Open Thinkering

Weeknote 02/2026

• weeknote
A black and white photo of a tree without leaves in a park, with snow on the boughs and the ground
Photo taken by me in Morpeth's Carlisle Park on Tuesday
“Now, in oligarchies the masses make revolution under the idea that they are unjustly treated, because, as I said before, they are equals, and have not an equal share, and in democracies the notables revolt, because they are not equals, and yet have only an equal share.”

(Aristotle)

This is my first weeknote not only of 2026, but on this new blog. As I've already discussed, this was a project I got into over the three weeks I took off over Christmas and New Year.

This year, I want to be a bit more 'programmatic' with these weekly updates, which will make it both easier to put together and to scan to sections that you, as a reader, find more interesting than others.

I'm sure the sections will evolve a little over the next few weeks as I experiment with what to include. But for now, please enjoy a newly revamped approach to my weeknotes.

Writing

I'm not sure I'll be able to keep it up, but last week I published a post every day:

Meanwhile, over on Thought Shrapnel I shared:

Reading

I'm currently reading Flights by Olga Tokarczuk. After coming across this post I've been trying to read more slowly, which means I get through fewer pages per day.

As I mentioned just before Christmas, I'm starting again with my RSS feed reading. I've installed FreshRSS on my VPS and then using FeedFlow on my phone.

Here's what I'm currently subscribed to, in alphabetical order. I'm building the list up slowly and intentionally:

I'm also still subscribed to ~10 things by email such as Stephen Downes' OLDaily, Audrey Watters' Second Breakfast, and Garbage Day. I'm adding things I find interesting to my Finds channel (which has an RSS feed).

Working

This was my first week back after some time away, and it always takes a bit of time to get back into the groove.

Although I've got some other irons in the fire, my main focus was working with Laura on WAO's collaboration with Amnesty International UK for their new community platform. These things take way more planning, thought, and experimentation than you could possibly imagine.

We also spent some time planning for the future of our co-op. My accountant was also very swift at doing my end of year finances for Dynamic Skillset (which desperately needs a new website!)

Tom Watson and I did some “faffing around” on Friday afternoon, which we're planning to do some more of. He's recently shut down Data for Action as his colleague (another Tom) took a job. So we're thinking about ways to collaborate on cool stuff.

Personal

I'm feeling OK. Next week will be the anniversary of the day my health seemingly changed forever, and I've spent the last year coming to terms with it. The medication I'm on allows me to go to the gym and lift weights and go on long walks, but running is still not on my exercise menu.

My son, Ben, is still home from university and probably will be until after his birthday later this month. I do wonder of the value of university courses when he gets six weeks off in December and January. He's continuing to work part-time as a lifeguard at the leisure centre which is midway between our house and his flat in Gateshead.

Grace, my daughter, turns 15 tomorrow. She hasn't had much football on due to the weather, but being the determined and conscientious person that she is, has kept herself fit and flexible through a combination of running, going to the gym, and stretching.

My wife, Hannah, made the best mince pies over Christmas. I thought my mother's were pretty good, but she knocked it out of the park. I'm already looking forward to December.

Other than that, I've been watching a lot of football on TV, including with my Dad. Our team, Sunderland, is doing well at the moment. I've now completed Sniper Elite: Resistance DLC on normal mode – and have almost finished it on hard mode.

I've also got to buy a new UPS after Ben's PlayStation 5 fried the battery over Christmas while he was using my home office for gaming. It's not his fault, as that's what I recommended. It turns out that a decent UPS is expensive. I'm looking at options that are 2000VA and produce a pure sine wave, so they're around the £400 mark. Le sigh.

Next week

Tonight, we're heading out for dinner for my daughter's birthday as she has, of course, got training with her ETC tomorrow night. I'd like to get Flights finished and move onto another book on my reading list. I've also got a few that were given to me for my birthday/Christmas which aren't on that list

Each day next week I'm helping an Amnesty activist test the new community platform. We've come up with some defined tasks for them after which they will complete the System Usability Scale (SUS). Fingers crossed, this will give us an average score which gives us the go-ahead, along with a basic accessibility audit, to start the wider pilot at the end of the month.