Depends on the counterfactual you use, right? Without the internet, the same money we spend today would buy fewer/(even) worse services; or we would spend a lot more on the same levels as today. (Or we’d have a smaller state – did the internet preserve the current model?) Tech changes constraints.

Enjoyed it & agree with lots. But I think the use-case conversation is still needed & timely. For many, all this is still too abstract. Driving adoption is 💯 the key, but we won’t get to that stage without making a convincing argument on why & how first (eg Oak’s “give teachers their Sundays back”).

More on this from me on the Other Place: x.com/a_iosad/stat... (is this a bluesky faux pas?)

What they share is the underlying information (data, inspection results, published policies and more – in fact the universe of information is greater than what we use). We now have the tools to shape it separately for each context (improvement, information, regulation) w/o shoehorning into one word.

Then we end up conflating things that we think can help parents decide with hard-edged accountability, so the stakes are super high but based on flawed premises. Ultimately, we want to highlight success and correct failure (ideally, before it's too late). These are linked but different tasks.

The qt thread from @jwestjourno.bsky.social@stephenkb.bsky.social (who also mentions TBI proposals in the column) is that in the abstract, parents think Ofsted reports are useful – but they don’t actually use them all that much!