THREAD 1/12 With the government’s latest defence spending plans – along with next week’s spending review - there’s a lot of attention on the UK’s public finances - and the pressure they’re under. Defence is definitely part of the equation, but it’s far from the full story…
2/12 With the @BBCPanorama team, I’ve looked at why the UK is struggling to fund the public services that we expect. Beyond the increase in defence spending, there are a number of other important factors that it’s helpful to consider. Here are some of them.
3/12 First, the percentage of the population over 65 has almost doubled since 1948. The rise in life expectancy is, of course, to be celebrated. But an ageing population brings costs - it's estimated that within 30 years the state will require an additional £140bn a year.
Given there was some interest in my train journey from DC to New York yesterday, I thought it might be good to continue to exchange notes with you on the US rail experience as I make the return journey.
THREAD 1/15: As I may have mentioned a couple of times, in an unlikely development, I'm going to be doing a drum and bass set @Glastonbury. And, not at all unreasonably, quite a few people have asked me variations on ‘how did that happen?!’ Well, there's a bit of a story here.
2/ In 2022, I was asked about my (very) amateur DJing days in an interview. Soon after, I got an email from Matt Tasker @BBC6Music asking if I’d like to do a set. At the time, I wrote this thread about it all which got shared a lot more than I expected.
3/ And if you look carefully in the comments below that thread, you'll see this exchange. I knew all about @thesocial. It's a brilliant venue that goes all the way back to the late 90s. As you can see, I replied straight away when they got in touch.
Over 2.5 hours into my rail replacement bus trip out of Cornwall & the driver admits to a passenger that ‘we’re going the wrong way’. Which wasn’t the news I was hoping to hear. Sure enough, a quick look on google maps and we’re heading West! 15 mins later no 3 point turn yet…
Still going. When asked about our train connection, the driver says there’s nothing he can do. Hold on - a roundabout!
1/ THREAD (about emails, no less). I confess, I’m a keen student of email. It's a big part of how many of us communicate when working - and how we write emails has a huge bearing on if they get read, understood and acted on. These are my 5 assumptions when I start to write one.
Assumption 1: The email or message may not be read at all.
We're going to have to convince the recipient the email is worth opening and reading. Given some email apps only show the first line or two, very early on we need to explicitly state what the message is about.
Assumption 2: They may not read all of it.
Two things can help here. The shorter the message, the more likely people are to read all of it and respond. And we can start with the most important information and requests, in case the reader doesn’t make it to the end.
THREAD...on the 10 attributes that I am looking for in an explanation. And the 10 questions that help me try to deliver them each time that I’m communicating.
1. Simplicity.
Is this the simplest way that I can say this?
If what we say is in its simplest form, it's going to be easier to take in.
2. Essential detail.
What detail is essential to this explanation?
Every excess piece information that we include is asking more of the person that we're communicating with.