tredford01

  • Digital Public Parks

    Until a few days ago, it is safe to say that I spent too much time on Twitter. I’ve had my account there for long enough that I’ve seen the platform evolve from the SMS-based, fail whale infested, early days, right up to today’s algorithmic hellscape.

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  • The End of a Long Chapter

    The Queen died yesterday. Even though I have felt an increasing republican sentiment over the last few years, her death feels like the end of a very long chapter for Britain. Elizabeth became Queen of a Britain that most politicians for the last decade have held up as the ideal. The Platonic Britain was draped…

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  • Ghosts in the Machine

    Humans can see faces in anything, so it’s not much of a surprise that we can be fooled into seeing sentience in a chat-bot.

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  • Local Democracy

    How do you find the balance between fully engaging with and empowering the people who have to live with political decisions, without yielding to the views of the people who shout the loudest and have the time and resources to show up to public consultations?

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  • 22 March 2016

    I spent most of today in a sort of stupor, attempting to get on with my work, watching the death toll and number of injured rise, and letting friends and family know that I was alright. It is difficult to look beyond the immediate emergency, to see how Brussels might change.

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  • Mobility in Brussels is Bigger than the City Centre

    Brussels unveiled the test phase of its new car-free centre at the weekend, with temporary barriers and new road markings almost springing up around the cars at noon on Sunday. As someone who moves around the city easily without a car, but who is regularly faced with the congestion, pollution and noise that cars inflict…

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