Half-time retro – 2026

It is the Summer Solstice apparently so it feels like a good time to reflect on the first half of my 2026. — TL;DR It has been a bit on the bleak side. — The Good It hasn’t all been bad. I started the year very excited to be back as a ‘real’ Civil Servant at GDS and to be working on a big, high profile data initiative. The team is lovely. Talented, committed, determined and just cynical enough for me to fit in with. It has also been nice to spend some time in the offices in Bristol, Manchester and Whitechapel. I needed to get out of this flat. Govcamp in Birmingham was great fun. So was Camp Digital in Manchester (albeit a little overwhelming so soon after my extended health related break – see ‘The Ugly’). I wrote a couple of blogposts that proved popular (the AI one particularly so) and gave a fun talk at ProductTank Bristol. Pretty chuffed to be having conversations with a publisher about maybe writing a book as well. Less work related – my Paris trip was fantastic, this year’s…