Week 31: bits and pieces

My birthday chocolate indicates I am indeed a chocoholic

So we finally launched our content on best interests decisions. Months of research, writing and iterating. Probably our biggest exploration on any content topic because it spans such a wide range of sub-topics and laws. I’m particularly please with our use of the step-by-step pattern from the GOV.UK Design System to frame help people figure out what to do if someone’s wishes are not being respected.

Always a sense of relief when you finally publish - now we want to drive users to the page to really stress test it. Seeing how it interacts with our other content too is important - as with our topics they can very easily blur into one for people. As simple and clear as we try to make our content - these are hard things to grasp.

A tale of two meetings

Had two meetings this week which couldn’t have been more different. One was an exploratory meeting with Caroline Jarrett whose work I’ve followed and admired for years. I’ve said for a while if we ever start thinking about how to research and work on our advance decision form - she is the person to talk to. It didn’t disappoint, she was great and we even found out she’d written a blog on living will (advance directives) years ago. It felt a little bit like the professional/work stars had aligned. Anyway, she was interested in the topic (not always a given with us) and I do hope we’ll figure out a way to work with her. The other meeting was frustrating and I won’t go into details other than it’s one of those where we heard about something that we probably should’ve earlier. Where decisions had already been made. Safe to say it was a very different experience to the Monday meeting. I’m still trying to unpick what it means.

It reminded me of a quote I saw in a blog post in the past few weeks. The original quote is from Ben Holliday:

“Being pragmatic (you can’t achieve everything today), while still being optimistic (the bigger picture is still worth caring deeply about).”

Other things

Some other fun things which happened…

• A lovely lunch where my parents met my partners parents for the first time. A bit nervous about how it’d go (not for the normal reasons) but it was great. Turns out good home-cooked thai food and sun helps.
• I turned 36. I never make much of birthdays, but I had several lovely meals out. A burger which realllly hit the spot (haven’t had one in a very long time which I think helps) and a classy one at the Garden Café. A bit of a hidden secret, lovely food and lovely venue. Lots of glass and plants.
• I saw Portrait of a Lady on Fire at the BFI Stephen Street screening rooms. An old film which I didn’t catch when it came out in 2019 but wow. Right up there for me as an LGBT love story. Captivating, smart, steamy and beautifully shot - an absolute triumph. The venue was also very cool, felt like a little secret screening - tip here for seats is that it’s one of those rare screens where actually sitting closer is better I think.