@jonskeet.uk - Jon Skeet

17 May 2026 14:02 +0000

As I start looking for a job for when I've left Google, I can't help but wonder how guarded I need to be about my concerns around AI. I'd like to think I'm open-minded and can see benefits as well as problems, but are employers going to be put off by anything negative.

14 May 2026 16:56 +0000

Public Service Announcement: the news in the UK today was only a test for the combined UK emergency podcast services. No further action is required, but you may wish to restrict yourself to listening to one (1) emergency podcast in the next 24 hours to avoid banging your head hard against a desk.

14 May 2026 12:19 +0000

Funny how a cabinet vacancy comes up on the same day Angela Rayner announces that she's been cleared by HMRC. I've no idea whether or not she'd be a good Health Secretary, but it would at least be funny.

14 May 2026 10:15 +0000

Suppose Streeting *doesn't* launch a leadership bid - at least not just yet. If you're Starmer, do you fire him anyway in a reshuffle, given that the manoeuvres were pretty clear? Or does that just make him a martyr?

12 May 2026 10:34 +0000

BBC headline: 'We're all behind him' - chief secretary to the treasury Unspoken follow-up: 'That makes it much easier to stab him in the back.'

10 May 2026 16:06 +0000

Okay, 2026 England local election results are now up on https://election2029.uk/local-elections as far as I've got data. There are quite a few results still to be uploaded to Democracy Club, and *loads* where there's no clear correspondence between old and new results, but it's still interesting...

09 May 2026 17:51 +0000

Just listened to "A Little Priest" from Sweeney Todd for the first time in a while. It's *so* good - makes me sad all over again for us losing Sondheim, but he's left us so much treasure...

08 May 2026 07:18 +0000

Hoping to create the same sort of Sankey diagrams of how seats have changed hands as I did last year, but it definitely won't be today (I'll be at a daytime count) and it may well be some time next week, depending on how hard it is to sort out the data from "seats last time" to "seats this time".

07 May 2026 08:38 +0000

As is so often the case with @ldfreedman.bsky.social (and @samfr.bsky.social), this is a wonderful combination of insight and elegant prose. There are plenty of sites with one or the other - or even a "pretty good" standard of both. But Sam and Lawrence absolutely nail both with alarming frequency. [contains quote post or other embedded content]

05 May 2026 18:53 +0000

I foolishly started bingeing on "The Traitors India" without spotting that most if it isn't available on iPlayer yet. Rookie mistake.

25 Apr 2026 16:22 +0000

Now seems as good a time as any to post this... I've handed in my notice at Google. I'll be working to the end of June, with my final employment date being July 7th. I don't have anything lined up yet in terms of my next role, but I'm starting some conversations. Feel free to get in touch :)

23 Apr 2026 20:41 +0000

I hadn't quite expected the "Handmaid's Tale crossed with Bridgerton" vibe that's coming off The Testaments.

13 Apr 2026 18:01 +0000

I hate the way "sanction" has two completely opposite meanings. From a BBC article: "It is not clear if the US-sanctioned vessel was attempting to pass through and exit via the Gulf of Oman." "US-sanctioned" could mean "approved" or "penalised" here; I genuinely can't tell which is the case.

28 Mar 2026 14:12 +0000

Visual Studio seems to be back to "completely hang when hitting F12 to navigate to a member" mode :( It's been horribly unstable since the start of 2026.

27 Mar 2026 20:11 +0000

Oooh, Hadestown proshot will be released in the US on July 24th. No UK release date yet, but I'd hope it won't be much later.

24 Mar 2026 20:32 +0000

I cannot begin to express how furious I am with Girlguiding UK right now.

21 Mar 2026 14:45 +0000

Visiting Cambridge after many years away, and this makes me so sad - when I think back to student days, having an occasional burger from Gardies is one of the strongest memories.

17 Mar 2026 22:51 +0000

If Dónal Finn never ends up playing the Joker, it will be a sad waste. Very odd seeing him one day after another, first in Young Sherlock and then The Other Bennet Sister. He'll always be Orpheus to me though :)

08 Mar 2026 15:35 +0000

The missions in Traitors NZ feel far more brutal than the UK ones. (Currently near the end of series 2.)

20 Feb 2026 17:00 +0000

Nearly finished work for the day. Looking forward to putting some time into defeating my current nemesis boss in Hollow Knight: Silksong (*amazing* game, btw - I may post more on that another time). Trouble is, I'm also considering having a tinned cocktail. The two activities may not mix well.

20 Feb 2026 10:13 +0000

I see To Kill A Mockingbird is going to be on in the West End again. I don't remember a show coming back (as opposed to a transfer like The Producers) so quickly before. (We saw it in 2022, and it lasted until May 2023.) That won't stop me from going again of course. It's a fabulous play. All rise.

19 Feb 2026 08:19 +0000

It really pains me to say this, and I know people have been talking about Stack Overflow dying for ages, but I really think this *is* the beginning of the end - at least of the site I used to love. https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/438177

30 Jan 2026 20:12 +0000

@samfr.bsky.social No idea if you remember saying this might be an interesting thing for the web site, but bloc-based voting intention polls is now on the site... election2029.uk/blocs - if you have any other suggested groupings, they're very easy to add :) https://election2029.uk/blocs

28 Jan 2026 13:16 +0000

From EE: "For all of your numbers, we’ve moved you to our latest pounds and pence terms. In future, your price change won’t be affected by inflation, so you’ll know exactly how much it will increase each year." Sounds great, right? Except the price changes are *massively* above inflation.

26 Jan 2026 22:53 +0000

Enjoying #TheTraitors Ireland, but it's sort of the diametric opposite of UK Series 4. Just - what?

25 Jan 2026 14:43 +0000

At Hadestown again after a gap of just over three months - new Hermes, new Persephone. Can't wait.

24 Jan 2026 22:25 +0000

I've just remembered that Farage was going to announce a high profile defection from Labour to Reform this week. Did I miss it in all the other news this week, or did it not happen? (Perhaps another computery problem for Nigel?) @samfr.bsky.social Was there a defection that got mostly drowned out?