Quietly working through my to do list whilst everyone else takes a well deserved break. Enjoying the quieter days and the time to think.
Planning and booking workshops for the autumn. Looking forward to being in Newcastle and Birmingham in person.
Reading transcripts of recordings from a workshop I didn’t attend. Trying to summarise salient points for a short final report.
Mapping out communications for a research piece on extraction. Trying AI - finding it is good but creepy. And it’s extractive. Glad to try but in principle I want to pay people for their work.
Using voicenotes with a collaborator as a way to parse difficult ideas. Then the writing is smooth.
Closing up emails, work for two weeks without responsibilities. Appreciating that every project at the moment has a collaborator who can hold things so I can truly relax.
Things I have been reading/ listening to
Our lives in their portfolios
1 August 2025
Things I have been working on
Building surveys. Playing with platforms. Editing long response options so they work on a phone.
Finishing the care research write up - by ignoring everything and everyone.
Thinking about how to build an overall framework for progressive organisational policies - how can you describe what they need to look like so that the policies themselves are clear, workable AND the best they can be for care of individual, team and organisation.
Lots of unnecessary fighting with tech log ins. Impressive how some of the biggest firms in the world have such ridiculous bugs.
End of month admin.
Things I have been reading/ listening to
Very little as the week of the year when everyone passes through the city on the way to their holidays. Finishing The unbearable lightness of being.
18 July 2025
Things I have been working on
Reflecting on the role of feedback in journalist collaborations
More work on care. But struggling to write up succinctly. I need two days with a clear diary and lots of fluids.
Thinking about what inclusive growth means and how you can apply it. Is it growing focus sectors of the economy in an inclusive way… or something more intrinsic about inclusion in every sector then working to make those grow.
Reflecting on how to do a learning group well. My take - separating it from a formal evaluation process helps. And having it owned by the teams who need to use the learning.
Starting some work on organisational policy development.
Finishing a theory of change for a community music venue.
Taking a holiday with friends. DAYS of laughter.
Only helping with one or two bids. Taking a break from BD for the summer.
Things I have been reading/ listening to
The unbearable lightness of being. Whilst in Czechia.
The NHS plan, and the many critiques around it (not enough nature, not enough on care and human connection, too much emphasis on nascent tech)
Pod Save the UK with Gary Stevenson and Oliver Coppard,Making Myths to Make Money w/ AI Now,anything and everything about Mamdani - including this great Over the Top and Under the Radar
4 July 2025
Things I have been working on
Many things at the intersection of care, power and collective action. Extraction from the care system, retrofitting houses, building alliances of people working on both these things.
Designing workshops and materials for others to deliver. Designing and running my own workshops. No matter the topic, it’s all about getting people to imagine beyond what we have, reflect on where we are, then commit to what we can each do. I now need some time to map out the prototypes of these so they can be used again and again.
Reading new policy docs, structural changes and trying to keep up with the speed and scale of it all.
Winning some interesting new work. Losing more proposals than I will. Hoping for a break from seeking new work until the cooler days of autumn.
Participating in learning and reflection workshops for my own work. Nice to be on the other side of the table!
Reflecting and acting on what I need in my work week to do great things WITH people and also protect my energy and cognition. More blocking of time, less flexibility.
Things I have been reading/ listening to
Podcasts: Computer Says Maybe on may topics, Karen Hao on her new book Empire of AI on Novara Media. Your Brain on Climate for an episode about home and listening to people. Lining up Bad Bridget about Irish women’s experience of emigration to the US in the 1800s.
