Gareth Kitchen

#Stroud District Councillor | Welsh Independence | Privacy Enthusiast | Green | #FGR

Interests in #Police accountability, #StopSearch and #anti-racism. ex-Town Councillor, ex-Stop & Search Scrutiny Panel. Support Forest Green Rovers. #Stroud Green Party member. #GPEW #Akkoma
Elected Stroud District Council 4th May 2024, but this my private account.

F: 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿
Website: https://selectnet.biz
Nostr: npub1fn95p9khdsazyanadz7ksrwuel0yjslhccfk7h50dh4472acw8dqah2
Born: 320.04ppm CO₂
Keyoxide: https://keyoxide.org/aspe:keyoxide.org:RCTKOG4X3K75MAWJVCB7VXU5LM
Digital Imprint: This is my private account. See https://wotton.stroud.social for imprint
Pronouns: he/him

Public Key

npub175ksq593vl2m5h5x4lfm35y7c94mhqjhklj4vtwsxtw3dx5ks94qtcs0ad

NIP-05 Address

gruff_at_stroud.social@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqs02tgq2zck04d6t6r2l5ac6z0vz6amsftm0e2k9hgr9hgkn2tgz6sprpmhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0d4hhxarj9ecxjmntqywhwumn8ghj7mn0wd68yttsw43zuam9d3kx7unyv4ezumn9ws09jtwn

Publishing to

relay.momostr.pink

nostr-pub.wellorder.net

yabu.me

Author Public Key

npub175ksq593vl2m5h5x4lfm35y7c94mhqjhklj4vtwsxtw3dx5ks94qtcs0ad

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Last Notes

2026-09-07 14:49:25 UTC

Oh lordy. I kid you not. This is for real..........
https://stroud.social/media/d7732a5979f08b37efeee6fbe9b83aec8eabb0d98f13b15baa7e8712bda013cf.jpeg

2026-09-01 11:51:49 UTC

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He's said that he's been waiting for a London seat......

2026-06-22 05:00:19 UTC

New polling shows two-thirds of Britons want higher levies on big tech. The political will is there. But raising the digital services tax alone won't fix what's broken. We need to go much further.
Because it's not just surveillance advertising that's poisoning our democracy by harvesting our life data. It is the algorithmic manipulation of our social feeds to maximize engagement. Fracturing truth, amplifying rage and undermining reality itself. And these monstrous AI data centres are the engines powering it all.
To start reclaiming what's been stolen from us we need to demand greater regulation; a legislative pincer movement:
✂️ Cut the data flows and mandate strict data minimisation. Enforce real consent, not bogus "I agree" buttons.
💰 Tax what remains. Levy taxes on the value of harvested data, not just revenue, until the business model of surveillance and manipulation becomes unprofitable.
We need a rights-led digital economy, not a market-led one. The public is already there: two-thirds of us want higher levies on big tech. Politicians need to catch up.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/22/uk-tax-higher-levies-big-tech-digital-services
#DigitalRights

2026-05-11 08:43:18 UTC

What with rCaptcha and all; a good time to remind as all.
https://sinceyouarrived.world/taken

2026-04-07 02:24:50 UTC

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The American Service-Members' Protection Act
@npub1wr6…w2eh

2026-03-29 08:39:01 UTC

I too cheered!
Facebook et. al. had it coming, didn't they?
The fallout from this could actually be very, very bad. I didn't appreciate the detail.
https://www.techdirt.com/2026/03/26/everyone-cheering-the-social-media-addiction-verdicts-against-meta-should-understand-what-theyre-actually-cheering-for/

2026-03-26 04:21:07 UTC

Really pleased to see @npub1kwa…e0nj making a stand.
> For people tired of data harvesting, AI slopware, and the vendor lock-in baked into proprietary OSes like Windows and macOS, something like GrapheneOS is one of the few alternatives left.
https://itsfoss.com/news/grapheneos-refuses-age-verification/

2026-02-01 11:07:33 UTC

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So more like the Stroud set-up then, I guess. But most people just are not aware of local nuance. The national picture seems to drown out most things local in my humble experience. It's probably much tighter than the bookies have it.
@npub12pw…zvxn @npub1ryu…myy0

2026-01-11 17:34:46 UTC

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Maybe. But I'm 60. My Dad used to tell me that he was told it was 10 years away in his youth. It was still 10 years away when I was at school. My father sadly passed a few years ago. He never saw it. I'm certain 'they' will get there eventually....... It just needs another 10 years or so for commercial viability.....

2026-01-11 02:59:25 UTC

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Without reading the article, let me guess, it's only 10 years away. :)

2026-01-08 12:36:41 UTC

Europeans quietly shifting away from US tech services.
A handy list:-
https://european-alternatives.eu/
https://www.switch-to.eu/en
https://euroalternative.co/

2025-12-14 15:16:36 UTC

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With a name like Oracle, they surely will have seen this coming. :)

2025-12-08 17:46:01 UTC

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tbh, I put the blame squarely at the feet of the Conservative Government. If you remember we hadn't even decided whether we would be in or out of the customs union prior to the vote, let alone any of the other options. It was the Tories who went for the 'hard' option.

2025-10-26 02:42:52 UTC

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Govt. doing what Govts should be doing, I guess.

2025-10-12 05:58:48 UTC

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I was about to pull you up and reply..... But I decided to do the right thing and read the article first.... You covered the points I was going to raise! lol.... Good job.
There's one more topical/tangential point to slide in there though. The age verification Discord leak débâcle.

2025-09-24 07:14:07 UTC

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I expect the coming storm will make McCarthyism look like a pussycat. (If you know what I mean!)

2025-09-04 17:08:55 UTC

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I'm thinking more about why there are even stamp duty exemptions for trusts anyway.......

2025-08-20 20:25:11 UTC

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One party at my local council has instructed councillors to summarise backing papers with AI. :( The art of reading backing papers is to identify what officers have left out, so you can ask the right questions!

2025-08-16 09:49:31 UTC

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Here goes: 12 servings will have 120ml of rum and 60ml of coffee liqueur. Rum is appx. 40% and the the coffee 20%. So lets say that's 150ml at 40%. So, that's 12.5ml of alcohol per serving.
So many factors in getting drunk. Lets say it's 5 shots of 40% alcohol??? All sorts of this affect that. A shot is about 40ml, so 200ml.
So, 200ml/12.5ml = 16 servings should do it! ;)

2025-08-05 04:04:08 UTC

People who have chosen Substack as a blogging platform may wish to reconsider. Many people, especially in these parts, quite rightly refuse to support that platform.
https://www.techdirt.com/2025/08/04/substacks-algorithm-accidentally-reveals-what-we-already-knew-its-the-nazi-bar-now/

2025-07-06 04:47:57 UTC

Most people have no concept of what a billion is.
So, if we use seconds...
1 thousand seconds is 16 minutes
1 million seconds is 11 and a half days
1 billion seconds is...31 years

2025-06-23 19:48:33 UTC

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It's been a long time coming, tbh. The only surprise is that it's this Labour (in name only) govt. rather than the last..... Their authoritarian ambitions are identical.....

2025-06-05 06:44:11 UTC

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I've heard it said that Signal's push isn't well optimised. I seem to remember it was a bit of a problem on my S5 running Cyanogen, way back when. But, nowadays I haven't noticed this by way of battery drain or mobile data usage. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ It works fine. Maybe, they've tweaked it over the years?

2025-06-05 01:51:36 UTC

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I'm glad I ditched my Google account nearly 10 years ago. I now run @npub1kwa…e0nj without Google Play Services and all. So, I think that mitigates all this for me.

2025-05-03 12:36:33 UTC

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It is very disappointing that Labour continue to blame the Greens for their defeats. My attempts to justify the Greens' right to stand brilliant candidates in previous elections were constantly attacked on social media.
But down here in Stroud we persisted and have fielded excellent candidates who have become elected and our results yesterday were outstanding. We now have SIX out of the eleven county seats in our district.
With a total of 9 seats in Gloucestershire and the Lib Dems 27 we will be able to work collaboratively to deliver good things. But there is also so much to fix after two decades of Conservative rule.
Labour have been reduce to just ONE county councillor!
This has been the first election ever, where we could say vote for what you truly believe in!
@npub1e6s…yt4w @npub1c89…qyqy
#ukpol
https://stroud.social/media/c8e840712a7a53f4aeead735ec127da9dfa847e0490e1d2983fb3876fda32111.jpg

2025-04-28 12:37:31 UTC

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With turnout expected to be so low and the vote already split four or five way it's foolish to vote tactically. It really is. Just vote for the best left of centre candidate. That's boils down to a simple choice between Lib Dem or Green, especially in Gloucestershire where I live.

2025-04-23 15:30:21 UTC

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You've got me reminiscing now! These are the bad boys I used to support (scsi drives within). I can't believe that this site exists. https://apricot-archive.co.uk/vx-ft-server @npub1yqw…ywz8

2025-04-23 15:20:30 UTC

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All the drives would run off that 50pin connector. Up to seven devices using a daisy chain type cable like this one. @npub1yqw…ywz8
https://stroud.social/media/6957a7fe97bc7ab97cfde57934e6df3465493533391d7ef2db8f361f28b25e69.jpg

2025-04-23 13:42:43 UTC

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Wow! I don't remember that as a feature. I think the 29xx series were high end. I recall the low end controllers being 15xx or something.
Also, I'm certain that the ones I used were micro-channel rather than conventional PC ISA cards.
@npub1yqw…ywz8

2025-04-23 13:11:32 UTC

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This brings back memories of support visits discovering that scsi terminators had not been fitted! I recall a low cost adaptec scsi controller that was used with these and 1/4" tape drives. @npub1wtk…cprc

2025-04-17 18:59:28 UTC

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Here's the legislation, which hasn't changed.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pace-code-c-2019/pace-code-c-2019-accessible#bookmark72
@npub1m0j…qy4f

2025-04-17 18:56:28 UTC

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I think that's wrong. BTP policy cannot trump PACE.
I'm certain that will be challenged in coming days.
@npub1m0j…qy4f

2025-04-06 08:31:57 UTC

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With my little episode last week. A 111 call led to a first responder, about 10 mins. Which led to an ambulance, about 20 mins. Which led to a free taxi to A&E about 20 mins. Then triaged in the time taken to do a Fedi post!
They stabilised me at home and I assume were happy enough to dispense with A&E handover.

2025-04-03 05:49:48 UTC

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So, isn't Trump merely making adjustments to policy put in place by Regan and Thatcher way back when? Or is it the start of its unwinding?

2025-03-29 11:00:03 UTC

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Good morning Aral.

2025-03-09 13:34:40 UTC

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Yes. It's complete tosh. I really don't know how it got published. Daily Mail yes, but the Guardian? @npub14uf…um9k

2025-03-08 13:45:02 UTC

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Take care peeps with links like these. If you in the UK, for example, and click the link below, you will have committed a criminal offence. People (in the UK) have been successfully prosecuted under Section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000 for downloading that pdf!
https://www.governmentattic.org/4docs/FBI-AnarchistsCookbook_1971-1999.pdf

2025-02-27 11:06:29 UTC

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I guess the non recommendation of Proton is off the back of Andy Yen's damaging comments re Trump picking Gail Slater as Asst, AG.
There's an in depth write up following the fallout here:-
https://medium.com/@ovenplayer/does-proton-really-support-trump-a-deeper-analysis-and-surprising-findings-aed4fee4305e

2025-02-27 10:33:03 UTC

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Isn't that just a bog standard VPN? I use ProtonVPN permenantly for all my outbound on both desktop and mobile. My tariff gives me 50 VPNs that I can use however and wherever I want.

2025-02-20 09:39:47 UTC

I haven't seen this documentary, but given the extraordinary efforts being made to suppress it, I suggest immediate viewing.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/19/bbc-asked-to-remove-gaza-documentary-over-narrators-fathers-ties-to-hamas
#Gaza #Hamas

2025-01-10 03:50:36 UTC

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She is being held quite close to us and I've been made aware of this:-
"It is Gaie Dunlap's 78th birthday on Friday 10th January. Local Quakers are showing her love and solidarity by having a vigil for her outside the prison on her birthday. If anyone from Gloucestershire wishes to go, the arrangement is to meet at 5pm at The Huntsman Pub (which is 2 minutes away from HMP Eastwood Park, just off junction 14 of the M5), on Bristol Rd, Falfield, Wotton-under-Edge GL12 8DF. From 17:15 to 19:00 there will be a vigil for Gaie outside the prison gates.
Bristol Climate Choir should be there, and the time will be spent with a Quakerly silent vigil/mfw for Gaie (bring lanterns/candles in jam jars), interspersed with Climate Choir singing. Then all singing 'happy birthday to Gaie'.

2024-11-07 14:34:46 UTC

JUST STOP OIL SUPPORTERS NOT GUILTY
The second trial group of Just Stop Oil supporters arrested for "threatening behaviour" to "cause harassment" by peacefully sitting outside Rishi Sunak's house ended in a not guilty verdict on Tuesday.
The Judge ruled Cal, Luke, Taite, John, Joe, Matt, Macintyre and Lora had no case to answer, after the first trial group were all acquitted last month.
#JustStopOil
https://stroud.social/media/1e6193716be0875a5fba477fe15023edebc1d30426ce0f6d5335c44a6ac7a1bf.jpeg

2024-10-24 08:17:09 UTC

A little known fact that Queen Elizabeth II sent this message, unsolicited, to all ARPANET users way back in 1976.
Thus, becoming the world's very first spammer. :)
https://stroud.social/media/4fa3e8741979b77e33f083b4151c2e09d5abcc254f941bc45779be812c3dedcd.jpg

2024-10-12 08:23:56 UTC

Sigh, the day is going badly, overslept. The alarm on my new @npub1kwa…e0nj phone didn't fire. Reminds me of the CyanogenMod disclaimer......
#include
/*
* Your warranty is now void.
*
* I am not responsible for bricked devices, dead SD cards,
* thermonuclear war, or you getting fired because the alarm app failed. Please
* do some research if you have any concerns about features included in this ROM
* before flashing it! YOU are choosing to make these modifications, and if
* you point the finger at me for messing up your device, I will laugh at you.
*
* Submitting bug reports on nightly builds is the leading
* cause of male impotence.
*/
The my car wouldn't start. Dead battery. Lots of clicking. Put a charger on it. It wouldn't charge..... Lots more clicking.... Sigh
Borrowed other halfs car to get to work. Looking at system logs......... :(

2024-09-11 16:22:17 UTC

I spent Sunday at Mum's. Going through bank statements and savings to see if she could claim Pension Credit.
Pension Credit will give her extra money to help with her living costs as she's over State Pension age without much income.
Pension Credit is worth, on average, £3,900 per year and unlocks additional support including the Winter Fuel Payment, help with Council Tax, NHS dental care and a free TV licence.
Luckily she has broadband and is able to access the Government web site. https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit/how-to-claim
We had to input details of what she had in her bank account and any savings, plus some other details; NI Number etc. We had to check statements to find the balances from three months ago too as they will back date payments.
Anyway, today, just three days later, she received a phone call from the Department for Work and Pensions saying the she qualifies by just a few pounds. This will unlock a lot of extra help for her!
So, I'd recommend you all help your parents and grand-parents to do likewise. Remember, lots of the older generation shun social media and are unaware of their entitlement, so make a point of calling them and raising the issue when visiting. ;)
Please boost if you in the UK.
uk #PensionCredit

2024-09-05 03:55:33 UTC

Just discovered that @npub19kd…t56d have produced an excellent 60 page guide to IT Security for small business (and individuals!). It covers all sorts of software and network configuration. Not just about Proton products.
It's well worth a read even if you think you are upto speed as I guarantee you'll pick up a few nuggets.
https://proton.me/business/security-guide