An overlooked problem

S noted earlier on in passing, referencing this latest update, trying to compel Reform UK to pay the money it owes (or take the fake political party out of business) resulted in several revelations: the party isn’t really a party, it has financial difficulties, it relies on illegal financing, and it adopted stances that are giant own goals or contradictions (hence lies).

The article points out that the solicitors/reps chosen by Reform UK aren’t without folly:

Remember, Nigel Farage asked for the un-necessary by-election on the premise that he was a victim of the Establishment. The exercise cost British taxpayers at least £250,000. What we see in my exchanges with 4-5 Gray’s Inn Square is the behaviour of the Establishment and it feels a lot like they are doing a lot more work for Nigel’s than for any other candidate.

If the by-election wasn’t really about the Establishment then it must be about something else. Maybe there are other secret trials in progress that voters were never told about.

After observing the circumstances involving 4-5 Gray’s Inn Square, I immediately sent a letter to the judge in the case explaining I had lost confidence in the procedure.

The following morning, on 1 October 2026, I sent an email to the same clerk at 4-5 Gray’s Inn Square asking them to “Please kindly explain why you did not run a conflict check before asking me to submit names and documents to 4-5 Gray’s Inn Square.”

4-5 Gray’s Inn Square never sent any response to this query. It is now radio silence.

I can not prove how many clerks and lawyers in the firm looked at the same attachments. I don’t know if the same lawyer assisting Reform UK was accidentally given the opportunity to see my documents. Nonetheless, looking at the transcript of my phone call with these people, their email response the next day and subsequent radio silence when challenged about the affair, I feel there is a real possibility they failed to maintain information barriers, also known as Chinese walls. Whether this breach of confidentiality happened deliberately or by accident doesn’t make a lot of difference.

On 7 October 2026, I took the next step and submitted a formal application to withdraw the secret legal document and put an end to the secret procedure.

The cost and potential side-effects of these incidents make the procedure uneconomical and result in an unacceptable risk of a judge making incorrect findings in a dispute.

This was not the first time somebody served one of these secret legal documents on Reform UK Party Limited. I doubt it will be the last time.

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When I discovered that 4-5 Gray’s Inn Square had already done work for the other side in this dispute, the story of Father Baker and Father Pickering communicating behind the backs of abuse victims wasn’t the only thing that came to mind.

Take a moment to remember the Swiss JuristGate scandal, in particular, the greffiers who work like clerks in the court while simultaneously running businesses on the side.

In Australia, we had the notorious lawyer X, who was officially working for crime bosses while secretly working as a police informer. It was a scandal that went from the bar to the bedroom and back again. The Royal Commission into that affair made a point of asking police who slept with the lawyer (guilty as charged).

It didn’t take me long to find reports about other scandals around 4-5 Gray’s Inn Square. In one of the more minor cases, a lawyer was cleared in a disciplinary procedure after falling asleep during a trial. Then there was the lawyer Paul Cohen and the legendary $15 billion Sulu arbitration affair. An even darker affair involves Oliver Zachary White, banned from direct access work due to unauthorised handling of client funds.

I too saw conflicts like these in firms and chambers. They sometimes make a lot of money from “both sides”.

Does no rule apply here?

When sites fail to serve

oday we resumed the park visits. The birds were already waiting there (almost 70 of them), but it was cold and thus less pleasant than before.

Before departing and again upon returning we identified a public sector site that does not work with Firefox, Librewolf, and not even an old Chromebook.

Therein lies an opportunity. I’ll head over there in person with a notebook and pen and politely confront them over browser compatibility, then see if they can address the same need/service in person. I can make a good article out of this.

Scams and/or scammers rely on misplaced trust

have a friend who keeps being scammed or falling for charlatans, repeatedly (despite my warnings about almost all of these scams). As a scholar, he has been scammed by Saudis, Chinese, Italians, and something in Malaysia and/or Korea. That last one nearly killed him, after it had wiped out all of his life savings.

I don’t know why he falls for it, I keep warning him about these things and he should know better, he’s a professor.

I think the first example goes back more than 15 years ago. He suggested I go work for some college in London, which probably turned to be somewhat of an unprofessional diploma mill. I smelled something wrong and didn’t go to an interview they had invited me to. Good. My friend later said they were horrible (he didn’t specify all the reasons; he was too focused on having a rowing machine in his office) and he inadvertently fooled some colleague from Manchester into going there; it turned out to be a mistake. Thankfully I wasted almost no time on it.

Strike 1.

A decade ago he tried to convince me to invest in some company he told me he had become a partner with. He said the head or founder was super-rich and had a castle. Not too long afterwards, after I told him he was likely faking the finances (genuinely rich people don’t need to get pretentious by getting castles), the guy filed for bankruptcy. So I was right about this.

Strike 2.

It seems like some people are naturally susceptible to work that does not pay them, making false promises or even takes money only to make it vanish away.

Strike 3 is the one he told me nothing about (until he swallowed his pride and it was already way too late).

The world is full of people who cheat, lie, and scam other people. It’s good to be cautious and presume no innocence.

How about that for defiance?

anCity seems unstoppable. From almost 4-1 (pre-VAR) it turned into 3-2 and almost a draw.

There are lessons to learn.

About half the goals of ManCity comes from one man: Erling Haaland

his is looking like another season for City to “put in the bag”. They are appealing the verdict and, for now, they prove their worth.

Enzo has a flawless PL season so far. The tall Norwegian makes it easy for him.

BBC bias?

ecently, on at least 3 occasions, I showed how BBC was ignoring important news and football news about ManCity to constantly ‘incite’ against ManCity.

I don’t know if – or to what extent – other broadcasters do or did the same.

They created an atmosphere wherein everything about ManCity is negatively rated, e.g.

It’s even more obvious in other such updates.

I wonder what RMS thinks of it

ix years ago, in October 2020, I worked on making a text-only (bulletin) version of Techrights. The sister site would have the same thing 3 years later.

In the same month I experimented with putting these bulletins in IPFS, then I looked into more protocols (like Gemini Protocol, which I had already explored before but did not adopt).

So there’s a sort of anniversary in late October. It coincided with the COVID-19 stay-home directives.

Free software (like IPFS) has since then stagnated somewhat. Like blockchains, we barely hear about it anymore.

It still exists, but how many people use it?

I don’t think RMS knows much (or anything) about IPFS. He’s not a fan of fake-coins, so he would probably find IPFS off-putting.