8 July 2022

Them’s the breaks

Sometimes a picture really can be worth a thousand words:

Chart hit: the famous IfG chart of ministerial resignations, showing Boris Johnson’s record-breaking week.

A good stat can go a long way, too. Keep up with the latest from Tim, Philip and team IfG (with the odd bit from me) over on the live blog. And do take a moment to read the new education secretary’s view on pizzas, burgers and effective government.

Worth noting too that the two junior DCMS ministers responsible for all things data and digital were among those resigning (meaning a return for Matt Warman).

Also:

• Wednesday’s climate special Data Bites was a cracker. Watch or listen. And remember we have a bonus pre-summer Data Bites, around justice data, on 20 July — come!
• I think I had some success with an FOI on civil service working from home. Sort of.
• There’s lots going on with mySociety’s TICTeC Labs project — join us for an event on climate action next week, or bid for some work on accessing quality data and information.
• The latest of the Royal Statistical Society’s Covid evidence sessions features one Matt Hancock. You can watch the previous ones on statistical resources (which I helped organise) and communication.
• Able to get to north London? Join my choir, the New Tottenham Singers, for an informal evening of music on Saturday 23 July.
• And if you’re looking for a data job in the charity sector, here’s a good thread prompted by Rachel.

There may not be a newsletter next week. But there may. THE SUSPENSE.

Have a great weekend
Gavin

Enjoying Warning: Graphic Content?

Tell your friends — forward this email, and they can:

• Subscribe via email
• Follow on Twitter
• Follow on Medium
• View archive on Tumblr

Or:

• Buy me a coffee (thank you!)
• Follow me, Gavin Freeguard, on Twitter
• Visit my website (I’m available for work!)

And:

• Check out (and add to) this list of other data-related newsletters and podcasts (etc)

Today’s links:

Graphic content

Relegation from the premiership

• Boris Johnson resignation — live-blog (IfG)
• Boris Johnson’s tumultuous three years as prime minister — in charts (The Guardian)
• Boris Johnson suffers more ministerial resignations than any PM in modern history (Sky News)
• Boris Johnson’s election promises — how much progress has been made? (Sky News)
• Boris Johnson was felled by the biggest mass resignation in history* (New Statesman)
• Who would win if an election was held today?* (New Statesman)

Ukraine

• Maps: Tracking the Russian Invasion of Ukraine* (New York Times)
• How the Russian Media Spread False Claims About Ukrainian Nazis* (New York Times)

Viral content

• Covid-19 vaccines saved an estimated 20m lives during their first year* (The Economist)
• What the BA.5 Subvariant Could Mean for the United States* (New York Times)

Money, money, money

• The Northern Agenda: Is alphabet soup of Levelling Up cash giving your area what it needs? (Manchester Evening News)
• Sixty per cent of Brits earning £80,000-£100,000 say they’re “about average”* (New Statesman)
• The Shrinking of the Middle-Class Neighborhood* (New York Times)
• The Living Standards Audit 2022 (Resolution Foundation)
• Bridging the gap: What would it take to narrow the UK’s productivity disparities? (Resolution Foundation)
• London Has a Two-Tier Home Market as Apartment Values Fall 11%* (Bloomberg)
• The Pound Flashes a Warning Signal for Boris Johnson* (Bloomberg)
• Brits support universal basic income by 20-point margin* (New Statesman)

Roe back on rights

• Who overturning Roe hurts most, explained in 7 charts (Vox)
• Health experts see rise in maternal mortality post-Roe (Axios)

Science and technology

• Has TikTok burst the Zuckerbubble?* (The Economist)
• Smashing Particles at Near-Light Speed: A Visual Guide to the Large Hadron Collider* (Wall Street Journal)
• Home Office’s favourite smartphone snooping firm sees government revenues soar* (New Statesman)

Democracy

• Democracy Data Explorer (Our World in Data)
• Countries are writing ever longer constitutions* (The Economist)
• Census reveals how the population of England and Wales has shifted* (New Statesman)

World

• Another mass shooting in America* (The Economist)
• There have been over 300 mass shootings so far in 2022* (Washington Post)
• How China is making Hong Kong more “Chinese”* (The Economist)
• North Korea’s dire food shortage may become more acute* (The Economist)

Climate of fear

• Climate graphic of the week: Asia-Pacific remains stuck on coal for half its power needs* (FT)
• Bloomberg Green’s Electric Car Ratings* (Bloomberg)

Sport

• Tour de France 2022 (Reuters)
• How the England men’s Test cricket team have transformed their fortunes* (FT)

Meta data

Open, FOIA

• Cabinet Office rejects recommendations to improve transparency of its FOI handling (PACAC)
• Government accused of ‘outrageous cover-up’ after refusing to reveal cost of Rwanda plan (The Independent)
• United Kingdom Action Plan Review 2021–2023 — For Public Comment (Open Government Partnership)
• Boris Johnson refuses to publish his official pandemic diaries (openDemocracy)
• The rules failed to hold Boris Johnson to account. We need radical change (openDemocracy)

AI got ‘rithm

• Opening up our code and logic for algorithmic decision-making (GDS)
• Algorithmic transparency report: Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (Food Standards Agency)
• Algorithmic transparency report: Registration Inbox AI (Information Commissioner’s Office)
• Japanese court ruling poised to make Big Tech open up on algorithms* (FT)

Privacy

• Big Tech remains silent on questions about data privacy in a post-Roe US* (MIT Technology Review)
• We must stop sleepwalking towards a surveillance state* (FT)
• How to save more lives and avoid a privacy apocalypse* (FT)
• Health data — how to sell sharing (Rory Cellan-Jones)

Share and share alike

• New data agreement with the Republic of Korea to spark new era of digital trade (DCMS)
• Data Sharing: Getting the UK back on the right track (techUK)

A farewell to harms

• Online Safety Bill, As Amended (Amendment Paper) (House of Commons)
• MPs propose amendments to Online Safety Bill to ensure Ofcom independence (DCMS Select Committee)
• Parliamentary briefing: Report Stage of the Online Safety Bill, 12 July 2022 (Full Fact)

Everything else

• What The F(ederation): Synthesising the many recent data strategies, white papers, and reviews (Jessica Morley)
• Crypto collapse reverberates widely among black American investors* (FT)
• EU votes to implement Digital Markets Act (IT PRO)
• How to track greenhouse gas emissions (Computer Weekly)
• Top official cites tech transformation as central to civil-service job-cut plans (Public Technology)
• ‘I wanted to see the numbers’ (On Politics, New York Times)
• Other Side of the Story (BBC Bitesize)
• UKtech50 2022: The most influential people in UK technology (Computer Weekly)

Opportunities

• JOB: Deputy Director, Data, Performance and Insight (Cabinet Office)
• JOBS: Analyst Opportunities (NAO)
• JOB: We’re hiring an interactive visual journalist (The Economist)
• JOB: Data Journalist (FT)
• JOB: Data Visualization Developer (Level 1 Journalist) (Reuters)
• JOB: Policy Director (Data & Society)
• RESIDENCY (Newspeak House)
• COMPETITION: Civil Service Data Challenge (Cabinet Office and others)

And finally…

• Temperature (@Hookean1)
• New dataset shows shark bites in Australia are increasing and researchers want to know why (The Guardian)