Playing with open weight LLMs. Checking back in on the state of open weight LLMs after a couple of months away and the best are much better than in Jan – notably gemma4 and qwen3.5. Unlike AI agents like OpenClaw, it&#8217…

For the past couple of weeks I've been messing around with open weight locally-hosted LLMs. They're better than ever. I'd recommend having a play... loosemore.com/2026/04/16/p...

Great thread from Ciaran. Genuinely world class state capability. In a new(ish) institution.

Responding to AI-driven demand on public systems How public services can avoid new forms of rationing and turn individual actions into collective benefits.

@alexparsons.bsky.social has been thinking about the increased demand on public systems created by #AI - not just #FOI but for all areas where the public interface with government.

Here's a suggestion for an approach that can work for the public benefit:
www.mysociety.org/2026/04/14/r...

Well, it works until W3W goes bust...

Universal HMG adoption of UPRNs would be far from a panacea, but it would well help quite a lot!

I've wasted so much time over the last 30 years matching shonky bloody UK address datasets.

Just needed to get that out there. Feel a bit better already.

What are the chances of an HMG body changing their bloody name between me writing the original blog post and Computer Weekly republishing it! (quite high, it would seem)

Yup. DVSA. Mainly dodgy driving instructors doing the booking which is why they've now banned them from doing so and tightened rebooking policies in other ways. That said, the root cause there was Not Enough Driving Instructors to cope with post Covid demand.

Very hard to stop in practice. Not just headless browsers like Playwright but Openclaw and CoWork both use Chrome extensions that literally mimick real users clicking and typing.

Flood warning: How citizens’ AI agents will swamp public services | Computer Weekly What if governments are looking through the AI telescope from the wrong end? What if citizens’ own use of AI to access public services proves to be an even more transformative force?

I've written a piece for Computer Weekly about how public services are at risk of agentic flooding.

www.computerweekly.com/opinion/Floo...

FWIW I can't recall a single political intervention around the creation of GOV.UK, other than to do it asap. Ditto the GDS Design Principles.

In 2011 you didn't need a government website giving advice on beekeeping. But you might do one day, at least theoretically. What 'only government can do' is a very subjective filter.

It was my line, driven by a desire for the launch of GOV.UK to reduce the inevitable bloat that always accrues on large organisations' websites unless they get regular pruning.

@lccmunicipal.bsky.social I thought you might like this commemorative plate I found at my parents’

That KLF book is... is... is a lot. But very much my kind of lot.

I am normally keen to support hard working civil servants trying to deliver difficult projects under huge pressure but the Pensions Scheme debacle is inexcusable.

KRO

It's always rights... they will have reverted to the independent who made the show by now

Yeah, that was us lot being rude one afternoon in James's flat

Blocked in UK by C4 copyright lawyers...

A few design rules for Alpha.gov.uk ...driving test than an HGV one, more people get made redundant than have to make someone redundant, so we should optimise for the common case. The start of any process,...

gds.blog.gov.uk/2011/04/28/a...

Simply issue all personnel with three USB C to USB A adaptors. They will lose them all within weeks, thus making your problem their problem.

Do you have USB *PD* wall sockets? (Big regret I didn't specify them when i had the chance)

Or, as @jamesomalley.co.uk might put it, "Get yourself some good growth here!"

Misconnected Report | The Connection Project Insights | March 2026 Explore the Misconnected report from The Connection Project published in March 2026, examining digital participation in the UK and the changes needed to improve access, usability and inclusion across ...

Some people struggle with digital services all of the time. But all of us will struggle with them some of the time. Really excellent new report on the myriad small steps needed to fix this digital participation gap. www.connectionproject.co.uk/insights/mis...

Government to lift paywall from large parts of the Land Registry Exclusive: finding out who owns land will become simpler under plans to make the best use of green spaces and hit net zero targets

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Where in my blog post does it say I'm scratching a personal itch?

I couldn't respect your projects more, Phil, not least their longevity. But my need for this prototype will be served in days (read the blog post). Luckily the web is open enough to cope with both extremes, especially given robots.txt exists.

Thanks for the feedback Phil - I was wrongly under the impression that. using watching triangles and phrases like "total nonsense" would make the point, so I've now also added a big banner at the top.

Or you underestimate 'people'