Keeping tabs on the UK’s parliaments & assemblies
Faster reporting on FixMyStreet: start your report with a photo
22 January 2026 @ 4:56 pm
A new feature has been released for FixMyStreet giving users the option to start their reports with a photo, the data from which can be extracted to speed up the reporting process. As well as making the reporting process quicker, this new functionality should also increase the accuracy of reports, removing the need for users…
A tribute to Mark Longair
15 January 2026 @ 4:15 pm
It was with immense sadness that the mySociety team learned of the death of our much loved ex-colleague Mark Longair. Mark first came to mySociety as a volunteer, contributing his time and coding knowledge to build scrapers and parsers that brought Scottish Parliament data into TheyWorkForYou. Knowing a good developer when we saw one, we…
Leaky Pipes: What’s wrong with donations data
15 January 2026 @ 9:00 am
As part of our WhoFundsThem work we want to make better information available about money in politics. Last year we released a report Beyond Transparency – looking at the UK Parliament’s register of financial interests, and wider arguments about how we fund politics. Today we’re releasing a follow-up report: Leaky Pipes (read online or download…
“From the Scorecards, we learned that transparency and accessibility are key to accelerating local climate progress”
19 December 2025 @ 10:50 am
When we consider the impacts of a project like the Council Climate Action Scorecards, the obvious benefits are those we see in UK councils as they step up their efforts to decarbonise. On this blog, we’ve also frequently noted tangential effects too, such as better understanding and communication between local authorities and residents. There’s a…
What we’ve learned about building datasets with FOI
16 December 2025 @ 12:27 pm
At the beginning of the year, we set ourselves an ambitious goal: to help a group of small organisations working with marginalised communities to run Freedom of Information–based campaigns using WhatDoTheyKnow Pro’s batch-request and project features. We recruited groups working in areas as varied as domestic abuse, arts funding, youth health, SEND provision, parental leave,…
New research report: Supporting good communication
16 December 2025 @ 9:06 am
With WriteToThem.com we want to run a service that helps people write the right message to the right place. That means helping users express themselves effectively and keeping the service a constructive channel between constituents and representatives by deterring abusive messages. Abuse and intimidation aimed at elected representatives does not just harm the person receiving…
New report: WriteToThem Insights
11 December 2025 @ 9:00 am
Understanding more about constituent communication We’ve released a new report exploring insights from WriteToThem about the content of constituent communication – you can read the whole report online or a summary below. WriteToThem.com is a long-running mySociety service that enables people across the UK to contact their elected representatives by entering their postcode and sending…
Use the Council Climate Action Scorecards to bring change
27 November 2025 @ 10:18 am
Campaigning organisation and lobbying group the RBWM Climate Emergency Coalition (CEC), located in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, have been putting the Council Climate Action Scorecards to really good use. Overall, 14 separate groups make up the CEC, who convene with a shared interest in mitigating climate change and/or protecting and restoring nature.…
We prototyped a data hub for the VAWG sector, and it’s already raising important questions
25 November 2025 @ 11:33 am
Around the world today, organisations and communities are recognising the 26th International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. This is a moment to reflect on one of the most prevalent and pervasive human rights violations in the world – but it’s also a call to action. As one small action in that continued…
What can we learn from a clock that’s stopped?
24 November 2025 @ 11:02 am
Do you live somewhere that boasts a magnificent municipal clock — a timepiece that anyone passing by can look up to, and check that they’re nicely on time for their next appointment? A vast clockface on the side of the town hall, perhaps; or a golden clocktower standing tall above the shopping streets…a landmark under…