Category Archives: blog

Inside the CyberASAP 2025 Kickoff: Mentoring, Learning, and Supporting the Next Generation of Academic Cyber Innovators

I recently attended the CyberASAP Year 9 Kickoff as a mentor, and also took the opportunity to experience the first two days alongside the academic teams to better understand what they go through. This blog captures my reflections from all three days, covering IP, value propositions, stakeholder mapping, and some of the truly impressive innovations coming from UK universities. It also looks at the history and purpose of the programme and why it continues to matter in bridging the gap between research and real-world impact.

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The Memory and Noise Tetrology

What began as an exploration of two strange non-songs, “Apes Ma” and “Fitter Happier”, quickly unfolded into something larger: a meditation on memory, loss, defiance, and the strange work of sound in the spaces where meaning breaks down.

This tetralogy gathers three connected essays and the one you are reading now, not as conclusions, but as echoes. Not as closures, but as signals still carrying across time.

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Do Not Go Quietly into That Dark Night: A Response to Two Sides of the Same Coin

A quiet manifesto for memory, resistance, and the voices that refuse to vanish. From whispered warnings to machine-read prophecies, this piece explores how songs like “Apes Ma”, “Fitter Happier”, “Trans Am”, and “Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory” carry defiance through static, grief through silence, and presence through time.

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The Veil, the Soul Mirror, and Reflective Chrome Ghosts: On Memory, Music, and the Ones We Carry Onwards

Some works don’t end. They echo. “Apes Ma” and “Fitter Happier” gave us the edge of language, the moment just after sense unravels. But what follows? What lingers in the silence after the static? What shapes itself in the quiet? Memory. Not the nostalgic kind. Not warmth. Something stranger. Something inherited. Every time I hear “New Rose”, Dave, I salute you, brother.

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Two Sides of the Same Coin: Captain Beefheart’s “Apes Ma” and Radiohead’s “Fitter Happier”

Some works scream. Others whisper. “Apes Ma” and “Fitter Happier” do both in a frequency that bypasses the conscious brain. What remains is a residue. A shape. A hush at the end of language. An old lover kisses slow, dayglo blue scorpions.

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Innovation Incoming in Space: Notes from the Royal Academy of Engineering Panel, 31 March 2025

The Royal Academy of Engineering’s Innovation Incoming in Space (31 March 2025, Prince Philip House) offered an insightful and fact-rich exploration of the technologies shaping the future of the space economy. With topics ranging from space-based solar power and crystallisation in orbit to modular infrastructure and lunar habitation, the panel discussed how innovation is driving space from the experimental to the operational. Set against the backdrop of geopolitical shifts and commercial competition, the event underscored the UK’s strategic opportunity to lead in agile engineering, cyber resilience, and space-enabled industrial capability. A dawning theme throughout the evening was the growing realisation that space is becoming commercial, contested, and critically dependent on cyber resilience.

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Conway Hall: A Sanctuary for Free Thought, Humanism, and Intellectual Progress

Conway Hall in London has been a cornerstone of humanist thought, secular ethics, and progressive culture since 1929. As the home of the world’s oldest surviving freethought organisation, it has hosted generations of thinkers, activists, and musicians, from George Orwell to modern-day philosophers. This article explores the rich history, architectural significance, cultural impact, and enduring relevance of this unique venue.

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Professionalising Cyber: Reflections from Conway Hall

A first-hand reflection on the UK Cyber Security Council’s recent “The Journey to Professionalisation” event at Conway Hall, exploring the ongoing professionalisation of the cyber security sector. Highlights include the expansion of recognised specialisms, the development of the UK Cyber Skills Framework, and discussions on AI, early-career challenges, and the need for a more inclusive, realistic skills framework to support a growing cyber economy.

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day 2025 – Remembering Old Friends and Goodbye to Anne Marie Davies

St. Patrick’s Day has always been more than just a date on the calendar. It’s a time for gathering, for stories, for laughter, and for remembering. Over the years, I’ve celebrated many a St. Patrick’s Day. And many of those at the Village Maid pub in Handsworth, once a place filled with music, laughter, and the warmth of familiar faces. But like so many things, the Village Maid is gone now, just another memory of a time that once was.

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I asked ChatGPT: If you had a fight with Grok who would win?

It’s Musk vs Zuck all over again… ChatGPT diplomatically dodged the fight when asked who would win in a hypothetical AI showdown, highlighting its depth and adaptability while acknowledging Grok’s flair for wit and brevity. The “winner” is, of course, the one who best suits the user’s whims. Truly, Allied Mastercomputer they ain’t… yet!

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The WASPI Women and Labour’s Keir Starmer: A Fight for Pension Equality

I had no idea what this was about, but kept hearing that Dear Keir had thrown some WASPI women under a bus. So I thought dig a little deeper. It turns out the term WASPI women refers to the UK Women Against State Pension Inequality campaign group. These women, born in the 1950s, were impacted by changes to the state pension age (SPA). Initially set at 60 for women, the SPA was raised to align with men’s SPA of 65, and later incrementally increased to 66 and beyond. While the equalisation aimed to reflect changes in life expectancy and gender equality, many women argue they were not given sufficient notice or time to adapt, causing financial hardship.

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More Cyber Bollocks: Cutting Through the Hype, Fear, and Nonsense in Cybersecurity

If there’s one thing the cybersecurity industry is never short on, it’s hype and a healthy dose of fear-mongering. Every week, there’s a new headline screaming about the latest cyber apocalypse: hackers are about to steal your identity, ransomware is going to shut down your city, and a nation-state might be spying on you through your toaster. It’s all part of the relentless barrage of cyber bollocks that we’ve become accustomed to.

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More Quantum Bollocks: Untangling the Hype Around Quantum Computing

Quantum computing is the latest tech darling to grab headlines, and with it comes a flood of bold claims about how it will revolutionise everything from cryptography to drug discovery to AI. You’d be forgiven for thinking that we’re just a few years away from a quantum-powered utopia where today’s problems vanish into a haze of quantum bits (qubits) and entanglement. But as with so many tech fads, much of what’s being said about quantum computing is exaggerated, or, to put it bluntly, bollocks.

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More NFT Bollocks: Unpacking the Hype, Greed, and Confusion Around Non-Fungible Tokens

Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, have quickly gone from niche tech curiosity to mainstream obsession. Promised as a revolution in digital ownership, creativity, and investment, NFTs are hailed as everything from the future of art to a transformative tool for creators. But scratch beneath the surface, and the NFT world is riddled with misinformation, speculation, and, quite frankly, bollocks.

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Zen Koan of the Tigers and the Strawberry: Staying in the Moment

The Zen Koan of the Tigers and the Strawberry is a classic story that invites reflection on mindfulness and presence.

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Myth of the West: The Influence of Pulp Magazines and Dime Novels

Explore how pulp magazines and dime novels of the 19th and early 20th centuries popularized the Western myth, creating iconic characters and moral archetypes that would shape the genre. Discover the roots of cowboy legends and the role these stories played in building America’s frontier mythology.

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That Mad Italian Song That Sounds Like English: Prisencolinensinainciusol and the Art of Gibberish

Imagine listening to a song in a language that sounds like English, but you can’t quite understand any of the words. Your brain keeps trying to make sense of the lyrics, but it’s a futile effort. Welcome to the fascinating world of “Prisencolinensinainciusol,” the iconic 1972 song by Italian singer and songwriter Adriano Celentano. While the title alone is a mouthful, the song itself is even more perplexing, a song that sounds like English but is completely and utterly gibberish.

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The Power Law in Venture Capital: A Deep Dive into Sebastian Mallaby’s Insights

In this insightful blog article, we dive into Sebastian Mallaby’s The Power Law, which explains how venture capitalists operate in a world of high risks, where a small number of winning startups provide massive returns that outweigh the majority of failures. Through a blend of storytelling, research, and critical analysis, this review highlights the triumphs and pitfalls of the venture capital industry, offering suggestions for a more ethical and inclusive future. If you’re intrigued by the intersection of finance, tech innovation, and global economics, this article is a must-read.

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A Lucky Tombola Win and the Start of My Midlands Bonsai Society Journey

About 15 years ago, I won a large Jade bonsai at a raffle during a visit to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens with my sons. Over time, caring for the bonsai became more of a duty than a passion, but recently, I joined the Midlands Bonsai Society (MBS) for guidance on how to properly look after it. With help from members, I learned about techniques such as back budding and successfully repotted the bonsai. My initial journey with bonsai care has been rewarding, and I look forward to continuing this process with the support of the MBS.

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MapReduce: A 20-Year Retrospective on How Jeffrey Dean and Sanjay Ghemawat Revolutionised Data Processing

This article provides a retrospective on the 20th anniversary of Jeffrey Dean and Sanjay Ghemawat’s seminal paper, “MapReduce: Simplified Data Processing on Large Clusters”. It explores the paper’s lasting impact on data processing, its influence on the development of big data technologies like Hadoop, and its broader implications for industries ranging from digital advertising to healthcare. The article also looks ahead to future trends in data processing, including stream processing and AI, emphasising how MapReduce’s principles will continue to shape the future of distributed computing.

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