Weeknote 10/2026

But I can't help the feeling
I could blow through the ceiling
If I just turn and run

[Chorus]
And it wears me out
It wears me out
It wears me out
It wears me out

— Radiohead, Fake Plastic Trees

I'm not sure why I'm watching another game of football today, but I've got Leeds United vs Norwich City in the FA Cup 5th round on in the background while writing this.

I'm only recently back from my daughter's match for Northumberland U16s against Durham, which they lost 8-2. Yesterday, her Boro Rangers team won 16-0 in the semi-final of the County Cup. This morning, I watched her referee two U10 games.

Writing

Here, I published:

When AI tools give you choices but take your agency

AI tools promise more options and faster decisions, but they also quietly shape which options organisations ever get to see.

Open ThinkeringDoug Belshaw

ChronoTasker: turning my to-do list into a clockface

I built a to-do app to scratch my own itch. Maybe you’d like it to?

Open ThinkeringDoug Belshaw

TechFreedom and the risks hiding in your tech stack

TechFreedom is a three‑session, cohort-based programme for co‑ops, charities, unions, and public‑interest organisations that want to understand their dependence on Big Tech and reduce the risks in their tech stack.

Open ThinkeringDoug Belshaw

Meanwhile, over at Thought Shrapnel, I published:

The spectacle produces hypernormalisation

We live in a world of ‘spectacle’ which Guy Debord would have recognised, as both described and predicted it. This is closely linked to the idea of ‘hypernormalisation’ in which surreal events are presented as normal. Source: Are.na

Thought Shrapnel

Customised pixel graphics from classic games

I learned to touch-type when I was about 11 years old using Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing which came free via the floppy disk of PC Magazine. I was sad to later learn that Mavis was a fictional character. There are many iconic screens in this games collection which you can customise to your own ends. Fun! The Death Generator

Thought Shrapnel

The world you were raised to survive in no longer exists

Source: Are.na

Thought Shrapnel

How to avoid your white collar turning blue: brilliance, influence, and relationships

The opening of this piece by Anu Atluru, which I’ve quoted below, is one of the clearest explanations of the shift that’s happening in so-called “white-collar” work at the moment. Their explanation of luxury workers’ rights is spot-on. AUTONOMY. CREATIVE OWNERSHIP. A SEAT AT THE TABLE. The right to say no, not like that, or not right now. Flexible schedules. Remote work. A title that keeps getting better. The expectation that your opinion shapes direction.

Thought Shrapnel

Living off the moral and intellectual capital of a pre-AI world

As one of the comments underneath this notes, “Millennials might be the last generation formed by the new and old, deep enough in intellectual tradition to have taste, early enough in the internet to lead this new era.” Source: Substack Notes

Thought Shrapnel

Finger-based checkout

As a facilitator, I do love an innovative end-of-session activity. This one made me smile. 👉 Index: What do you want to point at or highlight? 🖕 Middle finger: What do you want to say f**k you to? 💍 Wedding: What do you want to marry and take with you for the rest of your life? 🤞Little / pinky: What do you want to promise yourself (pinky promise)? 👍 Thumb: What do you give a thumbs up to?

Thought Shrapnel

Et Merda

If this isn’t true (as it probably isn’t) it certainly should be. Source: Mastodon

Thought Shrapnel

Groundwork

This week I shared my Claude-based ‘bizdev dashboard’ with a few people on some Slack channels of which I’m part. Some people have gone on created equally-useful personalised dashboards, and I’m running a session next Friday to help anyone who wants some guidance. Meanwhile, I’ve been iterating a single-file offline, private dashboard for tracking projects and profitability for freelancers. I’ve called it ‘Groundwork’ and you simply download index.html and run it in your browser.

Thought Shrapnel

They’re not rejecting technology. They’re choreographing it.

An inability to focus is a design problem. As I noted back in 2020 on my now-defunct literaci.es blog, perhaps we need notification literacy (archive.org link). If the problem is screens inherently, then we need cultural revival, a return to books, perhaps even a neo-Luddite retreat from technology. But if the problem is design, then we need design activism and regulatory intervention. The same screens that fragment attention can support it.

Thought Shrapnel

News Canary next steps

Now That’s What I Call An MVP Source: News Canary

Thought Shrapnel

Reading & Listening

I finished Jorge Luis Borges' Labyrinths and started Ian Rankin's Exit Music, which I'm enjoying. UK crime fiction isn't usually my thing, but I remember reading that this book in particular was one of the best in the Rebus series.

As I mentioned to my wife, Hannah, yesterday, I like either deeply psychological novels where you get into the protagonist's head (e.g. Dostoeveky's Crime & Punishment) – or one's where the reader just finds out what actually happens, with no psychological insights. Most novels end up being a middling beige between the two.

I'm also still re-reading and highlighting Nassim Nicholas Taleb's Antifragile. I've just been listening to recent episodes of No Such Thing As A Fish while walking places.

Working

Laura's been off this week. I did a minimal amount on the Amnesty International UK community platform project, saving our hours for the wrap-up and evaluation. WAO finally got the INASP contract through on Friday so I'm hoping that we get to start on that next week.

In terms of Dynamic Skillset work, Nate and I had the client kick-off meeting for the Skills Development Scotland project for a Digital Badges Proof of Concept.

Meanwhile, Tom and I opened sign-ups for TechFreedom. I've already linked to my launch post, and here's Tom's.

I had chats with a bunch of people:

• Endre Kadas from Digital Society Co-op
• Stefan Hager from Weirdness as a Service
• Tom Watson from The Good Ship
• Audrey Hingle from Internet Exchange
• Paula Mesa Macías from Pau&Company
• Pete Cohen from Vibrance
• Aaron Hirtenstein from LocalGov Drupal, etc.

Other than that, I spent a good deal of time on various projects for which I'm using Claude Opus 4.6.

I'm finding ChronoTasker particularly useful for planning my days.

People have been booking appointment slots with me for the last few weeks using CalAnywhere.

I'm going to start using Groundwork (freelancer dashboard) next week. I'll also be running a session next Friday on how to create your own.

How to Create a Freelancer Dashboard · Zoom · Luma

An opportunity for freelancers to learn how to use AI tools like Claude to create a freelancer dashboard that works for them. Free to attend, but tips welcome…

Doug Belshaw

These days, you can wake up with an idea, have it working after an hour, and then iterate all kinds of features and functionality. It's great.

Personal

I'm so pleased it's finally Spring! On Thursday morning around 08:00, I walked into our east-facing bedroom, and the sunlight was streaming in through the window. A wide smile broke out spontaneously on my face. I find November through to February difficult with the lack of light – which, if you think about it, is fully one-third of the year.

In terms of exercise, I went for a run on Tuesday, did leg weights at the gym on Thursday, and did arm weights at the gym today. Definitely no danger of exacerbating my recently-diagnosed overtraining syndrome with that kind of regime... 😅

I was going to go for a big old walk on Friday after dropping my daughter, Grace, at Sunderland College for her SAFC day release. The weather was, however, 'minging' so I ended up doing a bit of work on my laptop in the Fox and Finch in Whitley Bay.

Next week

INASP want to get as much done as possible before WAO closes on 1st May, so hopefully we'll get cracking as soon as possible. Most of the SDS project is on the shoulders of Nate for the first milestone, but I'm going to be proactive and get other things lined up and prepared.

I'll also be promoting TechFreedom (tell your friends and colleagues!), attending Tech Builders NE on Thursday in Newcastle, and working on my code-based projects. We've also got some WAO archiving to do as we aim to leave an open legacy.