Top all-time · #4454
James O'Malley
Personal blog · takes.jamesomalley.co.ukpoliticsculture
James O'Malley writes Odds and Ends of History, a personal blog at takes.jamesomalley.co.uk about politics and culture. Since 2023, 17 different Hacker News readers have linked it 31 times, most often “A TfL AI experiment reveals how Tube station capacity could be increased”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-11-02, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (4) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link James O'Malley's posts on UK tech and policy, such as a plan to free up the Postcode Address File, Google Search's decline, and how much TfL can learn from mobile data. Commenters cite them as sources.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 4 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Why that thing you retweeted is probably wrong.
Most-linked posts?
- A TfL AI experiment reveals how Tube station capacity could be increased3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2024-05-01
- How the UK government is using AI to speed up the planning system2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2026-06-17
- Design the UK parking code system2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2023-11-23
- I rebooted my social life2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2026-01-01
- What Transport for London can learn about us from our mobiles2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2023-10-25
- Using NHS data for scientific research – without creating a privacy nightmare2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2024-04-18
- The Plan to Liberate the (UK) Postcode Address File2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2024-01-04
What Hacker News says?
So it turns out that James O'Malley has written a post that addresses all the details of this already (of course), including several options for how it could be done affordably. https://takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/heres-the-plan-to-actuall...
Comment linking /p/heres-the-plan-to-actually-liberate
on “We need to liberate the Postcode Address File”Submitted We need to liberate the Postcode Address File as a story · 356 points
HN discussionHere are a couple examples: https://takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/build-gemini-build
Comment linking /p/build-gemini-build
on “Google Search Is Dying. What Comes Next Is Worse”Submitted I have 2000 old VHS tapes in my garage and don't know what to do with them as a story · 326 points
HN discussionThis reminds me of [0], basically just inviting the most interesting people I know (also transitively the most interesting people they know), and just getting to meet people. I would really like to do this, but half the most interesting people I know are PhD professors I rant with because I'm next to them in a lab. Maybe once my network gets bigger. But I would still like to know more about how you do this, as other…
Comment linking /p/this-might-be-oversharing
on “Ask HN: Any Interesting Niche Hobbies?”Submitted TfL's AI Tube Station experiment is amazing and slightly terrifying as a story · 28 points
HN discussionBlogspam. URL should be changed to this, it's the full article https://takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/its-crazy-how-much-transp... And it was actually posted here back then https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38013668 (71 comments)
Comment linking /p/its-crazy-how-much-transport-for
on “It's crazy how much TfL can learn about us from our mobile data”Submitted London Bridge tested tech to track individuals inside the station as a story · 22 points
HN discussionSubmitted What Transport for London can learn about us from our mobiles as a story · 7 points
HN discussionSubmitted A TfL AI experiment reveals how Tube station capacity could be increased as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted Using NHS data for scientific research – without creating a privacy nightmare as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted We could make our homes easier to decarbonise by using tech called a "database" as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Plan to Liberate the (UK) Postcode Address File as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted TfL AI experiment reveals how Tube station capacity could be increased as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted TfL AI experiment reveals how Tube station capacity could be increased as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted How to use NHS data for scientific research without creating a privacy nightmare as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Design the UK parking code system as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Britain's geospatial data is a mess as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted The government approved Cambridge's sewage treatment plant upgrade, then withd as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Thing the Tories Did in Office as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted We Need Seven Bins as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Come to my talk about the Postcode Address File as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted How the government is using AI to speed up the planning system as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Autonomous cars do not have to turn Britain into an America-style hellscape as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted How the UK government is using AI to speed up the planning system as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted The [UK] Green Party is STILL bad at being green as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted How the UK government's new digital ID will work as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted What even is an 'AI growth zone', anyway? as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted I rebooted my social life as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted The technology built into cars to make driving safer – that we're not using as a story · 1 points
HN discussion
