Claire Miller
@clairemiller
Data journalist, maths geek, feminist, responsible for a lot of the ICO's FOI caseload.
Sending your #FOI request to public bodies that just can't help you is a waste of everyone's time. Citroen got data about the state of the UK roads through FOI requests to 424 councils. It then paid for some pothole repairs in Gateshead. But there aren't 424 councils in the UK...
Really nice of South Western Railway to email me to let me know they'll be subject to #FOI soon.
I'm guessing we're not paying attention to Skills for Care's workforce strategy for adult social care in England then. www.skillsforcare.org.uk/Workforce-St...
BBC Radio 2 loves Eurovision. However, perhaps not enough to add the UK's Eurovision entry Remember Monday to the playlist...despite the previous two entries making it into regular rotation by this point.
It's just the phonics screening results (you'll never guess what the threshold mark for the expected standard was)
But if you don't live in more rural areas, the birds you're more likely to spot in your garden (robins, pigeons and magpies, for example) are ones that haven't seen much of a decline, possibly hiding the wider trends.
Some types of bird have seen a 90%+ fall in population since the 1970s. Farmland (turtle dove, grey partridge, and tree sparrow) and woodland birds (willow tit, capercaillie, lesser spotted woodpecker and spotted flycatcher) are well represented in this group.
The data tracks aggregated population trends for 130 species of birds in the UK - mainly widespread species with at least 500 breeding pairs. While overall UK wild bird populations are in decline, it's more evenly split between those where numbers are falling and those that aren't.
Since 1970 there's been a 16% drop in wild bird populations across the UK. Most of the decline was between the late 1970s and the early 1990s, driven mostly by steep falls in woodland and farmland birds. Then things stabilised a bit, but now declines have sped up again.
The UK's wild bird population is in decline. But you might not notice from looking at the birds in your garden... (Picked the right random mug from the office cupboards for this thread)
When fast fashion wasn’t quite so fast - I’ve had this H&M dress for about 25 years.
I feel like Atlanta is trying - the Beltline (a walking/cycling loop of the city) was really busy but it’s still one of those places where you end up walking on your own on an uneven pavement next to a highway.
People walk in New Orleans and you can do it while carrying a cocktail (is this the solution?) Also street cars!
Jackson, Mississippi would be very walkable but absolutely no one is doing that! (And that’s why the local police offered to make sure I got back to my hotel safely when I was walking back from a restaurant)
Hired a bike in Memphis to cycle alongside the Mississippi (after going the wrong way round a roundabout in a, thankfully, empty car park) - nice, route needed much better labelling. Then ended up walking ages out of my way because there were so many roads in the way of getting anywhere!
Took the bus from downtown Memphis to Graceland Pros: $2 for the entire day! Pretty reliable Cons: Not its fault Google Maps kept making me change at random intersections with nothing but a gas station. Really need to GPS tag their buses.
There seems to be whole rituals around travelling on Amtrak trains. It’s Cardiff to Manchester train slow, the cafe is only intermittently open, but the sleeper cars are great and it’s pretty reasonably priced!
I think I love the ‘L’ in Chicago (I’d have loved it more if it accepted my contactless card but a day ticket’s $5).
Apparently becoming a collector of DC metro smart cards. It’s really expensive. Also not clear if you’re on the right train as you wait for the electronic display to slowly scroll through the stops! Walking the whole loop around the tidal basin is fun but you may not want to do it in 28C weather
Just learned the bus driver can apparently change the interior LED strip lights on this bus. Bus driver still in their brat era apparently. (This is not flattering lighting!)
If you meet a Holly, ask her if it's her birthday this month. Latest baby names stats from the ONS include some analysis on seasonal naming trends: www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopula...
Have somehow managed to book a flight into Washington on election day… Might be drinking.
The cost of fixing NHS buildings has now overtaken the day-to-day cost of running those buildings. The NHS in England now has a £13.8bn maintenance backlog...on an estate that costs £13.6bn to run. The high risk (might kill or injure someone) backlog is now at £2.7bn.
"The NHS has been starved of capital...The result has been crumbling buildings that hit productivity" In 2012/13, the cost to fix NHS maintenance backlog was £4.0bn. In 2022/23, £11.6bn Cost to fix high risk backlog (the 'might kill people' problems) rose from £0.4bn to £2.4bn
"People are struggling to see their GP." It used to be that 7 in 10 people said the experience of making an appointment was good, but it'd fallen to 5 in 10 by 2023. By then more than a quarter said it was a poor experience (one in seven said very poor).