Government digital accountability and FCA accountability rules
The Senior Managers and Certification Regime forces financial services to prove they’re not harming vulnerable customers. What would happen if government digital projects had to follow the same rules? Drawing on experience with Universal Credit, Cabinet Office COVID response, and other major programmes, this article explores how SMCR would create real accountability for content that works for people in crisis.
When the people building AI tell their families to stay away: what financial services needs to know
The people training your AI chatbots are telling their children never to use them. They’ve seen the rushed timelines, inadequate training data, and ignored safety concerns. They’re experiencing PTSD, moral injury, and relationship breakdowns from the work. If the insiders won’t trust these systems with their 10-year-olds, how are you meeting Consumer Duty obligations by deploying them with financially vulnerable customers?
When the government had one job: making emergency communications accessible
The COVID-19 Inquiry documented a failure that should embarrass everyone in government digital services: no British Sign Language interpretation at press conferences, no accessible formats for emergency guidance. The Inquiry states plainly: “Everyone should be able to understand the action their government is asking them to take.” So where was GDS? Where were the senior content designers? An insider who worked in the Cabinet Office during COVID exposes what went wrong and asks the uncomfortable question: would a future government just outsource this to AI?
When the music stops: what years of failed IT projects taught me about the AI bubble
I’ve watched billions burn on government IT projects that promised revolution and delivered chaos. When executives defend AI valuations using the same rhetoric vendors used to sell Universal Credit, I recognise the pattern. The infrastructure is real. The technology is revolutionary. This time it’s different. Except it never is.
The app tax: how digital exclusion creates a poverty premium
One million UK households cancelled broadband they couldn’t afford. Now McDonald’s, supermarkets and essential services charge more to people without apps. This is structural digital exclusion.
The question nobody’s asking: should we be doing this at all?
We keep building AI systems without asking if we should. After 40 years in digital transformation, I’ve seen what happens when moral questions get parked.