Prof Mike Yearworth
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mikeyearworth.bsky.social
Prof Mike Yearworth
@mikeyearworth.bsky.social
860 followers 1.1K following 740 posts
Emeritus Professor · Problem Structuring · Problem Formulation · Soft Systems Methodology · Practice of Operational Research · Process Thinking · Facilitation · Group Support Systems · Co-Editor-in-Chief European Journal of Operational Research · CEng
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mikeyearworth.bsky.social
Which got me thinking about "The Hour", especially Season 2. Written and created by Abi Morgan.
“Corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow. And the money power of the country will endeavour to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people. Until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. Abe Lincoln. Abe Lincoln said it.” Apparently not Lincoln, but used effectively in… “The Hour”. BBC Abi Morgan Series 2, Episode. 6 
November 16, 2025 at 2:19 PM
mikeyearworth.bsky.social
I've just finished watching "The Hack" on ITV. I recommend watching. The Nick Davies speech to the Leveson Inquiry, end of Episode 7, struck me as particularly meaningful; not just about phone hacking, but about any technology shortcut designed to bypass human interaction in search for the 'truth'.
“News, I think the best definition of it, news is what someone somewhere doesn't want you to know. The most difficult, skilful, interesting, important, stuff that reporters do is about finding human sources and motivating them to help reveal that news. And I can tell you, as someone at the front line of that, news is also often what someone is reluctant to tell. So it's hard to motivate a human source to reveal their truth. I'd say, look, if I talk to you and they realize I've done this, then I'll lose my job or my career. Or I'll be beaten up. I'll be arrested or embarrassed or ashamed. I will hurt people who love me. It's a very sensitive moment. You have to make those people safe. You have to make those people realize their truth is worth the risk. What these hackers did was about cutting out that human connection. These so-called journalists didn't find the truth. They didn't persuade people to come with them. They just stole. They took. And humanity was lost in that moment. Not only in the privacy that was invaded, but also in the stories told from it.” “The Hack”. ITV Nick Davies speech to Leveson Enquiry End of Episode. 7 
November 14, 2025 at 8:18 AM
mikeyearworth.bsky.social
This is the device I need. Foldable like a small paperback. Kindle and Wikipedia.

The book is Chip War by Chris Miller
Photo of a kindle and an iPhone held as if a paperback book. Reading Chip War by Chris Miller
November 7, 2025 at 5:40 PM
mikeyearworth.bsky.social
October 26, 2025 at 8:14 AM
mikeyearworth.bsky.social
October 26, 2025 at 7:50 AM
mikeyearworth.bsky.social
Mellow sound of warm valves
September 18, 2025 at 12:18 PM
mikeyearworth.bsky.social
Radio 4 still going strong on Long Wave. I get the feeling this is how the BBC imagine we listen to their news coverage on the wireless
September 18, 2025 at 12:18 PM
mikeyearworth.bsky.social
Really interesting paper from Isabella Lami and Stefano Moroni "Urban decision-making is not so much a matter of intelligence, artificial or otherwise..." just published in Cities

doi.org/10.1016/j.ci...
It has long been assumed that effective decision-making presupposes the presence of a rational decision-maker and reliable information about alternatives, preferences and uncertainty. Unfortunately, the reality is quite different, particularly when one considers public decision-making in urban areas. In other words, and according to Herbert Simon's well-known formula, no decision-maker can operate without a form of “bounded rationality”. This is one of the reasons why traditional Cost-Benefit Analysis received so many criticisms, and other decision-support techniques were developed with the intention of taking our limited rationality more directly into account (e.g. Multicriteria Decision Analysis and Problem Structuring Methods). However, now that rationality no longer seems inherently constrained thanks to the advent of Artificial Intelligence, it seems reasonable to assume that decision-making processes themselves may undergo significant changes. Specifically, the research question that this article addresses is this: “What contribution can AI make to overcoming the limitations of certain methodologies used to support public decision-making in urban contexts?”. This question will be addressed by critically examining one of the main techniques of evaluation, Cost-Benefit Analysis, with particular regard to the pragmatic dimension of choice.
September 11, 2025 at 9:15 AM
mikeyearworth.bsky.social
A more up to date mast will report something like this…
Field Test Mode (FTM) Dashboard report from a mast serving a 5G connection
September 7, 2025 at 8:41 AM
mikeyearworth.bsky.social
e.g. 5G iPhone and FTM Dashboard shows (description in Alt Text)…
Field Test Mode (FTM) Dashboard is a hidden iPhone App that can be accessed by dialling a special code. Find using Google. Provides diagnostic information about the cell mast providing your connection.
September 7, 2025 at 7:32 AM
mikeyearworth.bsky.social
I get a message from my network provider about the Emergency Alert if my 'phone is compatible'. No mention of the fact that the mast that delivered this message is incapable of delivering a 4G or 5G signal. 8 miles outside Exeter, UK and infrastructure is appalling.

www.gov.uk/alerts/how-a...
Government Emergency Alert test: 7 Sept, 3pm. If your phone's compatible, you'll hear a siren and feel it vibrate. No action is needed. More info: gov.uk/alerts
September 3, 2025 at 6:46 PM
mikeyearworth.bsky.social
September 3, 2025 at 7:02 AM
mikeyearworth.bsky.social
...and reminded of my account in EJOR of the use of Fb and Twitter in the aftermath of the Carlisle Floods in December 2015

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
We develop a new constitutive definition of Community OR as a self-initiating, self-organising community actor network emerging spontaneously in response to a triggering event and showing evidence of non-codified OR behaviours leading to action to improve the problem situation. From this new definition we have re-conceptualised Community OR as a construct that can be empirically observed emerging from suitable behavioural data. Social media play an instrumental role, acting as both the source of data and the enabling mechanism through which this form of Community OR occurs. Social media afford new possibilities for community empowerment and participation, with consequences for social enterprise and citizenship. We use Actor Network Theory, and specifically the language of translations, hybrid forums, and Callon’s Co-production of Knowledge Model (CKM), as the methodological basis for our definition and analysis. The appearance of hybrid forums as a self-organising response to community needs after an event would seem to be a natural milieu for a range of OR competencies. However, unlike traditional practitioner-led engagements, here the OR practitioner’s competency enters in a supportive rather than leading role. We support our argument through the analysis of social media data arising from the community response to a devastating flooding event – the Carlisle floods of December 2015.
August 25, 2025 at 2:23 PM
mikeyearworth.bsky.social
Interested to read this account by Sarah Wynn-Williams in Careless People on the use of Fb in the immediate aftermath of the Christchurch earthquake in 2011...
"People use the platform to let friends and family know they are safe, share information on road closures, coordinate sharing supplies, post warnings about drinking water, offer tips for managing liquefaction—a new concept to me that is basically the ground melting—offer up spare rooms, and support those who had experienced the unthinkable. The community whose physical infrastructure was damaged found a new infrastructure online."
August 25, 2025 at 2:23 PM
mikeyearworth.bsky.social
I have just come across The model village and its cottages : Bournville by William Alexander Harvey

ePub version available from

www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/73532
"The Model Village and its Cottages: Bournville" by William Alexander Harvey is a detailed architectural guide written in the early 20th century. The publication explores the design and layout of Bournville, a model village developed by the Cadbury brothers as a solution to the housing issues faced by industrial workers. It emphasizes the importance of creating homes that promote a healthy lifestyle through their environment, architecture, and community planning. The opening of the book introduces the transcriber’s note and a preface, where the author reflects on his experience and the intention behind creating this comprehensive examination of Bournville's cottages. Harvey discusses the inadequacies of the existing housing situation in urban areas, highlighting the need for practical solutions that ensure both aesthetic appeal and economic feasibility without compromising essential living standards. He details the founding of Bournville as a response to these issues, outlining the ideals behind its design and the potential benefits for its inhabitants. Harvey aims to inspire architects and builders to consider the broader implications of home design while fostering a strong connection between residents and their surroundings, establishing an architectural blueprint for future communities.
August 6, 2025 at 5:53 PM
mikeyearworth.bsky.social
“The entities enabling scientific fraud at scale are large, resilient, and growing rapidly”

doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
August 4, 2025 at 9:33 PM
mikeyearworth.bsky.social
August 2, 2025 at 2:09 PM
mikeyearworth.bsky.social
An everyday travel experience on the West of England line. Up train only 3 carriages, passengers standing, running late now. Down train waiting at the Tisbury loop for the up train to clear the single track. Class 159 - so diesel all the way to Waterloo even when 3rd rail available.
July 27, 2025 at 11:15 AM
mikeyearworth.bsky.social
“Identifying key complex relations
between education and healthcare
in the Netherlands for future pandemic
management”

link.springer.com/content/pdf/...
Abstract Background The effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and subsequent policies in the Neth- erlands extended beyond healthcare, impacting other societal systems such as education. This study aims to concep- tualize a coupled education–healthcare system during a pandemic and identify key variables and relations that affect the accessibility of both systems. This is essential to address the interconnected nature of pandemic policymaking and design policies that account for possible unintended consequences that interventions in healthcare may have on education and vice versa. Methods Group model building and in-depth interviews with actors from healthcare and education were used to develop a coupled causal loop diagram of healthcare and education accessibility in the Netherlands during a pan- demic. The causal loop diagram is analysed with cross-impact analysis to identify key leverage points, monitoring variables, feedback loops and relations between healthcare and education. Results Six causal relations were identified between healthcare and education, indicating a relevant impact of healthcare on education during pandemics. Cross-impact analysis identified 24 leverage points, of which 10 were in healthcare, 11 in education and 4 in the contextual environment. During the COVID-19 pandemic in the Neth- erlands, healthcare utilized all these leverage points, education utilized six and two were used not pertaining to healthcare or education but the contextual environment. Leverage points included the availability and wellbeing of personnel, number of patients, progress of pupils/students and resources. Seven monitoring variables included the availability of personnel, resources in education and progress of pupils/students, and were utilized in healthcare and education during the pandemic. Four feedback loops were found, of which three are reinforcing. One large balancing feedback loop is situated between the healthcare and education system, …
July 24, 2025 at 5:34 AM
mikeyearworth.bsky.social
Just found this in a boxfile. Must be from ~1988
A photograph of a Common LaTeX Commands card showing its age
July 21, 2025 at 4:14 PM
mikeyearworth.bsky.social
Sunday afternoon immersed in learning about the Möbius function and coding in OCaml for my work on Hierarchical Process Modelling (HPM)
A Hierarchical Process Model (HPM) with processes labelled with ID, label, local and propagated performance as interval numbers [Sn, Sp]. The interval numbers are also represented by an 'Italian Flag' with the green area proportional to Sn, red area by 1-Sp, and white Sp-Sn.
July 20, 2025 at 8:35 PM
mikeyearworth.bsky.social
This is a useful guide to System Dynamics modelling - Open Access

Auping, W. L., d'Hont, F. M., Kubli, M. D., Slinger, J. H., Steinmann, P., van der Heijde, F. T., Daalen, C. V., Pruyt, E., & Thissen, W. A. H. (2024). The delft method for system dynamics [Book]. TU Delft. doi.org/10.59490/tb.97
"This e-book introduces System Dynamics Modelling to novice modellers. It is specifically designed to support courses on simulation methods at the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management (TPM) at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in the Netherlands, including Systems Modelling 3 and Introduction to TPM Modelling. However, it can also be used by other institutions that follow a practice- oriented and skill-oriented approach to learning, while it also offers sufficient theoretical information to support autonomous learning. We choose to publish the e-book under an open access license so that SD learners from all over the world can study the material, independent of their study programmes or university access."
July 17, 2025 at 11:06 AM
mikeyearworth.bsky.social
Any idea how accurate/comprehensive? The local conservation area looks dense, as expected, but zooming-in shows some gaps
Historic England map of listed buildings for the village of Thorverton. Is it complete?
June 20, 2025 at 6:39 AM
mikeyearworth.bsky.social
Admirable openness but not exactly surprising - the problem is believing that technology has a way of avoiding with the hard problem of deciding what is fair. You can’t delegate that to AI.
June 12, 2025 at 6:36 AM
mikeyearworth.bsky.social
Often feel with government and policy wonk discussions we have this instead. Just about as unstable as it gets
Nosek’s change pyramid upside down.
June 11, 2025 at 6:43 AM