Tom Loosemore
@tomski.com
Partner at Public Digital, co-founder Government Digital Service, ex-BBC. Expect occasional small boat sailing.
Why did no-one tell me about Philip Glass?
September 5, 2026 at 8:35 AM
Why did no-one tell me about Philip Glass?
Reposted by Tom Loosemore
Trying to make local journalism works as a business is hard. That's why I'm proud to announce that London Centric is diversifying into the capital's ice cream trade. www.londoncentric.media/p/ice-cream-...
Intimidation, illegality and Mr Whippy: We join London’s ice cream wars
London Centric enters the ice cream trade • The capital’s soft serve vendors act like they can ignore the law • It turns out they probably can
www.londoncentric.media
August 30, 2026 at 7:24 AM
Trying to make local journalism works as a business is hard. That's why I'm proud to announce that London Centric is diversifying into the capital's ice cream trade. www.londoncentric.media/p/ice-cream-...
Not sure getting an LLM to design fonts for a 296x128 pixel paper white screen is a good use of this planet's scarce resources.
August 27, 2026 at 4:45 PM
Not sure getting an LLM to design fonts for a 296x128 pixel paper white screen is a good use of this planet's scarce resources.
I've written a briefing note on 'Know Your Agent', aka how should services prepare for their users/customers sending AI agents to act on their behalf. Much to mull on.
d1rnadml6vbx0i.cloudfront.net/Know-Your-Ag...
It's rare to do proper research & end up *less* certain about how things will pan out.
d1rnadml6vbx0i.cloudfront.net/Know-Your-Ag...
It's rare to do proper research & end up *less* certain about how things will pan out.
d1rnadml6vbx0i.cloudfront.net
August 26, 2026 at 9:19 AM
I've written a briefing note on 'Know Your Agent', aka how should services prepare for their users/customers sending AI agents to act on their behalf. Much to mull on.
d1rnadml6vbx0i.cloudfront.net/Know-Your-Ag...
It's rare to do proper research & end up *less* certain about how things will pan out.
d1rnadml6vbx0i.cloudfront.net/Know-Your-Ag...
It's rare to do proper research & end up *less* certain about how things will pan out.
The baby fox that hangs out in our garden is *beyond excited* by this strange rain stuff.
August 26, 2026 at 7:42 AM
The baby fox that hangs out in our garden is *beyond excited* by this strange rain stuff.
Now this is my kind of journey optimisation obsessiveness. There are two level crossings on my nominally fastest cycle route into Colchester...
Some railway signalling geekery for anyone interested in railways &/or data.
mindthegates.uk
@willperrin.bsky.social @tomski.com @dracos.co.uk
mindthegates.uk
@willperrin.bsky.social @tomski.com @dracos.co.uk
Mind the Gates — UK level crossing live status & forecast
Know before you go. Live status and closure forecasts for all UK level crossings.
mindthegates.uk
August 11, 2026 at 7:53 AM
Now this is my kind of journey optimisation obsessiveness. There are two level crossings on my nominally fastest cycle route into Colchester...
Reposted by Tom Loosemore
I always suspected a UK government would eventually reverse course on "coding in public".
So I've been backing up all government code. For six years.
Today I finally generated a report on what has been deleted. Its much worse than I realised.
github.com/uk-gov-mirro...
So I've been backing up all government code. For six years.
Today I finally generated a report on what has been deleted. Its much worse than I realised.
github.com/uk-gov-mirro...
August 10, 2026 at 5:11 PM
I always suspected a UK government would eventually reverse course on "coding in public".
So I've been backing up all government code. For six years.
Today I finally generated a report on what has been deleted. Its much worse than I realised.
github.com/uk-gov-mirro...
So I've been backing up all government code. For six years.
Today I finally generated a report on what has been deleted. Its much worse than I realised.
github.com/uk-gov-mirro...
I just got scolded by Claude, and banned from using Fable.
August 8, 2026 at 8:48 AM
I just got scolded by Claude, and banned from using Fable.
Reposted by Tom Loosemore
Except reliability, which is improving, but v slowly hal.cs.princeton.edu/reliability/
HAL Reliability Evaluation
Accuracy isn't enough. We evaluate AI agents on reliability — consistency, predictability, robustness, safety, and self-awareness.
hal.cs.princeton.edu
August 5, 2026 at 8:42 AM
Except reliability, which is improving, but v slowly hal.cs.princeton.edu/reliability/
One of my smartest friends pointed out that an important assumption in this post was already wrong. So I've added an update at the top.
I've written a long blog post about AI Agents and the need for those running services to prepare - technically, operationally, commercially, strategically, legally and in terms of policy.
AI Agents could be a properly huge deal. There. I wrote it.
loosemore.com/2026/08/04/k...
AI Agents could be a properly huge deal. There. I wrote it.
loosemore.com/2026/08/04/k...
Know Your Agent: Why you should act now, to avoid playing catch-up later
Back in March, I was beaten by the bins. I’d spent a happy few evenings (and a great many tokens) trying to build a simple web app: share any UK address, find out which bins to put out, and w…
loosemore.com
August 5, 2026 at 8:19 AM
One of my smartest friends pointed out that an important assumption in this post was already wrong. So I've added an update at the top.
Done right, AI really can help you write good software faster. But writing software faster should never get into a top 10 list of factors enabling the creation of successful new services at pace.
August 4, 2026 at 4:11 PM
Done right, AI really can help you write good software faster. But writing software faster should never get into a top 10 list of factors enabling the creation of successful new services at pace.
I've written a long blog post about AI Agents and the need for those running services to prepare - technically, operationally, commercially, strategically, legally and in terms of policy.
AI Agents could be a properly huge deal. There. I wrote it.
loosemore.com/2026/08/04/k...
AI Agents could be a properly huge deal. There. I wrote it.
loosemore.com/2026/08/04/k...
Know Your Agent: Why you should act now, to avoid playing catch-up later
Back in March, I was beaten by the bins. I’d spent a happy few evenings (and a great many tokens) trying to build a simple web app: share any UK address, find out which bins to put out, and w…
loosemore.com
August 4, 2026 at 8:49 AM
I've written a long blog post about AI Agents and the need for those running services to prepare - technically, operationally, commercially, strategically, legally and in terms of policy.
AI Agents could be a properly huge deal. There. I wrote it.
loosemore.com/2026/08/04/k...
AI Agents could be a properly huge deal. There. I wrote it.
loosemore.com/2026/08/04/k...
Know Your Agent is gonna be a big deal. Messy, but important. loosemore.com/2026/07/29/k...
KYC, KYB and their wild new cousin, KYA
Earlier this year I blogged about the idea for a Creative Commons-style legal framework to help services respond to requests from AI Agents claiming to act on behalf of a person. The more I play wi…
loosemore.com
July 29, 2026 at 12:22 PM
Know Your Agent is gonna be a big deal. Messy, but important. loosemore.com/2026/07/29/k...
LLM working(ish) on an ESP32! github.com/slvDev/esp32...
GitHub - slvDev/esp32-ai
Contribute to slvDev/esp32-ai development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com
July 26, 2026 at 9:11 AM
LLM working(ish) on an ESP32! github.com/slvDev/esp32...
Termsync.co.uk is most excellent, not least it's running on an open weight LLM hosted under the maker's desk.
TermSync — School term dates, nailed
Subscribe to your child's school term dates. Terms, half-terms, INSET days and holidays land in your calendar and stay up to date on their own.
Termsync.co.uk
July 24, 2026 at 11:52 AM
Termsync.co.uk is most excellent, not least it's running on an open weight LLM hosted under the maker's desk.
Reposted by Tom Loosemore
ICYMI a long read on how digital is missing from Burnham's vision for how to govern.
I would be very comfortable if his first flip flop came by revisiting the decision to send digital to the margins. It's a bad call and it seems to be the consensus view among people who know about this stuff.
I would be very comfortable if his first flip flop came by revisiting the decision to send digital to the margins. It's a bad call and it seems to be the consensus view among people who know about this stuff.
By popular* demand I have added my many words to all the other bits and pieces reflecting on the end of DSIT.
*@semanthicc.bsky.social and one other said they were waiting to hear my take.
*@semanthicc.bsky.social and one other said they were waiting to hear my take.
GDS, AI and the missing theory of the digital state
Two years after digital, data and AI were brought together, the settlement is being dismantled. What does that tell us about the state Britain is trying to build?
bm.wel.by
July 24, 2026 at 7:56 AM
ICYMI a long read on how digital is missing from Burnham's vision for how to govern.
I would be very comfortable if his first flip flop came by revisiting the decision to send digital to the margins. It's a bad call and it seems to be the consensus view among people who know about this stuff.
I would be very comfortable if his first flip flop came by revisiting the decision to send digital to the margins. It's a bad call and it seems to be the consensus view among people who know about this stuff.
Simon Willison is an (inter)national treasure. If you want the definitive take on the OpenAI/HuggingFace hack, it's here on his excellent blog: simonwillison.net/2026/Jul/22/...
OpenAI’s accidental cyberattack against Hugging Face is science fiction that happened
This story is wild. The short version: OpenAI were running a cybersecurity test against an unreleased model, with the model’s guardrail features turned off. Rather than solve the test, the …
simonwillison.net
July 24, 2026 at 8:11 AM
Simon Willison is an (inter)national treasure. If you want the definitive take on the OpenAI/HuggingFace hack, it's here on his excellent blog: simonwillison.net/2026/Jul/22/...
Looking forward to some rain, not least it'll be me an excuse to play with my new toy.
July 23, 2026 at 8:34 AM
Looking forward to some rain, not least it'll be me an excuse to play with my new toy.
Reposted by Tom Loosemore
By popular* demand I have added my many words to all the other bits and pieces reflecting on the end of DSIT.
*@semanthicc.bsky.social and one other said they were waiting to hear my take.
*@semanthicc.bsky.social and one other said they were waiting to hear my take.
GDS, AI and the missing theory of the digital state
Two years after digital, data and AI were brought together, the settlement is being dismantled. What does that tell us about the state Britain is trying to build?
bm.wel.by
July 22, 2026 at 11:35 AM
By popular* demand I have added my many words to all the other bits and pieces reflecting on the end of DSIT.
*@semanthicc.bsky.social and one other said they were waiting to hear my take.
*@semanthicc.bsky.social and one other said they were waiting to hear my take.
Incubator for AI → DCMS
AI adoption and preparedness + Frontier and Emerging Technologies including NSSIF and SovAI → DBIST
AI Security Institute + “staff to support the new AI Taskforce in the Office for the Prime Minister” → CO
AI adoption and preparedness + Frontier and Emerging Technologies including NSSIF and SovAI → DBIST
AI Security Institute + “staff to support the new AI Taskforce in the Office for the Prime Minister” → CO
July 21, 2026 at 2:56 PM
Incubator for AI → DCMS
AI adoption and preparedness + Frontier and Emerging Technologies including NSSIF and SovAI → DBIST
AI Security Institute + “staff to support the new AI Taskforce in the Office for the Prime Minister” → CO
AI adoption and preparedness + Frontier and Emerging Technologies including NSSIF and SovAI → DBIST
AI Security Institute + “staff to support the new AI Taskforce in the Office for the Prime Minister” → CO
"Rt Hon Lisa Nandy MP as Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport"..........
July 20, 2026 at 9:30 PM
"Rt Hon Lisa Nandy MP as Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport"..........
Hoping we see the announcement of the first Minister for Digital Public Infrastructure.
July 20, 2026 at 12:40 PM
Hoping we see the announcement of the first Minister for Digital Public Infrastructure.