So the Marxist-Leninists are still in the game. They're not getting enough votes to win seats, but they're still in the game. I suppose it speaks well up to a point about political diversity. Also, as a reminder that if one doesn't like any of the political parties currently in the game, starting one of your own might well be a tough slog but it's still possible. Ditto for starting a riding association for the one you like if it's not already in place in your own district.

Following the Guardian feed on Facebook, I couldn't believe how many people were ignoring the confirmation of the fact that the Guardian's people had - as smart, modern news-people ought to have done! - already backed up the contents of the hard drives in question elsewhere. Appalling.

So the Marxist-Leninists are still in the game.

Yes, and apparently leaving calling-cards around like second-rate cults.

As for the Guardian having back-ups, I think even the British police understood that. The hard-drive destruction was a ritual, kind of a combination of an exorcism and plain old fashioned bullying.

1. Yep.

2. The British police understood it, to be sure, but some of the people following that Facebook posting didn't seem to get it. That the ritual was carried out at all, despite the counter-measures already taken against the authorities' actions, seemed to strike them as a betrayal of Greenwald and Snowden and of humanity in general. They were wrong, but that didn't stop them believing otherwise.