Matthew Somerville
@dracos.co.uk
I help people report broken street lights, find out their bin day, plan train travel, manage an orchestra, locate the nearest postbox, research old theatre productions, keep time in a choir, and occasionally play board games | https://dracos.co.uk
My morning has been spent dealing with the fallout from my parent’s Amazon account being broken into by someone in New York. Amazon do not come out of this very well.
January 25, 2026 at 12:03 PM
My morning has been spent dealing with the fallout from my parent’s Amazon account being broken into by someone in New York. Amazon do not come out of this very well.
I went to see “Mercy” yesterday. The film was good fun, if pretty stupid. What was also good fun, if pretty stupid, was someone coming up to me five minutes before the end of the film, saying I was in their seat.
Me: “For this film?”
“Is there a film on?”
Me, pointing at screen, “…Yes? This one?”
Me: “For this film?”
“Is there a film on?”
Me, pointing at screen, “…Yes? This one?”
January 25, 2026 at 8:30 AM
I went to see “Mercy” yesterday. The film was good fun, if pretty stupid. What was also good fun, if pretty stupid, was someone coming up to me five minutes before the end of the film, saying I was in their seat.
Me: “For this film?”
“Is there a film on?”
Me, pointing at screen, “…Yes? This one?”
Me: “For this film?”
“Is there a film on?”
Me, pointing at screen, “…Yes? This one?”
“What’s up” is having my face twice on a small screen (once is quite enough), a white rectangled click zone taking up valuable space in a location well out of reach, when there’s already a perfectly good post button in the bottom right corner
January 25, 2026 at 8:25 AM
“What’s up” is having my face twice on a small screen (once is quite enough), a white rectangled click zone taking up valuable space in a location well out of reach, when there’s already a perfectly good post button in the bottom right corner
Reposted by Matthew Somerville
The insanity of UK public bodies threatening other UK public bodies with the apparent intention of limiting the reuse of UK address data. Meanwhile the rest of the world has long recognised that postal address data is critical digital public infrastructure in the 21st century.
An Ordnance Survey lawyer has been in touch about open address data released by UK local authorities www.owenboswarva.com/blog/post-ad...
This post relates to the Council Tax datasets listed at www.datadaptive.com/addr/
#FOI #opendata #openaddresses #geospatial #datastrategy
This post relates to the Council Tax datasets listed at www.datadaptive.com/addr/
#FOI #opendata #openaddresses #geospatial #datastrategy
January 23, 2026 at 5:07 PM
The insanity of UK public bodies threatening other UK public bodies with the apparent intention of limiting the reuse of UK address data. Meanwhile the rest of the world has long recognised that postal address data is critical digital public infrastructure in the 21st century.
Reposted by Matthew Somerville
Great new feature on FixMyStreet!
Faster reporting on FixMyStreet: start your report with a photo
A new feature has been released for FixMyStreet giving users the option to start their reports with a photo, the data from which can be extracted to speed up the reporting process.
As well as making ...
www.mysociety.org
January 23, 2026 at 9:44 AM
Great new feature on FixMyStreet!
I know people have different relationships with backlogs, but for me, it was nice to close github.com/mysociety/fi... :)
January 22, 2026 at 3:54 PM
I know people have different relationships with backlogs, but for me, it was nice to close github.com/mysociety/fi... :)
Reposted by Matthew Somerville
Photo-first reporting has arrived across the FixMyStreet website and app, as well as all cobranded instances of FixMyStreet Pro. 🤳🎉
Read about it on our blog: www.societyworks.org/2026/01/22/f...
www.societyworks.org/2026/01/22/f...
Read about it on our blog: www.societyworks.org/2026/01/22/f...
www.societyworks.org/2026/01/22/f...
Faster reporting on FixMyStreet: start your report with a photo
As well as making the reporting process quicker, this new functionality should also increase the accuracy of reports, removing the need for users who can’t or don’t want to report the problem at its l...
www.societyworks.org
January 22, 2026 at 2:26 PM
Photo-first reporting has arrived across the FixMyStreet website and app, as well as all cobranded instances of FixMyStreet Pro. 🤳🎉
Read about it on our blog: www.societyworks.org/2026/01/22/f...
www.societyworks.org/2026/01/22/f...
Read about it on our blog: www.societyworks.org/2026/01/22/f...
www.societyworks.org/2026/01/22/f...
On iPhone, <input type="file"> shows you nice Photo Library / Take Photo options – but if you Take Photo, EXIF data is stripped, but isn’t with a photo from the Library 😕
On Android, the image picker strips EXIF data, but the file picker does not, and using the camera does keeps EXIF data
On Android, the image picker strips EXIF data, but the file picker does not, and using the camera does keeps EXIF data
January 22, 2026 at 12:59 PM
On iPhone, <input type="file"> shows you nice Photo Library / Take Photo options – but if you Take Photo, EXIF data is stripped, but isn’t with a photo from the Library 😕
On Android, the image picker strips EXIF data, but the file picker does not, and using the camera does keeps EXIF data
On Android, the image picker strips EXIF data, but the file picker does not, and using the camera does keeps EXIF data
The Inquiry uploaded a *lot* of new documents over the past few months. I’ve finally gone through and added all 11,757 of them to postofficeinquiry.dracos.co.uk for all your searching needs
January 22, 2026 at 8:41 AM
The Inquiry uploaded a *lot* of new documents over the past few months. I’ve finally gone through and added all 11,757 of them to postofficeinquiry.dracos.co.uk for all your searching needs
Reposted by Matthew Somerville
Off to London for the day 🚂
The fare is £197 return 😱
I’ll pay… £62.20 ✨
No Advance tickets 🎫
split.traintimes.org.uk/BHM/EUS/y/08... gives you £87, but if you can change at Milton Keynes and wait for 15 minutes 🕤 it’s then off-peak, halving that leg:
BRV ↔ £15 ↔ RUG ↔ £21.40 ↔ MKC ↔ £25.80 ↔ EUS
The fare is £197 return 😱
I’ll pay… £62.20 ✨
No Advance tickets 🎫
split.traintimes.org.uk/BHM/EUS/y/08... gives you £87, but if you can change at Milton Keynes and wait for 15 minutes 🕤 it’s then off-peak, halving that leg:
BRV ↔ £15 ↔ RUG ↔ £21.40 ↔ MKC ↔ £25.80 ↔ EUS
split.traintimes.org.uk
January 21, 2026 at 7:44 AM
Off to London for the day 🚂
The fare is £197 return 😱
I’ll pay… £62.20 ✨
No Advance tickets 🎫
split.traintimes.org.uk/BHM/EUS/y/08... gives you £87, but if you can change at Milton Keynes and wait for 15 minutes 🕤 it’s then off-peak, halving that leg:
BRV ↔ £15 ↔ RUG ↔ £21.40 ↔ MKC ↔ £25.80 ↔ EUS
The fare is £197 return 😱
I’ll pay… £62.20 ✨
No Advance tickets 🎫
split.traintimes.org.uk/BHM/EUS/y/08... gives you £87, but if you can change at Milton Keynes and wait for 15 minutes 🕤 it’s then off-peak, halving that leg:
BRV ↔ £15 ↔ RUG ↔ £21.40 ↔ MKC ↔ £25.80 ↔ EUS
Train got in to Milton Keynes 5ish minutes late, so even less time to wait to get into London 9 minutes later to save £25
Off to London for the day 🚂
The fare is £197 return 😱
I’ll pay… £62.20 ✨
No Advance tickets 🎫
split.traintimes.org.uk/BHM/EUS/y/08... gives you £87, but if you can change at Milton Keynes and wait for 15 minutes 🕤 it’s then off-peak, halving that leg:
BRV ↔ £15 ↔ RUG ↔ £21.40 ↔ MKC ↔ £25.80 ↔ EUS
The fare is £197 return 😱
I’ll pay… £62.20 ✨
No Advance tickets 🎫
split.traintimes.org.uk/BHM/EUS/y/08... gives you £87, but if you can change at Milton Keynes and wait for 15 minutes 🕤 it’s then off-peak, halving that leg:
BRV ↔ £15 ↔ RUG ↔ £21.40 ↔ MKC ↔ £25.80 ↔ EUS
split.traintimes.org.uk
January 21, 2026 at 9:30 AM
Train got in to Milton Keynes 5ish minutes late, so even less time to wait to get into London 9 minutes later to save £25
Off to London for the day 🚂
The fare is £197 return 😱
I’ll pay… £62.20 ✨
No Advance tickets 🎫
split.traintimes.org.uk/BHM/EUS/y/08... gives you £87, but if you can change at Milton Keynes and wait for 15 minutes 🕤 it’s then off-peak, halving that leg:
BRV ↔ £15 ↔ RUG ↔ £21.40 ↔ MKC ↔ £25.80 ↔ EUS
The fare is £197 return 😱
I’ll pay… £62.20 ✨
No Advance tickets 🎫
split.traintimes.org.uk/BHM/EUS/y/08... gives you £87, but if you can change at Milton Keynes and wait for 15 minutes 🕤 it’s then off-peak, halving that leg:
BRV ↔ £15 ↔ RUG ↔ £21.40 ↔ MKC ↔ £25.80 ↔ EUS
split.traintimes.org.uk
January 21, 2026 at 7:44 AM
Off to London for the day 🚂
The fare is £197 return 😱
I’ll pay… £62.20 ✨
No Advance tickets 🎫
split.traintimes.org.uk/BHM/EUS/y/08... gives you £87, but if you can change at Milton Keynes and wait for 15 minutes 🕤 it’s then off-peak, halving that leg:
BRV ↔ £15 ↔ RUG ↔ £21.40 ↔ MKC ↔ £25.80 ↔ EUS
The fare is £197 return 😱
I’ll pay… £62.20 ✨
No Advance tickets 🎫
split.traintimes.org.uk/BHM/EUS/y/08... gives you £87, but if you can change at Milton Keynes and wait for 15 minutes 🕤 it’s then off-peak, halving that leg:
BRV ↔ £15 ↔ RUG ↔ £21.40 ↔ MKC ↔ £25.80 ↔ EUS
This Lords amendment would have required the Secretary of State to publish a statement setting out the total real terms cost of payments to be made to Mauritius under the Treaty, and the methodology used to calculate the total cost of the Treaty
New House of Commons vote: Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill:motion to disagree with Lords Amendment 5 - https://votes.theyworkforyou.com/decisions/division/commons/2026-01-20/412
2026-01-20 - Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill:motion to disagree with Lords Amendment 5
Analysis and data on voting in the UK’s Parliaments
votes.theyworkforyou.com
January 20, 2026 at 11:06 PM
This Lords amendment would have required the Secretary of State to publish a statement setting out the total real terms cost of payments to be made to Mauritius under the Treaty, and the methodology used to calculate the total cost of the Treaty
The Lords amendment would have required the Secretary of State to seek to negotiate an amendment to the treaty to ensure that the UK would cease to make payments to the government of Mauritius in the event that the use of the Diego Garcia base for military purposes became impossible
New House of Commons vote: Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill:motion to disagree with Lords Amendment 1 - https://votes.theyworkforyou.com/decisions/division/commons/2026-01-20/411
2026-01-20 - Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill:motion to disagree with Lords Amendment 1
Analysis and data on voting in the UK’s Parliaments
votes.theyworkforyou.com
January 20, 2026 at 11:05 PM
The Lords amendment would have required the Secretary of State to seek to negotiate an amendment to the treaty to ensure that the UK would cease to make payments to the government of Mauritius in the event that the use of the Diego Garcia base for military purposes became impossible
I like sparks of joy, so FixMyStreet accepts a number of open formats in its search besides the expected, including
* Grid Reference ("SP070866")
* Driver location sign ("M27 2.8")
* Latitude,Longitude ("52.478,-1.898")
* Open Location Code ("F4H2+4C Birmingham")
* Maidenhead Locator ("IO92BL24")
* Grid Reference ("SP070866")
* Driver location sign ("M27 2.8")
* Latitude,Longitude ("52.478,-1.898")
* Open Location Code ("F4H2+4C Birmingham")
* Maidenhead Locator ("IO92BL24")
I really cannot stress what a precise "oh this isn't serious" signal launching things at what3words is
At what3words for Darren Jones speech on 'Move fast and fix things: modernising Whitehall to deliver for Britain'
@instituteforgovernment.org.uk's Hannah White asks what will make this attempt at reform different - says what matters is what comes next
@instituteforgovernment.org.uk's Hannah White asks what will make this attempt at reform different - says what matters is what comes next
January 20, 2026 at 4:57 PM
I like sparks of joy, so FixMyStreet accepts a number of open formats in its search besides the expected, including
* Grid Reference ("SP070866")
* Driver location sign ("M27 2.8")
* Latitude,Longitude ("52.478,-1.898")
* Open Location Code ("F4H2+4C Birmingham")
* Maidenhead Locator ("IO92BL24")
* Grid Reference ("SP070866")
* Driver location sign ("M27 2.8")
* Latitude,Longitude ("52.478,-1.898")
* Open Location Code ("F4H2+4C Birmingham")
* Maidenhead Locator ("IO92BL24")
Reposted by Matthew Somerville
Just under a month away!
Join @mysociety.org and others (in London and online) for FOI FEST 2026
Keynotes, discussions, lightning talks, skills tasters
Thursday 19 February
Sign up here: pretix.eu/mysociety/fo...
Join @mysociety.org and others (in London and online) for FOI FEST 2026
Keynotes, discussions, lightning talks, skills tasters
Thursday 19 February
Sign up here: pretix.eu/mysociety/fo...
FOI Fest 2026
Thu, Feb. 19, 2026
pretix.eu
January 20, 2026 at 9:34 AM
Just under a month away!
Join @mysociety.org and others (in London and online) for FOI FEST 2026
Keynotes, discussions, lightning talks, skills tasters
Thursday 19 February
Sign up here: pretix.eu/mysociety/fo...
Join @mysociety.org and others (in London and online) for FOI FEST 2026
Keynotes, discussions, lightning talks, skills tasters
Thursday 19 February
Sign up here: pretix.eu/mysociety/fo...
The Google Meet joining sound is a middle C. I guess if you could get a lot of people to join at a steady rate, you could hum along and make a slow, transposed, ending to Shostakovich 5 (we’re performing this in a few weeks, come along: southbirminghamsinfonia.com )
South Birmingham Sinfonia
southbirminghamsinfonia.com
January 20, 2026 at 11:40 AM
The Google Meet joining sound is a middle C. I guess if you could get a lot of people to join at a steady rate, you could hum along and make a slow, transposed, ending to Shostakovich 5 (we’re performing this in a few weeks, come along: southbirminghamsinfonia.com )
I do not understand how some people can live in Birmingham (Birmingham!), be “married to a bloody Asian”(!), and yet have this complete cognitive disconnect about the world (and not know the word palak).
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
Dining across the divide: ‘For him it seems to come down to good immigrants and bad immigrants’
One is a Reform voter who supports Tommy Robinson and thinks Muslims want to take over. The other works with immigrants and knows they’re not here to steal jobs or get benefits. Can they make it throu...
www.theguardian.com
January 18, 2026 at 7:18 PM
I do not understand how some people can live in Birmingham (Birmingham!), be “married to a bloody Asian”(!), and yet have this complete cognitive disconnect about the world (and not know the word palak).
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
Just filled up my entire hard disc trying to update the evidence documents on my Post Office Inquiry transcripts/search site; guess I can no longer have it download all the PDFs first before processing!
January 18, 2026 at 7:02 PM
Just filled up my entire hard disc trying to update the evidence documents on my Post Office Inquiry transcripts/search site; guess I can no longer have it download all the PDFs first before processing!
In a session about data and documents (and records and structure and validity) with @cjforms.bsky.social and @johnlsheridan.bsky.social and @maltbyps.bsky.social and others #ukgc26
January 17, 2026 at 12:01 PM
In a session about data and documents (and records and structure and validity) with @cjforms.bsky.social and @johnlsheridan.bsky.social and @maltbyps.bsky.social and others #ukgc26
London to Birmingham is one of the few journeys that has actual choice on the rail network - the three valid routes are (in general terms) Euston to New Street, Marylebone to Moor Street, and Paddington to New Street. Thankfully in incident times, they’re usually a bit more flexible
January 17, 2026 at 8:24 AM
London to Birmingham is one of the few journeys that has actual choice on the rail network - the three valid routes are (in general terms) Euston to New Street, Marylebone to Moor Street, and Paddington to New Street. Thankfully in incident times, they’re usually a bit more flexible
Reposted by Matthew Somerville
If you’re travelling from london to GovCamp this seems like the best option. Marylebone route has rail replacement bus. #ukgc26 #ukgovcamp #govcamp
Next departures:
08:35 – 10:38
09:02 – 11:15
Next departures:
08:35 – 10:38
09:02 – 11:15
PSA for those heading from London to Birmingham for @ukgovcamp.com - all trains from Euston currently cancelled, head to St Pancras and change at Leicester... #govcamp
January 17, 2026 at 8:03 AM
If you’re travelling from london to GovCamp this seems like the best option. Marylebone route has rail replacement bus. #ukgc26 #ukgovcamp #govcamp
Next departures:
08:35 – 10:38
09:02 – 11:15
Next departures:
08:35 – 10:38
09:02 – 11:15
Oh no, Steam are having a “Detective Fest”
January 16, 2026 at 11:17 PM
Oh no, Steam are having a “Detective Fest”
Genius how the boots.com website is so slow and bloated that in a 1-bar bit of this building they accuse you of being a robot or that you must be blocking their JavaScript instead, rather than they’re using far too much of it
January 16, 2026 at 4:39 PM
Genius how the boots.com website is so slow and bloated that in a 1-bar bit of this building they accuse you of being a robot or that you must be blocking their JavaScript instead, rather than they’re using far too much of it