uk – Terence Eden’s Blog https://shkspr.mobi/blog Regular nonsense about tech and its effects 🙃 Thu, 02 Apr 2026 08:37:21 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/cropped-avatar-32x32.jpeg uk – Terence Eden’s Blog https://shkspr.mobi/blog 32 32 <![CDATA[Cheapest Possible eSIM in the UK]]> https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2024/03/cheapest-possible-esim/ https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2024/03/cheapest-possible-esim/#comments Thu, 07 Mar 2024 12:34:05 +0000 https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=49835 After railing against eSIM-only phones for over a decade, I've finally succumbed. It appears impossible to buy a modern phone without them. Thankfully, most seem to be dual-SIM. So I can have a regular SIM card and an eSIM.

I find dual-SIM phones handy. I have a disposable number which I give out to people who don't need my main number. And when I go abroad, it's useful to have a local SIM. When I'm at home, I like my 2nd SIM to be used as a backup in case I'm somewhere with no signal on my primary line.

So, what's the cheapest eSIM in the UK?

I think it is Spusu - an MVNO on the EE network. 1GB, Unlimited Minutes, Unlimited SMS for... £2.90 per month!

Not bad! It offers 5G, VoLTE, WiFi Calling and EU roaming. If you spend most of your day on WiFi, it's a great offer. The contract is flexible, so you can cancel it at any time.

There are a few others to consider.

Lyca - another EE MVNO - have a special offer of £1.29 per month but that's only for the first 3 months. After that it jumps to £5.90. It should be possible to cancel after the first few months, but that's a bit of hassle.

GiffGaff are an O2 MVNO. They offer a free SIM, which you can convert to an eSIM. That will get you a number which supports incoming calls and texts - but you won't be able to make calls, send texts, or use data. Their cheapest monthly plan is £6. Or you can go pure PAYG and pay 25p/min for calls, 10p per text, and 25p per MB. Ouch!

Three will also give you a free eSIM. At PAYG rates, you'll pay 35p/min, 15p/text, 10p/MB.

If you want a data-only backup eSIM, I think the cheapest is £6.50 for 30 days with 3GB from Nomad. It is designed for tourists - and will roam onto all the major UK networks. No calls or texts, but handy if you need emergency data.

Those are the cheapest deals I could find. If you think you know of something cheaper - shove a link in the comments.

]]> https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2024/03/cheapest-possible-esim/feed/ 6 <![CDATA[Minority Governments and the Boundary Commission]]> https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2024/02/minority-governments-and-the-boundary-commission/ https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2024/02/minority-governments-and-the-boundary-commission/#comments Tue, 20 Feb 2024 12:34:55 +0000 https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=49667 The UK is almost certain to have a General Election this year0. The Boundary Commission for England1 has reworked the existing Parliamentary constituencies to make them more fair2.

As such, constituencies are generally more equal in terms of electorate. But, of course, geography trumps geometry. So the Isle of Wight now has two constituencies of 56k and 54k, whereas the average constituency has 73k.

I wanted to know if these new boundaries meant that a political party could win the majority of votes, but still not get a majority of seats3. So I downloaded the data.

There are 650 seats in The UK. Obviously, if 649 of them had turnouts of 3 people - 2 voting for Party X and 1 for Party Y - and the last seat had 74k people vote for Y, then X wins with a minority of the national vote. But let's go for something more realistic.

The total electorate is 47,558,3484. Therefore, a party would need 23,779,175 votes to win a national majority.

If Party X won 100% of the vote in the most populous 316 constituencies, they'd have 23,844,185 votes. If Party Y won 100% of the vote in the remaining 334 constituencies, they'd have 23,714,163 votes.

So, yes, it is technically5 possible for a political party to win the majority of votes but still not win the majority of seats. In fact, a party could win 24,322,616 votes (51.1%) and still be one seat short of a plurality.

But what about…?

Is this probable? No. Even in the wildest fantasies of party faithful, no one is winning 100% of the vote in any constituency. England, Scotland, Wales, and NI each have their own political parties and vastly different electorate.

But is it possible? Yes. If Party X won the 326 least-populous seats with 100% of the vote, they would have a majority in Parliament yet only have 48.6% of the popular vote.

  1. Personally, I think Rishi will hold it in January 2025. Clinging on to power until the very last second, hoping something will happen that will change his fortune. ↩︎

  2. The UK is a country of four countries. Yes, it is complicated. No, I won't explain it. ↩︎

  3. Yes, I know your favourite MP has been done dirty by these changes. No, I don't think there are political shenanigans afoot targeting specific MPs. ↩︎

  4. The UK's "First Past The Post" system means that the national vote share is often wildly different to the number of seats won. But I'm unaware of an election where a party won the most votes but didn't take the most seats. ↩︎

  5. The Office for National Statistics says "In December 2021, there were 46,560,452 Parliamentary electoral registrations" - but let's not quibble. ↩︎

  6. The best kind of possible! ↩︎

]]> https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2024/02/minority-governments-and-the-boundary-commission/feed/ 7 <![CDATA[Elections In A Digital Age - blogging, tweeting and buzzing to the polls]]> https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2010/04/elections-in-a-digital-age-blogging-tweeting-and-buzzing-to-the-polls/ https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2010/04/elections-in-a-digital-age-blogging-tweeting-and-buzzing-to-the-polls/#comments Fri, 02 Apr 2010 13:33:44 +0000 http://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=1942 Weeks before Britons go to the polls, there's still no comprehensive list of candidates. Four citizens' initiatives have joined forces to tackle the problem. They've been gathering basic information about thousands of candidates and making the data public.

"It may seem surprising but there simply is no single listing for all prospective parliamentary candidates. We want people to make an informed choice and that's difficult because so many new people are standing this time - and a record number of incumbent MPs are standing down because of expense scandal," said Edmund von der Burg from YourNextMP.

One recent poll (PollLab 10/3/10) found nearly half of voters cannot name their MP and three quarters have no idea who their candidates are.

The message from four independent groups which collect and display candidate data online (YourNextMP, hustings.com, iElect UK & ivote2010) is a simple one – don't leave the decision about who to vote for until polling day – check out the candidates first and make them work for your vote.

In recent weeks, the British media has touted this election as the "first truly digital election." Online tools such as myconservatives.com and its Labour counterpart membersnet are being used in local campaigns to recruit volunteers and collect donations. But, Frances Harrison from iElect UK argues that the Internet's greatest impact is in empowering the ordinary citizen and allowing undecided voters to learn more about candidates.

"The much-touted digital election campaign is not just about new communication channels for the big parties – it's just as much about empowering ordinary citizens and giving them a voice to disseminate information," said Harrison.

YourNextMP, which is affiliated to DemocracyClub, allows any member of the public to upload candidate names, photos and details online. Hustings  compares candidates in much more detail in the key marginal seats. While iElect UK is an iPhone app with candidate data and iVote2010 is aimed at any mobile phone with a web browser.

WHO WE ARE IN DETAIL

YourNextMP is a comprehensive list of candidates for the general election which is made freely available as a website and as data downloads for others to build on. The details are editable in a wiki-like manner and many of the contributions are from members of the public. By ensuring that their details are on YourNextMP candidates can be sure that they will appear on all the services built on the data that it shares.

Contact: Edmund von der Burg Site: http://www.yournextmp.com/

iElect UK is a new, free iPhone app that helps you know who to vote for. It allows users to find their constituency, using GPS or postcode, and then view a list of candidates as well as the MP. The user can ask to be contacted by any of the politicians. The idea being to promote a conversation between the electorate and their representatives. It's been developed by two London women: an ex BBC journalist & promotional marketing manager.

Contact: Frances Harrison or Nerissa Martin Site: www.crowdspeak.co.uk

Hustings gives links to sites being used by candidates for their online campaigning, e.g. twitter, facebook, youtube, flikr, winkball etc. It also collates news on candidates and offers candidates the option to upload their own data such as podcasts, photos and videos.

Contact: James Evans Site: www.hustings.com

iVote2010 is a mobile site that allows any phone with a web browser to find their prospective parliamentary candidates.  The site has been tested on over 250 of the UK's most popular phones.  Visitors can use iVote2010.co.uk to contact their PPC's by phone, text or email. It also provides help in registering to vote - with the phone number and address of their local council.

Contact Terence Eden Site: http://iVote2010.co.uk

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