As followers of this high-brow literary masterpiece of the human condition and pop culture, you will already know of my love of William Shakespeare. That being the case, I know you can appreciate the title. And speaking of the title, this week’s little nugget of joy will be about Reform UK.
Now, I know I have readers from around the world, which in itself is really rad to me, but hopefully this example of moral ineptitude can cross borders and languages.
Like last week’s blog post, I often write about the United Kingdom, as it still has a special place in my geek-laden heart, as I lived there for three years, so I’ll always care about it; hence why I’m discussing what Reform UK have been up to, or at least, what they have released to the media.
Before I venture into this new volatile voyage of humour, let’s put on our Hats of Culture and Understanding to briefly explain just what Reform UK actually is. This should be a doozy!
Known as Reform, or the Reform Party, Reform UK is a political party in the United Kingdom that has the (dis)honour of being placed on the right-wing/far-right political spectrum. Basically, whatever you think of the Conservatives (Tories), they are to the right of them. Just for the record, they firmly supported the Leave the EU- pro-Brexit decision. Charming, right?
Anyway, their inspiring and charismatic leader is the MP for Clacton, Nigel Farage. Yes, that Nigel Farage, the one who resigned in July 2026 over an Ethics Committee investigation into some donations he had received. This triggered a by-election, where Farage was going to run, but also the leader of the Recyclons of Sigma IX, Count Binface, stood up to run against him, among others.
On 13th August, the Clacton by-election was held, and, surprise, surprise, Farage won with 63.3% of the vote. However, it must be stated that the runner-up, with 26.9%, was Count Binface. Yes, over a quarter of the voters in Clacton preferred a man with a rubbish bin on his head to be their MP, over Farage. Awesome. I would love to discuss this public relations disaster with you further, but I want to discuss the real reason this blog post exists at all.
In September 2026, footage was released to the media involving some Reform UK officials. It was an undercover sting operation by journalists, as they posed as U.S. donors, wanting to help Reform UK. This involved an unfulfilled talk about channelling £500,000 into Reform UK, some foreign funding arrangements, and funding three public opinion polls.
The two Reform UK aides in the footage have both since resigned, although Farage was also featured in the footage.
On 7th or 8th October (depending on whether you’re dealing with UK time or NZ time), Reform UK released a statement declaring that after an internal investigation, the party found that the three party members featured in the undercover sting footage had not broken any of the party’s rules or laws, and were cleared of any wrongdoing by Reform UK. The party is also planning to sue the broadcaster.
The Metropolitan Police’s Special Enquiry Team has launched a criminal investigation into potential breaches of foreign funding rules.
Effectively, the story boils down to this: Reform investigated Reform and declared that Reform was innocent.
After Reform UK released this information, well, people had some strong and humorous responses to it. Because of this, I have trawled through the best and funniest comments that I could find for you. So, sit back and relax, and read the best comments about the result of Reform UK’s internal investigation, and see just how absurd it is.
And all of this insanity was before the story broke about Reform UK councillors being filmed making racist remarks. I do realise that our current general election campaign has gone off the rails and has become extremely humiliating and toxic, but Reform UK are a gift that keeps on giving with their corruption and incompetence.
Have you heard of Reform UK’s internal investigation? As always, please let me know. And that’s it, for another breath-taking week with New Zealand’s 5th least favourite website.
Thanks again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. Please don’t forget to walk your dog, read a banned book, go watch the Rugby League World Cup, and I’ll see you next week for another movie preview with Clayface. I have to go; Gotham needs me.
I realise the news about this event is old, over a week old now, but I’m playing catch-up. Why? We have a general election on 7th November, so it’s hard to absorb all the daily chaos, and you can bet all your peanut M&Ms that I’ll discuss that soon. However, that event is not today; you will be relieved.
So, after that charming little info dump, and before we discuss the title of the blog post, we absolutely need to understand what has happened to Manchester City F.C. and why a middle-aged white straight New Zealand man-child cares about it. Technically, I care what’s happened, not about the team per se.
If you would like an in-depth analysis of the event, then I suggest reading some professional journalism, not my woke musings. But, for the sake of time, let’s quickly go over one of the biggest sporting scandals I have ever heard about. I also want to establish three points about this scandal to put it in context for people who have no idea what I’m waffling on about this week.
1.) Professional football is a business, as it’s a form of entertainment. Hundreds of millions of every possible currency you can think of flow around the world and into various organisations that run and administer the sport at a national and international level, like FIFA, UEFA, and the Premier League. The money we are talking about, involving salaries, merchandise, tickets, and also sponsorship, is colossal.
2.) I care about this issue for two reasons: I love football, as you already know, but I also follow the Premier League. I have been doing this because my team, West Ham, played in it, but sadly they were relegated last season.1
3.) Manchester City was bought and owned by a company called City Football Group Limited in 2008, which, as I understand it, was backed by the Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG), which is majority-owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan. It also helps to know that Al Nahyan is the current deputy prime minister and vice president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and his brother, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, is the UAE President.
The chairman of Manchester City is Khaldoon Al Mubarak, who has corporate, investment, and policy roles within the UAE government. There are at least two other companies involved in the ownership: Silver Lake and CITIC Group, but from what I have gathered, the scandal does not involve them, to the best of my understanding. Crystal clear? Sweet, because things are going to get a lot worse.
Manchester City Football Club are, wait for it, a football club that, would you believe, is based in Manchester. They play in the English Premier League, which is the highest domestic division in the country, as well as in the Champions League via UEFA.
Over the last 10-15 years, the men’s team have won the Premier League Title, FA Cup, EFL Cup, FA Community Shield, Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, and FIFA Club World Cup. Some of these titles have been won multiple times over that time period.
I can’t tell you 100% when the media first discovered the issues, but just like Two-Face, I have two examples. As I understand it, in 2017, a hacker obtained files from the European Investigative Collaborations (EIC). Some of these files were related to Manchester City’s potential financial breaches.
Later that year, Der Spiegel, a German magazine, published information concerning financial breaches committed by Manchester City. In 2019, UEFA launched an investigation into Manchester City’s potential wrongdoing and found them guilty in 2020 of “Serious breaches of the UEFA Financial Fair Play Regulations by overstating its sponsorship revenue in its accounts and in the break-even information submitted to UEFA between 2012 and 2016.” (UEFA investigation).
The punishment from UEFA was to ban Manchester City for two years from the Champions League, which doesn’t sound like much; but it is. It really is because of the vast amounts of money involved. Anyway, Manchester City managed to get the ban overturned.
Fast forward to February 2023, when the Premier League brought 115 charges against Manchester City for serious financial breaches, from the 2009–10 to 2017–18 seasons. This included:
54 counts of failure to provide accurate financial information, 14 counts of failure to provide accurate details for player and manager payments, 7 counts of breaching the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR), 5 counts of breaching UEFA’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations, and 35 counts of failure to cooperate with league investigations. (The New York Times).
So in 2024, an independent commission started an in-person, but private hearing to judge the charges. With me far so? Good, because now it gets crazy! On 29th September 2026, the verdict of the hearing was revealed to the media and public. Manchester City was found guilty of 114 out of 115 charges, and it has shaken the football world and the sporting community to its core. According to the release, Manchester City were found guilty of:
Creating sham and double contracts.
Disguised owner-injected funding money as sponsorship income (Over £800 million).
Inflating revenue, along with understating and reducing costs (Over £900 million).
Filing inaccurate financial reports.
Hid true funding sources from auditors.
Broke both Premier League and UEFA spending rules.
Failing to co-operate with the investigation.
I do need to say that Manchester City has filed an appeal, so we will have to see how that plays out. Reaction to the news has been swift and powerful, not just from reporters, sports pundits, and celebrities, but also from the general public, largely condemning Manchester City.
Credit: picturebox-uk.com/Alamy
Many people have proposed possible sanctions and punishments for Manchester City, but I give some much-needed context.
The Premier League have deducted points from teams before, with Middlesbrough (3 points, January 1997), Portsmouth (9 points, March 2010), and Nottingham Forest (4 points, March 2024). At the end of the 1994-1995 season, Tottenham were handed a £600,000 fine, a 12-point deduction, and a one-year FA Cup ban; however, they got the points and ban overturned.
Everton F.C. are the most recent club to have faced a points deduction. In 2023, an independent commission deducted 10 points for breaking the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability rules (PSR), going £19.5m over the limit. Their appeal succeeded in reducing the points deduction from 10 to 6 in 2024. The saga continued, with the club handed another points deduction, but this time it was just 2 points, because they overspent £16.6m during the 2022-23 season. They appealed the decision, but later withdrew it.
Just to clarify, in total, Everton was docked 8 points for £35.1m of financial breaches, over two seasons. During this time, they did not win any trophies.
Switching sports, we are going to look at rugby league, in particular the NRL (National Rugby League) in Australia. The NRL is the highest domestic rugby league division in Oceania; my team, the New Zealand Warriors (Up the Wahs!), plays in it. However, we are not talking about the Warriors, but rather the Melbourne Storm.
From 2006-2010, the Storm won the Minor Premiership (2006, 2007, and 2008), Premiership (2007 and 2009), Runners-up (2006 and 2008), and the World Cup Challenge in 2010. During this time, they were a juggernaut in world rugby league. But, as you might guess, some financial shenanigans were happening behind closed doors.
It was revealed in 2010 that the club was keeping a second set of books and was breaking the salary cap rules for over five years, which the NRL strictly enforces to make sure each club has an equal footing and chance. Because of this massive salary cap breach, the Storm had been effectively cheating, so the NRL could not turn a blind eye to the champions, and their punishment was swift and merciless.
Their punishments were:
Being stripped of the 2007 and 2009 premierships.
Being stripped of the 2006, 2007 and 2008 minor premierships.
Being stripped of the 2010 World Club Challenge.
Fined AUS$500,000.
Forced to return AUS$1.1 million in prize money, which was redistributed to the other clubs.
Deduction of all eight premiership points they had received in the 2010 season.
Barred from receiving any further premiership points (including points automatically awarded for a bye during the season) for the rest of the 2010 season.
Ordered to cut their payroll by $1,012,500 to meet the 2011 salary cap by 31 December 2010. If they didn’t, the club would have been suspended from the 2011 NRL season.
Sentenced to finish the 2010 season at the bottom of the ladder.
Like the Premier League, I follow the NRL, and this scandal was seismic in the rugby league and sports world. The champions were caught cheating through financial breaches.
So, I’m sorry if that felt like reading the Silmarillion, but we are heading into more entertaining shores, because that’s the crux of the blog post. We need to absolutely assume that Manchester City are, in fact, guilty of these financial breaches; so we need to imagine the next step: what should their punishment be?
Any form of punishment for Manchester City has yet to be revealed to the public, but as fans of the sport and justice, we can speculate. The Premier League’s punishment for such a large-scale fraud on England’s national sport has to be severe for the entire planet to see.
Some possible options could be:
Points deduction
Remember that Everton got 8 points deducted over two seasons because of financial breaches costing £35.1m, while Manchester City have spent a nine-season period breaching financial rules over £800m. It also pays to point out that Everton co-operated with the Premier League and Manchester City did not.
It’s been said that the punishment Everton received should be the benchmark. So by that standard, at an average of 4 points per season, a minimum of a 36-point deduction could be handed down to Manchester City. It would keep them out of the Champions League for the 2027-2028 season, but also, it would prevent them from winning the Premiership.
Relegation
Because of the vast fraud and deception committed by Manchester City, relegation is an option. It’s not practical to send them down immediately, or maybe it is, but at least they could be sent down to the EFL Championship (Second Division) for the 2027-2028 season. Granted, they would be back in the Premier League for the 2028-2029 season, but many players could leave, so promotion could be impossible.
Fines
A financial option the Premier League could enforce would be a fine or a collection of fines. Basically, it’s a slap on the wrist, but would a £10m fine mean anything to a club that has committed over £800m in financial breaches? If they are going for a fine, it would have to be at least a nine-figure number to really hurt them and set an example.
Compensation
Another financial option could be compensating the other clubs in the Premiership. Whether the money went to teams that directly lost titles and trophies to Manchester City, or just every other team in the competition, compensation is a reality, considering teams are already planning on taking legal action against Manchester City.
This also covers returning prize money that the club has won during 2009-2018, whether directly to the Premier League or other Premier League teams.
Title and Trophies stripped
Like the Melbourne Storm, Manchester City are past winners of premierships, and they have been caught cheating. One punishment could be that Manchester City could be stripped of their Premier League, FA Cup, EFL Cup, and FA Community Shield titles and trophies from 2009-2018. Whether these titles and trophies are awarded to the runners-up or left each year with no winner would be up to the Premier League.
Banned from Champions League
Manchester City indeed won the 2022-2023 Champions League, but it falls outside of the time period that was investigated; however, Manchester City still played in the competition between 2009 and 2018. Because of this, UEFA may decide to ban Manchester City from playing in the Champions League for an unspecified period of time. All of that sweet money flying around, and Manchester City wouldn’t be able to touch it.
Banned from English Football
The Premier League may also take the nuclear option of banning the club from all forms of football in England and Wales; this includes the women’s team, for an unspecified period of time.
The Premier League may decide to use all of these options, some of them, none of them, or even some punishments I haven’t listed. But, whatever the case, the punishment must be complete. There is a fear that this scandal may destroy the Premier League, so they must make Manchester City an example.
There are some people who believe that Manchester City didn’t cheat because it didn’t make the players train or play harder and better; it hasn’t altered any scores. They played with the correct number of players and did not employ any foul tactics in their games, so they did not break the rules.
I understand their position, but Manchester City cheated on paper. This cheating allowed them more money to buy more expensive players, altering everything. The British government did not make these rules; it was the Premier League; it’s their competition. A sports club can’t pick and choose which rules and laws to follow and expect no consequences, any more than I can.
Manchester City cheated for nine years and won multiple titles and trophies because of that.
I love football, and I know the amount of money players and clubs are involved in is obscene. I mean, we are talking about players earning over £100,000 per week is madness, compared to our tiny one-income family. But the fact is, people still believe in hope, fairness, and justice. And in these times, corporations, companies, and the elite seem to be able to skirt around rules and laws because they can.
So imagine if the organisation and people behind Manchester City could face justice. I’ve read and watched various things that promote the concept of nobody being above the law and that even the rich and powerful can still experience justice. They can’t commit this level of fraud and believe there will be no consequences.
On a personal level, I need to see justice for this disaster, because what Manchester City did was unacceptable, and there needs to be accountability to show the children of the world that what we do matters, and it matters what we do. I see that even Andy Burnham, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and ex-mayor of Manchester, is being dragged into this mess.
I hope every single person involved in this fraud should be investigated and, if need be, prosecuted, because I still believe that it shouldn’t matter how much money you have in your bank account; you still must answer for your actions, just like anyone. Otherwise, what’s the point of laws and rules?
What are your thoughts about the Manchester City scandal? What should the punishments be? As always, please let me know.
I appreciate you listening to this week’s rant, so cheers! Thanks again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. Please don’t forget to walk your dog, read a banned book, Clayface is coming, and I’ll see you next week because Reform UK have outdone themselves. Later, gators.
Last week on New Zealand’s 5th least favourite website, yours truly brought up the extremely controversial topic of comic book relaunches. If you missed that sizzling and non-award-winning blog post, you can read it here at your own leisure.
If you’re a street-fighting man or a woman who has boots that are made for walking, you would have remembered that I was going to start showing various comic book titles that have been relaunched, for one reason or another; mainly to point out the insanity of it. This is to welcome yet another ongoing project on Some Geek Told Me, because, well… why not?
You’ll also remember that I said I was going to start with titles starting with “A”, which covers Marvel and DC. This is important stuff to say, because details and facts matter. They matter. Now, because I have a reputation to uphold, and by reputation, I mean a tradition of being pedantic, there are some rules I need to cover:
1.) To be considered a relaunch, the title must be an existing or pre-existing monthly comic book.
2.) The relaunch must be for a monthly title, not for a mini-series.
3.) The relaunch must be a reset with a brand new #1, not realigning itself with any legacy numbering.
4.) With the images I will be showing, they will not be variant covers, only Cover A.
5.) A title can only be relaunched if it contains the same original title name. So Superior Spider-Man does not count. My blog, my rules. Also, I wouldn’t be counting annuals or specials.
That sounds fair, right?! I hope so. With that important and special information explained, let’s get on wth the job of detailing The Amazing Spider-Man’s and Aquaman’s relaunches, plus some geeky statistics to go with it. Allons-y!
All images are courtsey of Marvel Comics, DC Comics, and My Comic Shop
The Amazing Spider-Man
I’m starting with Marvel first, because I can. The Amazing Spider-Man series can be confusing to follow because of many relaunches and the multiple readjustments to the legacy numbering. Spider-Man first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15 in 1962, and not in The Amazing Spider-Man #1, though The Amazing Spider-Man has been pretty much a monthly publication ever since 1963.
To the best of my understanding, there have been seven different The Amazing Spider-Man #1s. So, let’s look at our Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man’s flagship title.
The Amazing Spider-Man Vol 1 #1 (March 1963)
Cover pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Steve Ditko. Script by Stan Lee, art by Steve Ditko.
This series lasted 442 issues(430 months/35 years and 10 months)before the relaunch.
The Amazing Spider-Man Vol 2 #1 (January 1999)
Cover by John Byrne. Story by Howard Mackie, art by John Byrne & Scott Hanna.
This series lasted 58 issues(58 months/4 years and 10 months) before the legacy numbering was brought back for #500 in December 2003, and ended with #700, when it turned into Superior Spider-Man in 2013 for 33 issues.
The Amazing Spider-Man Vol 3 #1 (June 2014)
Written by Dan Slott, Christos Gage, Christopher Yost, Joe Caramagna and Peter David. Art by Humberto Ramos, Javier Rodriguez, Will Sliney, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Chris Eliopoulos, David Baldeon, Ramon Perez and Victor Olazaba. Cover by Humberto Ramos.
This series lasted 28 issues(16 months/1 year and 4 months) before another relaunch, a month later.
The Amazing Spider-Man Vol 4 #1 (December 2015)
Written by Dan Slott, Peter David, Robbie Thompson, Dennis Hopeless, Mike Costa and Christos Gage. Art by Giuseppe Camuncoli, David Baldeon, Cale Atkinson, Javier Rodriguez, Stacey Lee Phillips, William Sliney and Paco Diaz. Cover by Alex Ross.
This series lasted 32 issues(23 months/1 year and 11 months) before the legacy numbering was brought back for #789 in December 2017, and ended with #801. These issues were idenitftied as Volume 5.
The Amazing Spider-Man Vol 6 #1 (September 2018)
Written by Nick Spencer. Art and Cover by Ryan Ottley.
This series lasted 93 issues(42 months/3 years and 6 months) before yet another relaunchthe next month, for Spider-Man’s 60th anniversary.
The Amazing Spider-Man Vol 7 #1 (June 2022)
Written by Zeb Wells. Art and cover by John Romita Jr. and Scott Hanna.
This series lasted 70 issues(35 months/2 years and 11 months) before, you guessed it, another relaunch a month later.
The Amazing Spider-Man Vol 8 #1 (June 2025)
Written by Joe Kelly. Art by Pepe Larraz; John Romita Jr. Cover by Pepe Larraz.
After 35 issues(16 months) the legacy numbering was brought back for the landmark #1000. This series is currently ongoing.
So, to sum up TheAmazing Spider-Man series, after 1,000 issues, we are left with:
Seven different editions of Amazing Spider-Man #1, from 1963-2026 (63 years).
Six relaunches from 1999-2025 (26 years).
Five relaunches from 2014-2025 (11 years).
Four relaunches from 2015-2025 (10 years).
Three relaunches from 2018-2025 (7 years).
Two relaunches from 2022-2025 (3 years).
This works out to be a new #1 on average, every 9 years, or 106 months, or 142 issues.1
For me, the most damning piece of information was four relaunches of The Amazing Spider-Man from 2015-2025. That’s a new #1 every 2.5 years, or 30 months. That’s insane. I know Spider-Man is one of the world’s most recognisable superheroes, but even three relaunches in 7 years is excessive. And after six relaunches, just so we can get to #1000? Come on, Marvel, what are you doing?!
Aquaman
Now it’s DC’s turn. The monthly Aquaman title has been in publication since February 1962, with Aquaman Vol 1 #1, which predates Spider-Man’s first appearance. However, Aquaman has not had a consistent monthly title, with gaps over the years. Like Spider-Man, Aquaman made his debut in another title, which was More Fun Comics #73 (November 1941).
He appeared in several monthly titles until, eventually, he was given his own solo series. Not counting a mini-series, there have been seven different Aquaman #1s, though the title has changed its name during different runs. And with that, let’s look at the King of Atlantis’ relaunches.
Aquaman Vol 1 #1 (February 1962)
Cover art by Nick Cardy. Script by Jack Miller, art by Nick Cardy.
This series lasted 63 issues(199 months/16 years and 7 months)before the title was cancelled, and then relaunched 13 years later.
Aquaman Vol 2 #1 (December 1991)
Written by Shaun McLaughlin, with art by Ken Hooper and Bob Dvorak. Cover by Kevin Maguire and Joe Rubinstein.
This series lasted 13 issues(12 months/1 year)before the title was cancelled, and then relaunched 18 months later.
Aquaman Vol 3 #1 (August 1994)
Written by Peter David, with art and cover by Martin Egeland and Brad Vancata.
This series lasted 76 issues(77 months/6 years and 5 months)before the title was cancelled, and then relaunched two years later.
Aquaman Vol 4 #1 (February 2003)
Written by Rick Veitch, art by Yvel Guichet and Mark Propst. Cover by Alex Maleev.
This series lasted 39 issues(38 months/3 years and 2 months)before being renamed Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis, starting with #40, under the 1 Year Later movement, before ending with #57. It was relaunched four years later, as a part of the compay wide, The New 52 campaign.
Aquaman Vol 5 #1 (November 2011)
Written by Geoff Johns. Art and Cover by Joe Prado and Ivan Reis.
This series lasted 53 issues(56 months/4 years and 8 months)before relaunched a month later, under the Rebirth initiative.
Aquaman Vol 6 #1 (August 2016)
Written by Dan Abnett. Art and Cover by Brad Walker and Andrew Hennessy.
This series lasted 66 issues(54 months/4 years and 6 months)before being cancelled and relaunched four years later, in part of the ALL IN campaign.
Aquaman Vol 7 #1 (March 2025)
Written by Jeremy Adams. Art by John Timms. Cover by John Timms.
This series lasted 14 issues(13 months/1 year and 1 months)before being renamed as Emperor Aquaman the next month, continuing with #15.
So, since the first Aquaman monthly solo series, in 1962, we are left with:
Seven different editions of Aquaman #1, from 1962-2026 (64 years).
Six relaunches from 1991-2025 (34 years).
Five relaunches from 1994-2025 (31 years).
Four relaunches from 2003-2025 (22 years).
Three relaunches from 2011-2025 (14 years).
Two relaunches from 2016-2025 (9 years).
This works out to be a new #1 on average, every 48 issues.2
In regard to the publication of Aquaman, DC’s model for relaunches has been different to Marvel’s with The Amazing Spider-Man. Firstly, Aquaman has been cancelled several times and then relaunched years later, but also, at least three relaunches have come about because of a company-wide campaign, which reset or relaunched the titles the next month, starting back at #1. The shortest series was only 13 issues, while the longest lasted 76 issues.
Still, just like The Amazing Spider-Man, but for different reasons, Aquaman has had six relaunches, meaning there have been seven different #1 issues. I guess, whatever Marvel and DC do, the other will do it as well; now whether that’s a positive or negative thing is up for you to decide.
Have you ever read an Amazing Spider-Man or Aquaman relaunch comic book? Do you like relaunches? As always, let me know. After those awesome questions, that brings another blog post to a close for another week. Thanks again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. Please don’t forget to walk your dog, read a banned book, remember that Mogo doesn’t socialise, and I’ll see you next week for something different. Cool.
1 With the statsitics, I have rounded down, not up.
2 Because Aquaman has not been in consistent monthly publication, the calculations are different from those of The Amazing Spider-Man.
You must be logged in to post a comment.