aniel Pocock is not British, but he is running as if he is British while he is Irish, Swiss, and Australian. Can he succeed? His platform is out of the ordinary, so he can at least stand out and get noticed.

“Apropos Daniel’s run for office,” a friend has told me, “there is the problem of “split ballots” If there are many similar candidates, and one outlier, the pool of voters which are similar spread their votes over the pool of similar candidates. Thus none of them get enough to take the lead. However, the outlier collects as a single candidate all the dissimilar votes and thus ends up taking the lead. That is precisely how Michael Moore ended up in public office a long time ago. The opposition then fielded a lot of candidddates and thus spread their vote pool so thinly that they all lost and an unknown won. Similarly in 2006 during the Eurovision Song contest, there were a lot of similar sounding songs of the same genre which gained a wide spread of votes, none taking a lead. However, there was a single metal contestant and he collected all the metal votes, which turned out to be more than any single other contestant. So I ask where on the political spectrums do the 34 candidates in Daniel’s race lie? If they are similar to him politically, then those backing Farage are trying to water down Daniel’s message. Either way, I wish him both luck and visibility.”

Let’s see how he gets on.

2 days ago: Manchester’s Status in UK Politics is Improving

very Mancunian government is shaping up, perhaps making a tacit promise to shift the political centre of gravity away from London and better cater for the rest of the country.

We eagerly look forward to working with this cabinet towards a meaningful, effective SLAPP reform.

arlier today I said that the political landscape had shifted in our favour because my wife speaks with female ministers about what was done to her and is still being done to her. Unfortunately, at this point we’re best advised not to comment on the hearing but instead wait for the outcome. We’ll keep our politicians in the loop.

Rianne’s birthday is almost a month away and we hope for an early gift.

AM just glad that it’s official. Andy the Mancunian leader is becoming our national leader and his deputy too is Mancunian. Yes, Lucy. “She defeated Bridget Phillipson on 25 October 2025,” Wikipedia notes, “holding the position of Deputy Leader for the remainder of Starmer’s leadership and subsequently under Andy Burnham.”

Lucy tried to help me and my colleagues after we had been defrauded by an employer down south. She is also helping my wife now.

I hope that Andy will maintain the momentum of anti-SLAPP legislation even after David Lindon Lammy steps aside. Lammy played a role in this legislation along with Sarah Sackman, who remains Minister of State for Courts and Legal Services.

It raised awareness of the very things they were trying to suppress.

N a lot of ways we have already won. What do I mean by that?

Well, first of all, we’re finally going to have our laws rectified, perhaps as soon as later this year.

Second, since we were defiant and ended up making sacrifices for the sake of the nation and for Software Freedom, among many other things such as real computer security (as opposed to American back doors), more people will get involved and are already getting involved.

The cat is out of the bag; lawfare does not always work – it has only backfired spectacularly.

T has been almost 43 years since Richard M. Stallman (“RMS”), “The Last MIT Hacker”, started GNU. He was about 30 at the time and he later quit his job to focus on GNU and avoid a conflict of interest.

I quit my job when I was 40 to focus on various endeavours and I have no regrets; if anything, there’s room to regret not doing so sooner. I could have done and written so much more (had I quit sooner), but at least I saved enough money to defend against lawfare.

Frugal lifestyles have earned credibility (resurgence) as the economies sank, energy became more scarce (or expensive), and political problems more profound. If you’re not seeking to become part of the solution you might be a passive component (or “cog”) of the problem.

The world needs more activists, not more capital.

t’s a “deja vu” day. It happened this past summer. It happened in 2020/21. Now again.

“Hello Roy Schestowitz,” told me Pest Control today regarding an item I discussed with them yesterday [2, 1]. “Please reply to the MCC Neighbourhood Compliance North Team who sent you this letter if you wish to make comments. You have blanked out the sender details.”

I replied: “They told me to contact you.”

At the moment they seem to be playing ping-pong regarding an important matter in our area. Several of us in the street are looking after wildlife and clarity is needed.

This ping-pong routine is beginning to remind me of what they did half a decade ago [1, 2, 3]. Both sides tell you to talk to “the other side” as if the goal is to waste your time.