DDoS attack on my little site!

This has happened on business websites I’ve managed over the years, but never on a personal website like this.

Yesterday, Monday 17th August 2026, my little site had just over 1.61k visitors. I know I’m not that popular, so I knew something was probably up.

According to Umami, 99% of that traffic came from Singapore, and at around 2pm, those 1.61k hits were all aimed at my site search function.

So yes, that feels less like sudden global fame and more like something automated having a little poke around.

Still, it does leave one important question...

Who the hell have I upset in Singapore?

Interestingly, our site at work as a DDoS attack today, but those came from the UK ... how very strange!

When the Sun Disappeared

So, we’ve just had a partial solar eclipse here in the UK. 

The last time we had one like this, my girls were only three weeks old (August 1999) which is a slightly alarming way of measuring the passing of time! 

The whole thing got me thinking about what our ancestors must have thought during a solar eclipse (yeah I often think weird things like this).

It’s easy for us today. We understand what’s happening, we can predict an eclipse years in advance, and we know that the Sun is going to reappear. But imagine living 1,000 years ago and watching the Sun slowly disappear over the course of an hour.

People understood just how predictable the rising and setting of the Sun was, and more importantly, how essential it was to their lives. Then, one day, in the middle of its normal journey across the sky, something starts taking a bite out of it.

Without knowing why it was happening, or whether the Sun was actually going to come back, that must have been terrifying.

One of my photos from the evening.

Are We Getting An Electric Car?

So, my wife has started to become interested in electric vehicles and, to be honest, I might be too.

We have a Ford Kuga, and we still have a car loan that runs until next year (£284 a month). I also spend approximately £280–£300 a month on petrol, so the car effectively costs me around £590 a month. Potentially, I could pay less than that for an EV instead; no more buying expensive petrol, much less maintenance, slightly higher insurance perhaps, but lower car tax.

I drive almost 60 miles a day commuting, and our longest regular journey is probably a round trip of around 200 miles to see our grandson, which is very doable in a modern electric car. So yeah, let’s look at it and see where it takes us.

After looking at salary sacrifice, we started leaning towards a personal lease instead. Octopus seem to have some good deals on EVs, and my wife particularly liked the Omoda E5 Noble. My only concern was the headroom, as I'm 6'2" and need the clearance!

Anyway, after a week of research, I had a ranked list of potential cars based on the specs.

Rank	Vehicle	Rating
1st	CUPRA Born V1 58 kWh + heat pump	9.2 / 10
2nd	Leapmotor B05 67.1 kWh	8.8 / 10
3rd	Renault Megane E-Tech EV60	8.6 / 10
4th	Leapmotor B10 67.1 kWh	8.3 / 10
5th	Omoda E5 Noble MY25/26	7.8 / 10
6th	Kia EV4 Air Standard Range	7.4 / 10
7th	BYD Dolphin Comfort / Design	7.3 / 10
8th	Hyundai Kona Electric 65 kWh Advance	6.9 / 10
9th	JAECOO E5 Luxury	6.4 / 10
10th	MG S5 EV Long Range	5.9 / 10

OK, so not everything this weekend went quite as expected. We went to the dealership mainly to see whether I could actually fit comfortably in an Omoda E5 Noble at 6'2" (I could, by the way). As it happens, though, my wife decided she didn't like the front grille. While we were there, the salesman mentioned plug-in hybrids.

On the same site was a Chery dealership, so we had a look there too. We didn't really like the look of the cars, so I asked ChatGPT whether a plug-in hybrid might actually suit the way I use a car. With a roughly 60-mile round-trip commute each day, the MG HS PHEV Trophy came up as a particularly interesting option.

Luckily, we were parked right next to an MG dealership.

Long story short, that morning we'd been absolutely certain we wanted an EV. A few hours later, we walked out of the dealership having bought an MG HS PHEV Trophy.

FPL Team Reveal 2026/27: My Starting 3-5-2 Draft

My Fantasy Premier League team planner for Gameweek 1, including formation, squad structure and the thinking behind the picks.

With the new Fantasy Premier League season approaching, this is my current FPL team reveal for 2026/27.

It isn’t supposed to be the definitive “best Fantasy Premier League team”, mainly because I don't think there is one, especially before a ball has been kicked (and you can't really go on pre-season games). Instead, this is the structure I’m currently working with and the reasoning behind it.

I’ve played FPL since 2009/10 and generally do reasonably well in my mini-leagues. My last two overall finishes have been in the top 4% and top 3%, and eight of my last ten seasons have ended inside the top 10%.

So my squad building, transfers and Captain decisions generally goes alright.

Playing my chips at the right time? Less impressive.

And my FPL Cup history is probably best left unexamined.

My FPL team for Gameweek 1

 

This is the current draft rather than a locked team. Pre-season injuries, transfers and starting roles could still change a few names before the Gameweek 1 deadline.

The structure, though, is becoming fairly settled.

Why I'm starting with 3-5-2

My preferred FPL formation for the opening Gameweeks is 3-5-2, I've used this for years now and it works for me.

The main reason is to give me a solid midfield.

Midfielders receive five points for scoring compared with four for forwards, while also collecting a point for a clean sheet. More importantly, several of this season's most interesting midfield options effectively play as attackers anyway.

I'd therefore rather start five strong midfielders than spend heavily on a 3rd forward.

It also means I can keep defence fairly inexpensive, another tactic I've used in the last couple of seasons.

My basic FPL team planner looks like this:

2 budget goalkeepers
3 starting defenders + 2 cheap bench defenders
5 starting midfielders
Haaland + one value forward
One cheap 3rd forward

The money is going into the players I expect to produce most of the goals and assists.

Building the team around midfield

The midfield is currently the part of the squad I like most:

Bruno Fernandes
Bryan Mbeumo
Antoine Semenyo
Florian Wirtz
Bruno Guimarães

It's an expensive five, but if I'm gunning for another top 4% finish, it needs to be.

Bruno Fernandes gives me a premium midfielder, penalties, set pieces and an alternative captain to Haaland.

Mbeumo interests me because of how advanced his role could be. If he's regularly operating around the striker rather than playing as a conventional midfielder, his £8m price becomes very attractive. I think for the majority of the season these two will be a great pair in my team as they hopefully will be on the field.

Semenyo is another player I'm increasingly keen on after his pre-season performances. Manchester City inevitably bring rotation risk, but I'm willing to accept some uncertainty for a midfielder with genuine explosive potential.

Wirtz might be my favourite gamble of the group. If he settles into Liverpool's attack and continues playing centrally behind the evolving strikers, £7.5m could prove to be a very useful starting price.

Then there's Bruno Guimarães.

His move to Arsenal makes him particularly interesting at £7m, but his position will be important. If he's playing as an attacking No.8 and regularly getting towards the penalty area, I like him a lot.

If Arsenal use him primarily as a deeper midfielder, I'll probably look elsewhere.

Haaland is still the captaincy anchor

Spending £43m in midfield obviously means compromises elsewhere, but Haaland remains in the squad.

At £15.5m he's a huge chunk of the FPL budget, but he also removes a lot of captaincy decisions (with Fernandes)

Most Gameweeks I can simply captain Haaland and move on.

Bruno Fernandes then gives me another strong option when Manchester United have the better fixture.

I'd rather have those two premium anchors than spread the money across several expensive players I'm less confident captaining.

Keeping defence cheap

I'm deliberately avoiding a premium defence, this is the first season I've done this.

There will undoubtedly be defenders capable of scoring 150-200 points, but I really wanted an incredibly strong midfield this season.

My plan is to find three defenders who are reasonably secure starters with some attacking, clean-sheet or defensive-contribution potential.

The final two defensive positions can then be filled with £4m players who might actually get some minutes.

But mostly they just need to sit on my bench without consuming too much of my budget.

My starting defence has cost me £22n this season, usually I would spend alot more, I was tempted by Gabriel and van Dijk, I do like them as Fantasy defenders, but I prefer the savings even more!

Goalkeeper - fairly easy choice

I've gone for Kinsky here, at £4.5m, I think he's a solid pick, I've also gone for Verbruggen and anther £4.5m pick, I've probably saved myself £1m on players I would usually go for, which with my defensive savings, helped my get the Midfield in that I wanted.

Planning for transfers

One thing I want from my FPL starting squad is an easy route out of bad decisions.

It's August. Some of these picks will be wrong.

That's inevitable.

What I don't want is to discover the £8m midfielder everyone suddenly wants and realise that reaching him requires three transfers.

My midfield deliberately contains several useful price points.

Bruno occupies the premium bracket. Semenyo and Mbeumo sit around £8m. Wirtz and Bruno Guimarães occupy the £7m area.

If an obvious player emerges during the opening Gameweeks, there should usually be a simple route towards him.

I'd much rather bank early transfers and make one or two deliberate changes than start rebuilding the squad after Gameweek 2.

What I'm watching before Gameweek 1

There are still a few things that could change this FPL team before the deadline.

The biggest ones are the roles of Bruno Guimarães, Mbeumo and Wirtz, along with Manchester City's attacking rotation.

I'll also be watching for genuine £4m defenders and whether a better cheap forward emerges.

The temptation will be to react to every pre-season goal, assist and clean sheet.

I'm trying not to.

This squad isn't about predicting exactly who scores in Gameweek 1. It's about putting together a team with good players, favourable early fixtures and enough flexibility to react once we've seen some competitive football.

The plan

So, for now:

Formation: 3-5-2

Premiums: Haaland + Bruno Fernandes

Strategy: spend heavily in midfield, minimise defensive spend and maintain useful transfer price points.

Then comes the difficult bit, not ruining a perfectly decent FPL season by firing using my Chips at the wrong time again!

I'll keep updating this page as the squad changes through pre-season and the opening Gameweeks.

Why Raleigh Lost Its Appeal

I was sad to hear about the problems facing bicycle brand Raleigh, but the news got me thinking about why the company might have struggled over the kast decade or so.

When I was a kid, we dreamed about owning particular bikes. I wanted a Raleigh Chopper, and God, I loved that bike when I finally got one. Other friends of mine wanted a Grifter or a Chipper. These weren’t just bikes; they were bikes you knew by name and desperately wanted to own.

Do children feel the same way now? Those who do want a bike often seem to want a fairly non-descript racing or mountain bike, rather than a particular make and model.

I wonder whether that loss of aspiration and brand attachment is part of what has hurt Raleigh. It once made bikes that children dreamed of owning, but somewhere along the way, that connection seems to have been lost.

How to Fix FIFA

Much has been written over the past few days about the FIFA presidency and whether Gianni Infantino is still fit to govern the world’s largest football organisation. The latest controversy, involving an apparent attempt to place FIFA’s commercial interests into a private investment-backed company, has again raised questions about who FIFA serves and how much power should be placed in the hands of one person, especially a power hungry dictator!

FIFA’s problems, however, appear to be bigger than any single president. Under both Sepp Blatter and Gianni Infantino, we have seen how power and influence can accumulate around the presidency of an organisation controlling a multibillion-pound global business.

Concentrating that much authority in one individual, particularly over several terms, creates an obvious risk. Decisions can become shaped by personal ambition, political relationships and commercial interests, rather than by what is best for football, its national associations and its supporters.

How could FIFA be fixed?

One possible solution would be to replace the individual FIFA president with a rotating presidency held by a national football association.

The system could operate broadly like the presidency of the Council of the EU, which rotates between member states every six months. Rather than allowing one individual to build a personal power base over many years, a national football association would chair and help steer FIFA for a fixed period.

My original thought was that one of the 211 member associations could be President, but even at six months each, a simple country-by-country rotation would take more than a century to complete. A more practical approach therefore could be to rotate the presidency between FIFA’s six continental confederations. Each confederation would nominate one of its national associations to hold the position for six months, following a transparent and predetermined order.

Just like UK and EU civil servants, a permanent professional backroom team would maintain continuity and carry out FIFAs day-to-day work. I know Infantino likes to deicide and run everything himself, so I would also recommend a strong independent oversight would also be needed to scrutinise major commercial agreements and prevent individual associations from using their short term for their own benefit.

I realise that no governance system can completely eliminate corruption, poor judgement or political manoeuvring. Spreading power more widely, however, would make it harder for FIFA to become dominated by the personality and ambitions of one individual.

FIFA may not simply need a new president. It may need to rethink whether it should have an all-powerful president at all.

Brain Freeze isn't Real

Is brain freeze real? Apparently people are convinced it is, but I’m still entirely convinced that it doesn’t.

I’ve eaten ice cream too quickly, gulped freezing drinks and generally treated cold food with very little respect, yet I can’t remember ever experiencing that sudden stabbing headache people describe.

Now there is something called cold-stimulus headache, but your brain doesn't freeze.

Perhaps I’m immune to this phenomenon, perhaps I know brains don't freeze so I don't suffer from it!

Social Care Should Be a Shared Risk

It seems like a complete no-brainer to me that social care should be risk pooled across the UK.

That is already how we treat taxation and the NHS. We all contribute, knowing that we may never need expensive treatment ourselves, because none of us knows what illness or misfortune might come our way.

Social care is no different. Some people will never need much support, while others may develop dementia, suffer a stroke or simply become unable to care for themselves as they grow older. That is not something anyone can sensibly plan for, and it should not become a financial catastrophe simply because you happen to be one of the unlucky ones.

We do not ask someone with cancer to sell their home before they can receive treatment, yet we are far more comfortable doing something very similar when somebody needs long-term care.

Of course, risk pooling would mean all of us paying something towards a service that many of us may never use. But that is the whole point of pooling risk. We pay collectively so that no individual or family is ruined when that risk becomes reality.