elliot.my

Welcome to the very first instalment of Marginalia! A new, recurring feature on the blog where I share a curated collection of links, notes, thoughts, and quotes that have captured my attention recently.

Before we dive into the interesting stuff... I'm looking for work. The job market is tough, so if you know of an open role for BA, PMO, project management or data analysis – or anything where fast learning and a knack for untangling complexity are useful – I'd love to hear from you! I'm based in London, can work remote, and will relocate for the right role.

I've most recently spent time at Hiscox (insurance) as a PMO Analyst, supporting a large technology transformation programme. Before that, News UK (media) as a Business Analyst, working in data analysis, digital analytics, privacy compliance and AI enablement.

The job title is always a rough approximation of the actual work. What I actually do is sit between business and technology, make sense of messy problems, and help organisations ship things that work.

Here's my CV · LinkedIn · Email me

Right, onto the marginalia...

Toni wrote a piece called "a small blog does not need a content strategy, it needs a path". The argument is simple: most small blogs don't need content pillars or publishing funnels. They need a homepage that makes a clear promise, a starting point that isn't just chronology, and internal links that make the next click feel earned rather than begged for.

It's made me rethink how this blog introduces itself to a first-time reader. Right now it's a reverse-chronological list and a prayer. There's probably a better way.

The new Game of Thrones spin-off "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" is fantastic. It's a look at the smaller, simpler side of Westeros. No opening credits, just a simple placard. The music is gentle – mostly a guitar with an occasional whistle. It has a niceness which reminds me, oddly, of Detectorists. It also reminds me of the first half of the first Lord of the Rings film, when the Hobbits are on foot. A dangerous road, but one full of rolling hills, trees and merriment.

There's something attractive about a wide, open world where travelling is done on foot or horseback. Britain's landscape still hasn't recovered from enclosure. I yearn to walk where I want to walk, but I can't. We're lucky to have some amazing footpaths. But as a curious walker, I want to be able to see a distant hill and walk towards it without the fear of quickly hitting barbed wire or fencing.

The Oscars happened recently. But my favourite film of 2025 won nothing. "Train Dreams" is stunning and sad and you should watch it. It's on Netflix, so you have no excuse.

I didn't realise that photographer Martin Parr died last year aged 73. What a shame. He was one of England's best photographers of Englishness. When I was a young photography student I enjoyed photographing the amusing and the bizarre, but for a long time felt I needed to be more serious to get taken seriously. Martin Parr helped me realise that you can take silly photos and still be a "proper" photographer.

One of my favourite websites of the 'old' internet was StumbleUpon. It was "I'm Feeling Lucky" for the whole internet. You'd click "Stumble!" and get taken to a random, often interesting, webpage.

Now you can make your own version thanks to Wander Console – a small, decentralised, self-hosted web console that lets your visitors explore random pages from a community of personal websites. You choose the pages. The creators have an example at susam.net/wander. I just had a fun 30 minutes hitting "wander" over and over again.

Before Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto died in 2023 he helped create a public library where people can come and enjoy his books.

There's limited space, so you have to book in advance. The location is considered secret – once you book you'll be sent the address.

As a keen reader and buyer of books I often think about what will become of mine when I die (the bin is their most likely destination). What a lovely thing to be popular enough to set up a space where your fans can read your books and perhaps better understand your thinking and inspiration.

The slogan of the library is "May Silence Be With You".

Links

• "How To Visit Ryuichi Sakamoto's Secret Tokyo Library"
• Official website
• "Sakamoto Library Extension"
• Instagram post explaining what it's like inside

"Retirement books" are tomes that I know I'm going to like, but I'm saving for retirement, when I have the time to read them. Winston Churchill's "A History of the English-Speaking Peoples" is one.

I've been reading a lot of books on the Middle Ages lately, so my interest in the Hundred Years' War has been piqued. It's always been there, but the conflict seemed like such a complicated mess that I avoided it. Jonathan Sumption's series of books looks monumental enough to cover it, so they've joined the retirement shelf.

In my "guide for life" post I said:

Make your own religion. List your strongest principles. Become a devout worshipper. Update the doctrine when you learn better.

I was pleased to read that Benjamin Franklin did something similar:

For Franklin, self-improvement and productivity were religious matters. Because he tired of organized religion early in his life, Franklin composed his own personal liturgy.

You can read his 13 rules here.

It's been a rainy start to 2026 in the UK, with 40 days of consecutive rain. To the financial advantage of users of personal finance app Plum, which has a feature where you can put some money into your savings every time it rains (paywall).

Ex UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had an article in the Times (paywall) on drone warfare:

• 80% of Russian casualties in Ukraine are via unmanned vehicles.
• 10,000 Ukrainian drones a day are being used in the conflict.
• 4 million drones were built by Ukraine in 2025.
• The Ukrainians are now so good and experienced that Germany has asked them to train their forces in drone warfare.

I was rather surprised to see that a supermarket in the UK makes on average a 2p profit on a 330ml bottle of beer.

”War doesn’t determine who’s right, it determines who’s left.” – Bertrand Russell