Paul Johnston

@pdj

Multi CTO, Climate, Data, Governance, Government, NED, advisor, strategist, ex AWS and GDS Other: Green Party/ADHD/Leadership/Christianity M: @pauldjohnston@mastodon.green X: @pauldjohnston

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Paul Johnston@pdj· 28d

No shots in first 30 minutes. That's a defensive masterclass from both sides. It's not lack of quality in attack, that's for sure. www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba... #FIFAWorldCup #ENGARG

HT: England 0-0 Argentina

This is the first World Cup match on record (since 1966) not to see a single shot in the first 30 minutes. The previous record for longest wait for a shot was England's last game against Norway (29th minute).

Tough going out there.

Paul Johnston@pdj· 28d

Paul Robinson saying this is one of the worst refereeing performances he's seen. I disagree. I'm pretty sure that no referee would do any better. Couple of fouls missed definitely but I'd rather this refereeing than a yellow card maniac and 9 v 9 at the end. #FIFAWorldCup #ENGARG

Paul Robinson
Former England goalkeeper on BBC Radio 5 Live at Atlanta Stadium

Image: Lionel Messi (L) speaks with US referee Ismail Elfath
Image source,Getty Images

That's one of the worst refereeing performances I've seen at this World Cup. He didn't get a grip of the game from the start.

He's let so much go and the two coaches are not happy either. England have had to stick in this game because it has been tough. They have been kicked off the park at times. There's a clear game plan.

There's been no real flow to the game

Paul Johnston@pdj· 28d

Although this could be a meme

"but what about mine" - man holding glass of... Opaque liquid?

Paul Johnston@pdj· 28d

Have you seen this man?

A scary man that looks a bit like Sam Reich

Paul Johnston@pdj· Jul 8

Currently sitting in my garden with verbena and geraniums and lots of other plants flowering and lots of little buzzy insects. It's incredibly peaceful.

A garden bed with flowers and plants and pots of flowers next to a garden room with a brown-green lawn.

Paul Johnston@pdj· Jul 7

I do think GenAI is fascinating. I like using it to make fun little things. Like this pink and lime green dog. Or a clockwork mechanical hummingbird.

Pink and lime green cartoon dog on a green background. (AI generated via midjourney)

An AI image of a clockwork mechanical hummingbird (AI generated with midjourney)

Paul Johnston@pdj· Jul 7

As an England supporter, I want to point out that Scotland and Sweden were both in the tournament too.

Bluesky post "The two whitest playing in Miami in July" ref Norway v England

Paul Johnston@pdj· Jul 7

Is this what "Five million Farage" is going to look like when he makes his statement at 2pm? (Disclosure: AI generated)

An AI generated image of Nigel Farage holding a massive comedy sack with a £ sign on it and laughing

Paul Johnston@pdj· Jul 7

And underneath that t-shirt... Another one

A blue t-shirt with 7 mini tech logos from serverlessdays conferences in the mid 2010s

Paul Johnston@pdj· Jul 7

Just found an old t-shirt from the JeffConf/ServerlessDays era. Cannot remember who made the logos but they were awesome. @iamstan.dev knows.

Black t-shirt with an image of a futuristic unicorn holding a phone in a flying seat that is expelling rainbows

Paul Johnston@pdj· Jul 3

When AI annoys me, which is often, I sometimes ask it to do something absurd just to make me realise that it really isn't very clever. Here is "Cats playing Catan"

A midjourney image of "Cats playing Catan"

Paul Johnston@pdj· Jul 3

This post is excellent and well worth a read. Well done @whitep4nth3r.com for being honest and open. Dev rel is not easy, and it can have a significant impact. Look after yourselves people.

Paul Johnston@pdj· Jul 3

BBC Sport survey England v Mexico: stay up or catch up? 1am kick off. 52% stay up 48% catch up It's Brexit all over again.

BBC Survey of website users asking: "How will you follow England v Mexico?"
Stay up: 52%
Catch up: 48%

Paul Johnston@pdj· Jul 2

IS THAT DOUBLE HEADED VIOLIN "MADE TO PRODUCE MUSIC" OR NOT???

A captcha with a double headed violin... That makes no sense

Paul Johnston@pdj· Jul 2

My daughter is using the driving test website which is mad. The weirdest bit is the captcha. LOOK AT THE SQUIRRELS WITH THE BASKETBALLS

Captcha with "Click on every object built to produce music" and pictures of helicopters, cymbals, violins and deserts

Captcha with "Find all the animals that are really slow" with pictures of metal sloths, motorbikes, planes, and cars

Captcha of "pick all images containing objects from the example" and a picture with a basketball, and pictures to choose from of a squirrel with a basketball (multiple in various scenarios), umbrellas, and something else not obvious

Paul Johnston@pdj· Jun 24

If you're going to call it a "dome" and it's making it hotter, check whether it's also causing thunderstorms because... "THUNDER DOME" is right there www.bbc.co.uk/weather/arti...

From BBC news article: Heat dome is 'driving force' behind heatwave
The intense record-breaking heatwave in the UK and Europe has been caused by a static and large area of high pressure - also referred to as a heat dome.

This is the "driving force" behind the heatwave, Dr Akshay Deoras, senior research scientist at the University of Reading, told BBC Weather.

This weather pattern results in air sinking down through the atmosphere, which compresses and heats up as it hits the ground.

This sinking air also dries out, meaning no clouds can form, so strong sunshine is able to heat the ground up even further.

Paul Johnston@pdj· Jun 22

Photos from britishculturearchive.co.uk/1980s-britai...

Photo of a man breakdancing in a field in the 1980s

photo of a man breakdancing outside a house with a boombox in the background in the 1980s

Paul Johnston@pdj· Jun 22

When we bought the cabin for our tiny garden, I knew heat would be an issue. But we're not made of money. So for the last couple of years I've been using a low tech solution during the summer. Putting up shades. Added to a small AC unit this makes the room just about bearable for working in.

Garden room width external window covers of yellow material attached to shade the windows in hot weather and reduce heat transfer

Paul Johnston@pdj· Jun 18

And if you just look at the UK, the data centre market is very very focused on London London: 214 Manchester: 28 Cardiff: 22 Birmingham UK: 20 Edinburgh: 18 Cambridge: 15 Leeds: 15 Glasgow: 12 Berkshire: 10 Farnborough: 8

Top UK data centre locations by number of data centres. Data from datacentermap.com

London 214
Manchester 28
Cardiff 22
Birmingham UK 20
Edinburgh 18
Cambridge 15
Leeds 15
Glasgow 12
Berkshire 10
Farnborough 8

Paul Johnston@pdj· Jun 18

If you just take the states of the US, Virginia alone has more than the second country on the list, UK which has 550: Virginia: 631 Texas: 464 California: 287 Illinois: 239 Georgia: 225 Ohio: 210 Arizona: 156 New York: 132 Pennsylvania: 130 Oregon: 125

Top 10 US States by number of data centres. Data from www.datacentermap.com

Virginia 631
Texas 464
California 287
Illinois 239
Georgia 225
Ohio 210
Arizona 156
New York 132
Pennsylvania 130
Oregon 125

Paul Johnston@pdj· Jun 18

The top 10 list is: USA: 4378 United Kingdom: 550 Germany: 523 France: 394 China: 369 India: 296 Canada: 288 Australia: 279 Japan: 257 Italy: 252 The US has nearly EIGHT TIMES (8x) the number of data centres as the UK which is second on the list.

Top 10 data centre countries by number of data centres. Data from www.datacentermap.com:

USA 4378
United Kingdom 550
Germany 523
France 394
China 369
India 296
Canada 288
Australia 279
Japan 257
Italy 252

Paul Johnston@pdj· Jun 18

This is insane. "Your body passes through a ring of underwater sensors, each acting like a dolphin" I just want to point out it says "like a dolphin". My immediate thought was "what exactly are they doing? Bouncing balls? Leaping out of the water?" This is nuts.

Yellow text on black copied from midjourney announcement: "The Midjourney Scanner
It starts by stepping into a shallow pool of golden light. You then begin to descend into the water. Your body passes through a ring of underwater sensors, each acting like a dolphin, using its echolocation. The sensors send ultrasonic sound waves through your body from every angle. With enough waves, and enough angles, we form an image of what's happening inside your body.

The goal is for this process to take no more than 60 seconds.

You go into the water, you come out of the water, and you're done."

Paul Johnston@pdj· Jun 17

ITV streaming is so bad. So bad. On multiple devices it just hangs. I just filmed 30 seconds or so at random. This happens every minute or two.

Paul Johnston@pdj· Jun 16

Or... if you want a crime fighting pineapple

A stern figure in a pineapple costume standing on a rooftop at night, cape billowing, minimalist New Yorker cartoon style, single panel, black ink line art with subtle wash, dry wit atmosphere

Paul Johnston@pdj· Jun 16

Scary thought

a new yorker style cartoon of an angry pineapple on a table about to eat a person sitting at a table with a chunk of that pineapple on a plate

Paul Johnston@pdj· Jun 8

I really do wonder who is advising the Prime Minister if he thinks this will work. Young people are so good at workarounds. Starmer: "This is not an impossible challenge. These are some of the most innovative companies in the world and I believe they can solve it." He doesn't have a clue.

"Starmer tells Apple and Google to ban nude images on children's phones" image of BBC News article by Zoe Kleinman on 8th June 2026 - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly752ydjw6o

First few paragraphs of BBC article titled "Starmer tells Apple and Google to ban nude images on children's phones"

Text:
Tech companies such as Apple and Google have been asked by the UK government to block access to naked images on smartphones and other devices for under-18s.

Sir Keir Starmer has told firms to either activate built-in features or update software to prevent children from taking, sending or viewing sexually explicit images on their phones and other devices.

Speaking at London Tech Week, the prime minister said: "This is not an impossible challenge. These are some of the most innovative companies in the world and I believe they can solve it."

The government said it will bring forward legislation to force firms to activate the features if they do not comply voluntarily within three months.

This could include fines or, as a last resort, criminal liability for companies which do not comply.

The prime minister said the changes would apply to both existing and newly-sold smartphones and tablets in the UK.

Article: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly752ydjw6o

Paul Johnston@pdj· Jun 6

This is going to be fun

Apollo stage with 6 chairs and "Dropout improv" sign

Paul Johnston@pdj· May 19

The problem is that everyone saw what happened with Liz Truss and then extrapolate *any* movement of the bond markets as some sort of "signal" of a "Truss-type moment". I don't think they understand what the change looked like in such a short space of time, and what a normal change looks like.

UK 10 year Gilt (bond) market prices. Red arrow points to the huge leap in borrowing costs from below 2% beforehand to over 4% afterward due to the Truss mini budget that ultimately cost her her job. Source: https://markets.ft.com/data/bonds/tearsheet/summary?s=UK10YG

Paul Johnston@pdj· May 18

I just did a talk to a group of CTO/senior technologists on how the UK works in terms of legislation and policy development and how you can influence it and the kinds of influence that exist. Two key diagrams: - Formal constitutional structure of the UK - Influence proximity to executive power

Diagram: structural diagram showing Parliament (Commons, Lords), Government (Prime Minister, Cabinet), Civil Service, Supreme Court, and Devolved governments. Shows separation of legislative, executive, and judicial power. Electorate at base.

Diagram: concentric ring map showing five layers radiating outward from the executive core. Ring 1 (teal): Prime Minister, No. 10 policy unit, Cabinet/SpAds. Ring 2 (purple): Parliament, Civil Service, Select committees, APPGs, Consultations, Calls for evidence. Ring 3 (blue): Devolved governments, Local government, Regulators, Bank of England, Arm's-length bodies, Mayoral bodies, Combined authorities. Ring 4 (coral/amber): Political parties, Think tanks, Lobby groups, Expert bodies, Trade bodies, Civil society, Big tech, Industry bodies, NGOs. Ring 5 (green/gray/pink): Academia, Individual experts, Research bodies (top arc); Print/broadcast, Social media, Public opinion, Polling (sides); Financial markets, Electorate, International bodies (bottom).

Paul Johnston@pdj· May 16

"Data centres will account for 8.5% of America’s peak power demand in 2027, up from 4.1% in 2025, predicts Goldman Sachs, a bank." I do wonder how much of the data centre boom is happening in the US v Rest of the World. Also, this has been coming for many years. www.economist.com/leaders/2026...