Robert Grant

@youfibre fairly close to having to change internet provider - do you have a detailed rollout plan of Oxford? Happy to wait a month or two on month to month with Sky if you're fairly close :⁠-⁠)

@UPS_UK @UPS_UK here are its opening hours on Google Maps

@UPS_UK please see above. Shouldn't UPS Abingdon be open right now?

@UPS my wife just turned up to your depot in Milton Park, UK, which says it's open on Google maps and on the door of your place, but it's shut. Phoning the number says no one's in and lists when the office is open, which is now. What's going on? She needs her parcel today.

@NatWest_Help your Android app's just spinning when I open it. It does the secure thing fine in the top right but just keeps on spinning. Help - I can't get into your banking on the website without it either.

@VirginAtlantic hello! My wife is trying to transfer her points to our new account. The website says it doesn't recognise my name, even though she's putting the same name as what's indicated on my account. How do I get this resolved? Can't find a phone number.

@StockPrinter @asunapg @TechEmails Well it was plan b. Plan a was effective altruism, to rally the opposing crowd.

@asunapg @TechEmails Dumbest crowd easiest to manipulate

Notes from Sam Bankman-Fried Circa late 2022

@blackwellbooks erm.

@ThirstyMeeples hi - I tried booking again (just called you) and after I approve in the app it does this:

@elonmusk It's beautiful.

@OxfordshireCC hello! The parking permit system for ordering visitors' permits in Oxford is giving an Internal Server Error. Can you take a look and let me know if you need more details? We used Chrome, but that shouldn't affect 500 errors anyway.

@sa11oum @FinancialTimes You're replying to something I'm not saying. Once again: consulting companies have various methods to land and stick in companies, and bill huge amounts over the years, without necessarily providing much value. So, saying "they're paid loads so they must be good" is wrong.

@robertlagrant @FinancialTimes Consulting is a business, not a charity. You’re completely delusional if you think they shouldn’t be chasing income - like any other company.

Consultancies, the economist argues, know less than they claim and cost more than they seem to on.ft.com/3jW7IOA

@sa11oum @FinancialTimes This means it's possible that they can survive for a very long time, embedding themselves into firms as trusted advisors, able to massage results and use key relationships (and tie their fortunes to those of internal executives') to deflect blame or criticism.

@sa11oum @FinancialTimes They are constantly marketing themselves towards budget-holders, rather than the people who will benefit from their work.

@sa11oum @FinancialTimes Saying it's impractical to validate doesn't change the fact that lots of money gets spent on some pretty unverified stuff. Your argument was that well money is spent, so they must be good. That's a non sequitur.

@robertlagrant @FinancialTimes Why would you expect a similar validation of consulting work to your own in house personnel? It’s impossible and illogical. Consultants are often hired based on their credentials and previous experience - usually a good indicator of their ability to deliver what is required.

@sa11oum @FinancialTimes Consulting is often used to bring in expertise a business doesn't have. In that cases it's easy to spend money with relatively little validation of the output compared to how employees are evaluated. Tl;dr: quis custodiet ipses custodes?

@FinancialTimes Oh sure. That’s why companies spend over $200 billion every year on consulting services. But yeah no I’m sure this Mariana Mazzucato knows better.

@shanselman Please no. Same with "offer" to mean "thing you're selling".

Thoughts on “ask” as a noun?

@frosted_north @BingoBangoBong9 @danbarker @TrafalgarsTree @trafalgartree Accelerant?

The Trafalgar Square Christmas Tree has arrived.