Jonathan Whiteland

Investigation into November 2025 EFO publication error - Office for Budget Responsibility The OBR inadvertently made it possible to access the November 2025 Economic and fiscal outlook (EFO) too early on Budget day. We launched an immediate investigation into what happened which has report...

So the OBR's "early PDF publication snafu" report has been published obr.uk/investigatio... Not sure I agree with criticisms (WordPress scheduled post/page publication (nope); HTTP_REFERER configs (weak); blaming the Download Monitor plugin (seems robust)) but I could have misunderstood. #JustUseFTP

Wow, yes. Have heard the story, but how wonderful to actually see them.

Can confirm have seen so many Black Friday ads already over the past week for sales HERE IN THE UK.

Entrance to toilets in a museum. There is a sign on the faux-wood wall in Dutch and English saying "Feel free to the toilet that best suits you"

Example of the Dutch being so much more civilised (2 weeks ago when we were at the Mauritshuis in The Hague). As we know, the UK's cruelty is the point. :-(

I started wearing a trans flag pin (from Primark!) on my coat jacket about a year ago. [cis gay man, 60s]

Bloomin’ heck.

I was able to say thank to our train driver (as we arrived in London yesterday) which I think was a first for me (the cab door was open). :-)

Thinking that the best way to deal with racists is to try to get them to vote for you by enacting racist policies just means you become racist. The only way to deal with them is to fight back, to oppose them, and (for those who can change) to change them. And render the remainder powerless.

A poster for the film “Baby”. A young man is lounging asleep on a bed, illuminated by a ray of sunshine

Went down to #London for a Peccadillo-Pictures-organised preview screening of Marcelo Caetano’s “Baby”. Was completely invested in the characters, great sound design and score, informative Q&A with the director. Well-worth the slog to Bermondsey. :-) peccadillo.film/pages/films/...

It would be lovely! We have to walk under 8 lanes of that traffic mess every time we wanna walk into the centre (from beside the Mailbox). First bring in a chunky congestion charge, then #FreeTheA38.

An interior view of a modern museum showcasing prominent architectural features. Multiple levels display colorful artworks along the walls, while visitors walk along the balconies and corridors. The ceiling has a unique, angular design, contributing to the contemporary atmosphere.

A visually striking grid display featuring various everyday objects, including a bicycle, footwear, a red bucket, vintage telephones, and a large "UNDERGROUND" sign. The arrangement showcases a mix of colors and designs, creating a vibrant and eclectic collage

The image features a red typewriter mounted on a grid wall, surrounded by various objects including cutlery (spoon, fork, knife), a vintage mobile phone, a small kitchen utensil, a glass, and a fan.

Always fascinating to visit the #London Design Museum (and experience their complex hyperbolic paraboloid roof too, of course).

A historic windmill stands beside a brick building, featuring a green door and black shutters. The windmill has four blades and a wooden platform at the top, with a cloudy sky in the background.

An aerial view of a cityscape featuring rows of houses with orange rooftops, interspersed with canals. Trees with autumn foliage are visible, along with a skyline in the distance under a cloudy sky.

A historic brick gate with two tall spires stands at the end of a cobblestone pathway. Surrounding the gate are buildings with arched openings and greenery. The sky is partly cloudy, and the scene includes hints of autumn foliage.

A scenic view of a canal lined with bare trees and buildings, featuring parked bicycles. The water reflects the sky and surroundings, with a small arched bridge visible in the distance.

While visiting The Hague, we made a day trip by tram out to Delft. We experienced the pretty canals and quintessential humpy bridges we were hoping for. Plus we climbed the church tower for amazing views over the town.

A view across some pink flowers towards historical buildings on the far side of a formal lake. The sky is blue and the tres are leafless.

The impressive 3-side courtyard of a white stone palace behind substantial railings.

A red brick building with stripy awnings over all of its windows., some of which are deployed There is a greek restaurant on the ground floor.

A night view of a 4 storey building brightly lit from inside. It's an H&M store. A red and white tram is approaching

Just back from The Hague. Probably not an obvious European city-break destination, but we had a great time. There was a staggering breadth of retail (and restaurants) in the centre ranging from international and local chains through to quirky independents. Oh, and some historical buildings too. :-)

An art gallery featuring various artworks, including a prominent orange figure on a yellow background, framed in black (Keith Haring). Other pieces include prints and photographs in muted colors, mounted on white walls. The overall space has a modern aesthetic with well-lit artwork.

An art gallery display featuring several framed artworks on white walls. The prominent piece depicts a vase of sunflowers with a message "get well soon" (David Hockney) alongside other colorful prints, including playful figures (Banksy) and abstract designs.

The image features two framed artworks on a wall. On the left, there is a neon sign in the shape of a heart with the text "I promise to have you" (Tracey Emin). On the right, a colorful dotted artwork (Damien Hurst)

The #ForwardGallery 's current exhibition, "The Master Collection", contains an amazing array of internationally famous artists. For free! Right in the centre of #Birmingham! The staff are lovely, knowledgeable, and friendly to those of us who perhaps can't afford to buy anything. :-)

Admission: think the only stuff we've bought from Uniqlo – mainly in Hong Kong – is from their bargain bins, so very much "in person" shopping for us. And those shelves are always outward facing at the ends of the aisles. Hmm :-)

We just – finally! – got a store here in Birmingham. And you're right: it's like they are deliberately going for a claustrophobic feel. Weird. Very different from the minimalistic airiness of MUJI, say (albeit that clothes are a small part of their offering). (Birmingham's MUJI recently closed).

A window sill scene featuring a clear vase with spring onions in water, a frosted glass mason jar emitting a soft glow, and a small potted basil plant. The background shows a city skyline at dusk, slightly blurred by a dusty window.

A window sill scene featuring a clear vase with spring onions in water, a frosted glass mason jar emitting a soft glow, and a small potted basil plant. The background shows a city skyline at after dusk, lights from the building’s flats.

Evening view from the kitchen window with Mum’s old SunJar (designed by Tobias Wong, from SUCKUK www.suck.uk.com/mob/products...)

Birmingham | FRANKFURT.DE - DAS OFFIZIELLE STADTPORTAL

Seemingly not. :-) The city-twinning goes back to 1966 and apparently the market really is organised by the Germans. frankfurt.de/service-und-...

The grand arch over pedestrianised New Street bearing the words "BIRMINGHAM FRANKFURT CHRISTMAS MARKET". A giant LED screen hangs under the arch but it is mostly black and inactive barring a pair of folder icons labelled "LED CONFIG" and "FW_Frankfu..."

The #Birmingham Frankfurt Christmas Market is nearly upon us (for the next 8 weeks)

This is exactly what I thought of (even though it’s not a paywall). I (think) I know why they want me to use BBC Sounds (metrics?), but it really doesn’t fit in with my podcast listening patterns, so I just wait 4 weeks and grumble. But… the stuff I’m waiting for isn’t particularly topical.

A new ceramic artwork that I've just completed in a subway in central Birmingham.

Video by @gardnergareth.bsky.social

"pleasingly odd" is a good description (it's great). The lovely Louis Hofmann is also in the excellent/devastating "Land of Mine" (2015) and the new "Lilies Not for Me" (2024, which I've not seen)|.

Giant Little Ones is terrific – I'd not had it as contemporary with Love, Simon in my head.

ChatGPT's Atlas: The Browser That's Anti-Web - Anil Dash A blog about making culture. Since 1999.

Imagine a browser where you type in “Taylor Swift” and it doesn’t even admit that her website exists. I write about Atlas, ChatGPT’s new anti-web browser that should come with a warning label. www.anildash.com/2025/10/22/a...

Well, there's this (which I did a simple implementation of on a current dev site of mine) but I don't think any of the AI companies have publicly committed to honouring it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ rslstandard.org

View of a silhouetted man standing on Blackfriars Station platform above the Thames with the view down the river towards the city.

It’s such a great station view. Here’s one I snapped on my phone 3 years ago (from our train enroute to Gatwick at the start of a holiday).

A human on a bicycle is nature's most efficient traveller.

A version of this graph went on to inspire Steve Jobs of Apple, who used it in a 1980 presentation describing the personal computer as "the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds."

Agree: I clicked through to an article headlined "Full list of Pizza Hut restaurants set to close" in the execrable BirminghamLive to find (among all the slow-loading, flashing ads) a list of restaurants in… Scotland. Terrific.

Congratulations! I have your "Drôle de Félix" DVD, and then so many more since. Several of those DVDs I return to again and again: such great films in your catalog over the years. Thank you!

There’s some comfort in Vodafone being down for everybody this afternoon: it’s been the most unreliable ISP for us here that I can ever recall, can’t wait to be out of contract in February to switch to somebody – anybody! – else.