Gordon Guthrie
@foundationsofthedigitalstate.com
Just published The Foundations Of The Digital State - a report for the Scottish Government
http://foundationsofthedigitalstate.com/
and blogs at
digitalpolicy.substack.com
Politician manqué, girl group fan, code monkey
http://foundationsofthedigitalstate.com/
and blogs at
digitalpolicy.substack.com
Politician manqué, girl group fan, code monkey
Reposted by Gordon Guthrie
We are in a small community outside Minneapolis and a child arrived to an empty house on Friday. No parents, ice kidnapped them and just leave children to wander alone after school
February 8, 2026 at 7:51 PM
We are in a small community outside Minneapolis and a child arrived to an empty house on Friday. No parents, ice kidnapped them and just leave children to wander alone after school
Reposted by Gordon Guthrie
this is a lovely thread
Mackenzie Crook’s rural dreamscape #Detectorists published by #PenguinBooks (and its offshoots) down the years. 🧵
1/
1/
February 8, 2026 at 10:54 AM
this is a lovely thread
Reposted by Gordon Guthrie
February 7, 2026 at 1:03 PM
I'm old enough to remember when he was a New Labour darling complete with ghosted PhD at SOAS
Saif al-Islam wielded little influence in Libya's governance. But his presence was still a political threat to his rivals — and the symbol of an alternative Libya. https://bit.ly/4ayBb8S
The killing of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi is the end of a political era in Libya
Saif al-Islam wielded little influence over the current running of the state. But his presence was still a political and potentially military threat to his rivals.
www.chathamhouse.org
February 7, 2026 at 9:47 AM
I'm old enough to remember when he was a New Labour darling complete with ghosted PhD at SOAS
Reposted by Gordon Guthrie
seriously!!!
From @acyn.bsky.social (posted on X)
"Reporter: Do any of you have a favorite animal?
Child: My favorite one is a gold snake that can move. It has gold eyes, and it has a super-duper tail…
Reporter: Mr. Mamdani, the second question for you.
Mamdani: Yes. It’s also the golden snake."
"Reporter: Do any of you have a favorite animal?
Child: My favorite one is a gold snake that can move. It has gold eyes, and it has a super-duper tail…
Reporter: Mr. Mamdani, the second question for you.
Mamdani: Yes. It’s also the golden snake."
February 6, 2026 at 7:59 PM
seriously!!!
The work on making National Conversations about digital happen in the May elections is starting to heat up.
Working on prelection hustings on Digital Society and the Private Sector and Economy as well as a post-election event on the State and Public Sector
nationalconversations.org
Working on prelection hustings on Digital Society and the Private Sector and Economy as well as a post-election event on the State and Public Sector
nationalconversations.org
National Conversations
Help put digital technology at the heart of political life in Scotland and Wales.
nationalconversations.org
February 6, 2026 at 1:35 PM
The work on making National Conversations about digital happen in the May elections is starting to heat up.
Working on prelection hustings on Digital Society and the Private Sector and Economy as well as a post-election event on the State and Public Sector
nationalconversations.org
Working on prelection hustings on Digital Society and the Private Sector and Economy as well as a post-election event on the State and Public Sector
nationalconversations.org
[Laughing in Berlin]
You child, you full, a single winter fortnight you say
You child, you full, a single winter fortnight you say
Wondering where the sunshine has gone?
Spare a thought for northeast Scotland; Aberdeen Dyce hasn't recorded any sunshine since 21 January! This is provisionally the longest sunless period here since records began in 1957 ☁️
Spare a thought for northeast Scotland; Aberdeen Dyce hasn't recorded any sunshine since 21 January! This is provisionally the longest sunless period here since records began in 1957 ☁️
February 6, 2026 at 8:56 AM
[Laughing in Berlin]
You child, you full, a single winter fortnight you say
You child, you full, a single winter fortnight you say
Reposted by Gordon Guthrie
Child at the podium: “A woo woo woo.”
Mamdani: That’s how I felt when we came up with this plan. Together, we will expand the idea of what is possible in our city—and what sounds and noises we can make at a press conference.
Mamdani: That’s how I felt when we came up with this plan. Together, we will expand the idea of what is possible in our city—and what sounds and noises we can make at a press conference.
February 6, 2026 at 4:11 AM
Child at the podium: “A woo woo woo.”
Mamdani: That’s how I felt when we came up with this plan. Together, we will expand the idea of what is possible in our city—and what sounds and noises we can make at a press conference.
Mamdani: That’s how I felt when we came up with this plan. Together, we will expand the idea of what is possible in our city—and what sounds and noises we can make at a press conference.
This is for all you that remember the Hypernumbers days 😂
Experience: I am the Excel world champion
Experience: I am the Excel world champion
I have been called the LeBron James of spreadsheets, but I try not to take myself too seriously
www.theguardian.com
February 6, 2026 at 8:31 AM
This is for all you that remember the Hypernumbers days 😂
Reposted by Gordon Guthrie
This whole fucking thread is on point.
Correctly observing that state systems are being captured & used to subvert & suppress opposition is not “doomerism.” That shit is simply pertinent information.
February 5, 2026 at 5:54 PM
This whole fucking thread is on point.
MLK had 2,000 people arrested a day for 2 weeks and collapsed the Birmingham, AL police force
This tactic of flooding & clogging systems of repression was central to the success of civil rights organizers who mobilized to overturn Jim Crow. They didn’t *vote* it out bc they were legally blocked from doing so. Instead, they made it impossible to maintain.
February 5, 2026 at 6:18 PM
MLK had 2,000 people arrested a day for 2 weeks and collapsed the Birmingham, AL police force
Reposted by Gordon Guthrie
Ta-da! The finale of 'The Backstory':
Lesson 8—Legacy: starting with "legacy tech" starts in entirely the wrong place
Lesson 9—A Self-Inflicted Crisis: the 30+ year failure to rewire government leaves it struggling to tackle social, economic, and geopolitical challenges
Lesson 8—Legacy: starting with "legacy tech" starts in entirely the wrong place
Lesson 9—A Self-Inflicted Crisis: the 30+ year failure to rewire government leaves it struggling to tackle social, economic, and geopolitical challenges
‘Fracture’ serialisation part 6: The Backstory (conclusion)
This is the sixth instalment in a series of articles based on the Second Edition of my book Fracture: The collision between technology and democracy—and how we fix it. You can read the earlier Part…
ntouk.wordpress.com
February 5, 2026 at 7:29 AM
Ta-da! The finale of 'The Backstory':
Lesson 8—Legacy: starting with "legacy tech" starts in entirely the wrong place
Lesson 9—A Self-Inflicted Crisis: the 30+ year failure to rewire government leaves it struggling to tackle social, economic, and geopolitical challenges
Lesson 8—Legacy: starting with "legacy tech" starts in entirely the wrong place
Lesson 9—A Self-Inflicted Crisis: the 30+ year failure to rewire government leaves it struggling to tackle social, economic, and geopolitical challenges
Reposted by Gordon Guthrie
I think the Public Accounts Committee should ask accounting officers (perm secs) to come to Parliament and show that they themselves can use the public services for which they are responsible. Live, and on camera.
February 5, 2026 at 12:08 PM
I think the Public Accounts Committee should ask accounting officers (perm secs) to come to Parliament and show that they themselves can use the public services for which they are responsible. Live, and on camera.
Reposted by Gordon Guthrie
This is powerful - without increasing administrative capacity (without budget increases), public administrations and public services will increasingly disappoint citizens and disenchant them about democracy.
As always digitisation needs to hack the bureaucracy, not just replicate old ways online.
As always digitisation needs to hack the bureaucracy, not just replicate old ways online.
Here's the first in a series of instalments from my book ‘Fracture' in which I'm going to explore:
— why decades of digital initiatives have failed to deliver the desired modernisation of government
— what a modern, adaptive democracy could look like
— what changes are needed to get us there
— why decades of digital initiatives have failed to deliver the desired modernisation of government
— what a modern, adaptive democracy could look like
— what changes are needed to get us there
‘Fracture’ serialisation part 1
The first in a series of articles based on the Second Edition of my book Fracture: The collision between technology and democracy—and how we fix it. “You would think that governments would pl…
ntouk.wordpress.com
February 2, 2026 at 10:58 AM
This is powerful - without increasing administrative capacity (without budget increases), public administrations and public services will increasingly disappoint citizens and disenchant them about democracy.
As always digitisation needs to hack the bureaucracy, not just replicate old ways online.
As always digitisation needs to hack the bureaucracy, not just replicate old ways online.
Bezos was happy to do bizniz with the man who had one of his employees dismembered
Amazon staff should remember that, and this...
Amazon staff should remember that, and this...
INBOX: Washington Post Ukraine Correspondent Lizzie Johnson announces that she has been laid off in the middle of a below-freezing war zone without power, heat, or running water.
February 4, 2026 at 6:45 PM
Bezos was happy to do bizniz with the man who had one of his employees dismembered
Amazon staff should remember that, and this...
Amazon staff should remember that, and this...
Reposted by Gordon Guthrie
Reminded that - as I pointed out at the time of publication - there were some clues in the title he chose for his own book…
February 4, 2026 at 6:00 PM
Reminded that - as I pointed out at the time of publication - there were some clues in the title he chose for his own book…
I am a tad worried that Michael is going to take the @edinburghminute.com off to Washington because there is a bigger opportunity to build a local paper empire tho ;-)
February 4, 2026 at 6:34 PM
I am a tad worried that Michael is going to take the @edinburghminute.com off to Washington because there is a bigger opportunity to build a local paper empire tho ;-)
Reposted by Gordon Guthrie
inspired by CLAUDE.md, I’ve started putting markdown files named after coworkers into work code repos so I can remind them to stop doing shit to the codebase that annoys me
for some reason they’re all mad at me now, which means ill be adding commands to JEREMY.md for an attitude adjustment
for some reason they’re all mad at me now, which means ill be adding commands to JEREMY.md for an attitude adjustment
February 4, 2026 at 5:32 PM
From All The President's Men to All The President's Men - Jeff Bezos's legacy
A staggering statement from former Washington Post editor Marty Baron: "This ranks among the darkest days in the history of one of the world's greatest news organizations."
February 4, 2026 at 6:29 PM
From All The President's Men to All The President's Men - Jeff Bezos's legacy
The thrill when you open the packet of drugs * that came in the post
* reversible LP-78 needles for your Dancette
* reversible LP-78 needles for your Dancette
February 4, 2026 at 1:43 PM
The thrill when you open the packet of drugs * that came in the post
* reversible LP-78 needles for your Dancette
* reversible LP-78 needles for your Dancette
and I bet none of his interlocutors even noticed the absense of women
Looking forward to the bit in the Epstein files when he emails a woman.*
* Ghislaine Maxwell won't count
* Ghislaine Maxwell won't count
February 4, 2026 at 11:28 AM
and I bet none of his interlocutors even noticed the absense of women
Reposted by Gordon Guthrie
Looking forward to the bit in the Epstein files when he emails a woman.*
* Ghislaine Maxwell won't count
* Ghislaine Maxwell won't count
February 4, 2026 at 10:32 AM
Looking forward to the bit in the Epstein files when he emails a woman.*
* Ghislaine Maxwell won't count
* Ghislaine Maxwell won't count
Reposted by Gordon Guthrie
Bloomberg never allowed us to run this kind of flannel (in my time there) and the result was that I discovered the incredible power of saying: "... and that denial is on the record? Oh, it's not. Ok, well come back to us when it is."
February 4, 2026 at 10:04 AM
Bloomberg never allowed us to run this kind of flannel (in my time there) and the result was that I discovered the incredible power of saying: "... and that denial is on the record? Oh, it's not. Ok, well come back to us when it is."
Colorado pot dispensary called Ma? Mas? Eye Parkie? I dunno maaan, downtown by that bar, THAT bar where we saw that band and there was that chick THAT chick, with the bazongas, it was epiiiic!!!
What was the question again?
What was the question again?
The haematological consultancy called Maslow's Hierarchy of Bleeds.
The land registry office that’s called Maslow’s hierarchy of deeds
February 4, 2026 at 10:02 AM
Colorado pot dispensary called Ma? Mas? Eye Parkie? I dunno maaan, downtown by that bar, THAT bar where we saw that band and there was that chick THAT chick, with the bazongas, it was epiiiic!!!
What was the question again?
What was the question again?
Turns out Pussy Hats was the really politics all along
February 4, 2026 at 9:04 AM
Turns out Pussy Hats was the really politics all along