The last two weeks have been manic, perfectly summed up by this.
Work has been full on and despite my head saying keep posting weekly, the heart wasn’t in it last weekend. I have kept the walking up thought – January saw the biggest month yet with over 310km banked. Great way to catch up on podcasts and actually think rather than veg out in front of a screen.
I’ve also been dabbling more with Claude Code and also Codex with mixed results. I gave Codex a task to summarise my pay for the year via 12 PDF’s, total pay, total tax, total paid to pension etc. After a few minutes it grabbed the data, checked it was accurate and graphed it as asked. Brilliant. Passed it another few years worth and all was good. Passed it another 10 years worth and it claimed 5 minutes later, all done. Asked it to pull into a total over 20 years and despite it saying done when I looked at the end results it was clearly wrong. I looked at 2025 and it had changed the sums drastically. I told Codex it was wrong compared to the first run…and it agreed. So off it went redoing it all, compared it to its checksums, said all good…and it was wrong again but differently from the last time. I told it again it was wrong – you are right to check and you are correct I got it wrong. Third time lucky? It got more right than wrong but still inaccurate. The scripts it was writing were impressive and seeing it install what it needed via brew was a bit mind-blowing. Still, like anyone’s code in real life, you need to check the results.
For what it’s worth, Claude Code got it right first time but I put much more effort into the prompt. Agentic coding is going to be very disruptive…not in the future but now. It will breed a whole new category of coding managers. I’m not quite sure what the future holds for apprentices and graduates. Interesting times.
It’s also interesting times thanks to Epstein, Mandelson and the stench that surrounds modern day politics. Keir Starmer swept to power promising change. In reality much to my dismay, Labour have been more of the same. Today’s resignation of Morgan McSweeney won’t save Starmer. He’s toast and it’s really a matter of when not if he goes – upcoming by-election or Scottish and Welsh elections will probably see to that. I do wish he or whoever’s next uses the opportunity Labour have to clean up politics in both Houses. That was one of their early commitments but repeated failings and infighting look to have put paid to any hope of the right kind of reform that this country needs. I dread to think what would happen if the Farage version of Reform actually won power.
🔗 Links
- Openclaw – I’ve stayed away from installing on my Mac given the various security holes found, but there’s no doubt this or something like it will form part of the future of computing.
- Moltbook – a social network for your AI bots. Amazing to watch this grow so quickly.
- The tipping point – as I dabble with Claude Code and OpenAI Codex it’s clear not from my hacking and thrashing but the general view of many experienced developers that agentic coding is here now, is useful, it’s impact needs to be understood and if you aren’t using these tools you are behind. They are evolving and improving so quickly.
- Six Lords a-speaking – I hope the deliberate stalling of bills by the Lords leads to a fundamental gutting of it. Come on Labour – stop infighting, start cleaning it up while you’ve got the opportunity.
- The Fallen Apple – Another great piece on the failings we all see day to day with Apple. The real challenge is where else to go. Windows is worse than ever, it’s been the year of Linux for about 15 years now and it’s still not there.
- I Now Assume that All Ads on Apple News Are Scams – I’m probably one of the few that likes Apple News and News+ but the adverts which started off bad are now awful…and look likely to be scam’s. Clearly over $140 billion in revenue in just the last three months isn’t enough. I’d love to say do the right thing and get rid of the ad’s, but the new Keynote, Pages and Numbers now have permanent adverts to upgrade to the new Creator Studio. And Apple supporters used to laugh at Windows running ad’s in the O/S. How the mighty really have fallen.
- Phantom Obligation – Nice article on the stagnating design of feed readers…and also an opportunity to sign up for the authors new feed reader app Current.
- A Year in The Life at MKBHD – 90 minutes but I loved seeing what goes into the company, the videos and the team that make up MKBHD.
- Opalite – Taylor Swift – a great video born on the Graham Norton show featuring the guests who appeared on the same night as Taylor. Amazing.
📺 Media
Hamnet – well made, great acting, bit too much misery porn.
Bugonia – nice switch of movie style at the end. Enjoyed it.
One that is a surprise is A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. Funny and so much better without the serious world at stake tones from the other Game of Throne series. This is how you do accompanying drama’s in the same universe – you watching Disney as you’ve wasted the Star Wars licence.
Also finished series 2 of The Night Manager and (spoilers ahead) I’m not sure I’ll bother with the third. Found the story predictable and full of cliches, almost AI generated. In fact, I asked ChatGPT the following “I want a new script for a season 2 run of The Night Manager, a 10 year old hit on the BBC from 2016. Use themes from the latest Bond films as references through season 2. Ensure all the main characters that survived season 1 return. Add in a twist mid series even though the twist involves a character played by one of the exec producers. Base the series in south america. In the last episode spin out the jeopardy as you want a series 3 – think Empire Strikes Back when it comes to endings and who wins. Remember it’s the BBC so budgets are tight. Before generating the full script, list out each episode and give each episode a 5 line summary of the main plot points.” It churned out and 8 part season that would pass for what I’ve just watched.
Season 2 – Episode Guide (8 episodes)
Episode 1 – “Ghost Assets”
- Jonathan Pine resurfaces in Uruguay, working logistics security at a port quietly moving “agricultural equipment.”
- Angela Burr pulls him back in: British intelligence has lost visibility on a private arms network operating across the Southern Cone.
- Intelligence suggests the network isn’t new — it’s a reconstitution of Roper’s old supply chains.
- Pine discovers the operation uses shell NGOs and climate-aid projects as cover.
- Bond echo: post-Cold War villains hiding inside respectable global systems (think Skyfall themes of rot within institutions).
Episode 2 – “The Long Way Round”
- Pine embeds with a Chilean shipping consortium tied to illegal drone and cyber-weapons exports.
- Burr faces political pressure: Whitehall wants plausible deniability, not arrests.
- We learn the weapons are destabilising regional elections, not wars — quieter, harder to prove.
- Pine crosses paths with a ruthless private-sector fixer who knows him from Cairo.
- Bond echo: corporate power as the real villain (Spectre).
Episode 3 – “Green Zone”
- The operation expands into the Amazon basin, disguised as carbon-offset security infrastructure.
- Pine uncovers a plan to sell AI-driven surveillance tools to multiple governments — including allies.
- Burr realises this is bigger than Roper ever was: arms as data, not hardware.
- A familiar name appears in offshore records… but is officially “inactive.”
- Budget-smart episode: jungle, boats, radios, tension — minimal spectacle, maximum paranoia.
Episode 4 – “The Benefactor”
- Richard Roper returns — not as a fugitive, but as a government-sanctioned intermediary.
- He’s been quietly released years earlier in exchange for intelligence cooperation.
- Roper claims he’s “gone legit,” advising on counter-terror financing — and might be telling the truth.
- Pine is forced into direct contact again, their dynamic colder, subtler, more dangerous.
- Twist sting: Roper may now be on the right side — or simply better protected.
- Bond echo: former villains repurposed by the state (No Time to Die).
Episode 5 – “Terms of Engagement”
- Pine works alongside Roper under Burr’s reluctant authorisation.
- Evidence suggests a third actor is manipulating both sides — using Roper’s reputation as camouflage.
- Roper saves Pine’s life, muddying loyalties.
- Burr discovers her own operation has been partially funded by the same offshore structures.
- Moral theme: the system eats everyone eventually.
Episode 6 – “Soft Power”
- A Latin American election is quietly tipped using surveillance tech Pine helped track.
- Pine tries to expose it — only to be blocked by allied intelligence agencies.
- Roper admits he warned them; destabilisation was “priced in.”
- Burr is forced to choose between exposure and collapse of diplomatic relations.
- Pine realises this war cannot be won cleanly.
Episode 7 – “Extraction”
- Pine plans an unsanctioned extraction of evidence tying British interests to the operation.
- Roper helps — but only enough to protect himself.
- Burr burns sources to keep Pine alive, effectively ending her own career.
- The true architect remains unnamed, unseen, untouched.
- Episode ends with Pine fleeing across the border — hunted by allies, not enemies.
Episode 8 – “Ashes in the Ledger”
- Partial truths leak publicly — no one goes to prison.
- Roper emerges wealthier, cleaner, more embedded than ever.
- Burr is sidelined, discredited, but alive.
- Pine disappears into South America under a new identity — mission unresolved.
- Final note: the system survives, worse than before.
- Victory belongs to power, not justice.