This is a reminder

Photos of parched ground. A note to my future self. | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 1 day ago

How to write a letter

A new little project: How to write a letter is a new thing from Haudoo, but it's not the same as all the previous things from Haudoo. It's a different thing. And it's free. | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 13 days ago

Some sort of normal

Catching up with some highlights and some links | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 14 days ago

Dr Margaret Turnbull

A brief tribute to my aunt, Dr Margaret Turnbull, who died recently. | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 25 days ago

Chock full of good info

Not much about work - in fact, nothing at all about work - but quite a lot of links, for those of you who are link-leaning. | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 1 month ago

An opinion about lists

3 is the best number of list items, as Russell Davies explained in his PowerPoint book. Other good numbers are 5, 6 and 10. The worst number is 9. There you go, I've summarised the blog post in the RSS feed update so you don't even need to go and read it now. MEETING USER NEE … | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 2 months ago

Your friendly local particle accelerator

A shortish Friday note with some shortish Friday thoughts from a shortish Friday writer, who also sometimes writes on other days. | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 2 months ago

10 years of ok

Celebrating 10 years of "It's ok"… | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 2 months ago

Smile at everyone you know

Quite a long weeknote, with quite a lot of links. | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 2 months ago

Working in the open ≠ comms

Two approaches to institutional openness; each has a different purpose, and will bring about different outcomes. | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 2 months ago

For us, by us

A few thoughts about a good sticker and a good catchphrase: For the NHS, by the NHS. | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 3 months ago

We put on a show

A brief update about a photo show | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 3 months ago

Allotment engineering

I'm a wee bit fascinated by the structures people build on their allotments. Let me show you what I mean. | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 3 months ago

A museum about museums

Mostly about my thoughts after visiting the V&A East Storehouse; but also some other things. Please sponsor my mum on her sponsored walk. | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 3 months ago

Iterating the potatoes

How I'm messing about with my own spud routine this year. Skip this one if you're only interested in the stuff with links and ranting about writing. | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 3 months ago

Seemingly in cahoots

Links at the start. Some of the usual nonsense. A small moan about macOS. | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 3 months ago

AI and the human voice

Some - admittedly biased - opinions about using AI to write prose. And the poetry that makes prose better. | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 4 months ago

Know where your codes are

Backups, bad slides, quite a lot of links, couple of pictures, what more do you need? | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 4 months ago

Make things OpenSAFELY, it makes things better

A new OS website; how should gov experiment on the web? some links, pics, the usual gubbins in many respects etc | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 5 months ago

We need to continue to sing this song

WE NEED TO CONTINUE TO SING THIS SONG SO THAT FUTURE GENERATIONS KNOW WHAT WE MEAN AND WHY WE MEAN IT | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 5 months ago

Talking of quizzes

A surprise quiz / A planned quiz / A Marmite ghost | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 6 months ago

Not moaning about AI

I wrote a rant about shitty AI tools this week, and you'll be delighted to know that I've spared you the pain of reading it. | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 6 months ago

The dot becomes a bullet

This week's update, with musings on the GOV AI Studio notes, a nice green photo, and more | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 6 months ago

Hanging with my DPSPeople

A weeknote? Yes, I think I'd say so. Certainly a note. Certainly about a week. Should qualify. The omelette really was very good. | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 7 months ago

Mooching around Oxford

Some moody bw photos in a new sideways scrolling format wooooo | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 7 months ago

How to write more postcards

TL;DR: put postcards near where you often sit | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 7 months ago

Projects 145-156

A yearnote for 2025. | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 7 months ago

Questions to ask at the start of any comms project

A list of the things I often pester people about when I start a new piece of commsy sort of work. Hi! How's your Thursday going? Or whatever day you're reading this | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 8 months ago

How about some Haudoo?

Tis the season for little brown bargain booklets | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 8 months ago

How to use Pooh case

How to use Pooh case when you're Writing Important Things. It looks like Title Case you see, but it's really not the same. | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 9 months ago

The horror of YouTube

Like, and subscriiiiiiiiiii-i-i-i-i-i-iii i i ii i | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 9 months ago

Doing Presentations en español

Hello Russell! I got your message. This post is mostly about Julián Orihuela translating Doing Presentations into Spanish, but it also mentions that I've fixed those broken links now. It was on my list, I've just been quite busy. You know how it is. I like it when you send me mes … | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 9 months ago

30 minutes of /random

I spend half an hour clicking gov.uk/random, and seeing what I find. All sorts! | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 10 months ago

A chat with 19-year-old me

I bumped into my younger self and we had a brief chat. | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 10 months ago

The strategy is enquiry

In which I grumble about government strategies stuffed with "We will" statements, and propose an alternative. | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 11 months ago

Everything I've ever written about working in the open

High time I collated all this stuff in one place. | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 11 months ago

Free copies of my book for charities

I found some copies of _The agile comms handbook_ first edition lurking in a box, so if you want one, lemme know and you can have it for nowt. | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 11 months ago

Postcard from Iceland

Some words and photos from my recent trip to Iceland, which I enjoyed very much. Some of the photos are moderately ok. | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 12 months ago

Doing open

I put together a page of _working in the open_ examples. Teams and people who are actually doing open. | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 1 year ago

How to be open while you test and learn

Finally, a proper blog post. First one for ages. This one is about the *institutional capability* of working in the open, and resolving a tension I see between that and the "test and learn" delivery approach. | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 1 year ago

New photos

Some new photos on the photos page | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 1 year ago

Print in Antwerp

Mostly raving about the excellent printing museum in Antwerp. Rob Kendrew, Ben Terrett: if you read this RSS feed, you'd love this museum, you should go if you haven't been. | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 1 year ago

What Czechia looks like

Some photos, mostly taken from train windows | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 1 year ago

Things you should know about the European Sleeper from Brussels to Prague

Moaning about dirty trains | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 1 year ago

Cake in Prague

A trip to Prague, which was obviously lovely. | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 1 year ago

Dial my number

gilest.org is in the Internet Phone Book, this makes me very happy | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 1 year ago

A bit of housekeeping

Dropping domains and hosts | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 1 year ago

New links list, some site tweaks

Hello, it's been a while. There's a new links page on gilest.org, where I shall be posting links for the time being. Bluesky's nice and all that, but an archive with some attached RSS (like wot you're reading now) will be a better choice. Since I last troubled your RSS reader, th … | Continue reading


@gilest.org | 1 year ago