard: https://streamyard.com/watch/m58Xqi8nMnn7 Philanthropic funders run on big ideas, but those ideas need the right data and the right narrative to drive real change. Be...
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