Architect for #openstandards, the Web and barcodes of all types. Tech policy. Ex-UK gov. Active in GS1, NHS & W3C. @hadleybeeman@w3c.social
London
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There will be somebody responsible for the @NATS outage that has disrupted 1,000 flights today. I feel for them. Their code, systems, or assurance processes appear to have failed — and that’s awful.
(I say this as someone stranded at a foreign airport, keen to get home.)
BUT.
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As an industry, we have layers of defences against this. Code review. Testing environments. Independent safety assurance. Redundancy. Failover. Rollback. Incident-response procedures.
This shouldn’t be happening in 2026.
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Buy a book for a child in Dolly’s memory.
donate.imaginationlibrary.co…
And the wonderful story of her Imagination Library:
rollingstone.com/music/music…
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Between her Covid vaccine funding, her literacy efforts and of course her music, I feel like we’ve lost both a friend and the best kind of leader. What a legacy to leave.
RIP Dolly Parton
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Yes! Having a gov dept for tech means it gets
•Cabinet-level focus
•the priority from Treasury
•the resources (people) to plug tech into other Depts’ agendas
If DSIT is merged with another dept — tech gets lost in the shuffle… along with UK’s global leadership in tech.
Jonny is great and would do a great job at DBT. But changes to DSIT (which I’ve been getting calls about) would be a mistake. A mega department would mean British tech competing with British steel for attention. And waste 6 months reorg-ing when time is of the essence. Not good.
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We had a @w3ctag face-to-face meeting recently. @hlflanagan wrote about what we’re up to:
w3.org/blog/2026/the-w3c-tag…
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One of the best parts of Christmas… it’s #duvetKnowItsChristmas
A laugh about where we are sleeping tonight, and a few pennies for those who don’t have a bed.
Merry merry, all 🎄
(L i n k to follow)
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gofundme.com/f/duvet-know-it…
And huge love to Rhodri Marsden, who brings this together each year.
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I have a new job.
To explain it, let me tell you a story.
Have you ever been in the hospital, or with a family member in the hospital, when all the chaos is surrounding you — the busy nurses, the other patients talking, the machines going beep-beep-beep, the occasional
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And from there, we can learn how to optimise our pharmacy stock, or our shipping routes, or the flow of people through our hospitals. So that’s what we’re doing.
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I’m based in @gs1’s Global Office, the standards body for barcodes. And I’m working with a phenomenal community of working groups, experts, and industry leaders.
It’s an honour to be joining them.
10/10
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Day 1 of the @W3C/@IETF TAG & IAB workshop on Age-Based Restrictions on Content Access.
Adult content, alcohol, social media restrictions, advertising/tracking…We’re looking at the technical & architectural choices in solutions, how they work with (or not) the web & internet.
ALT Screenshot: IAB/Workshop on Age-Based Restrictions on Content Access. (Link in next post)
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More info on the workshop: w3.org/events/workshops/2025…
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