Didn't read your whole post in detail but Fediloc is building something that is reviews on OSM places that is federated. Alpha software atm though.

I still use it for the same reasons you mentioned. Also small businesses since they don't have to deal with card processing fees then (generally ask what they prefer) plus "other accounting measures".

Same as why I've always hated voicemails. Just send me a text.

It's actually quite a hard problem for OSM community to solve since you need quite detailed data (stuff like road surface, width etc) and possibly traffic data. Even then, that doesn't tell you everything like whether it's a "nice place" to cycle or is dangerous. There are people trying to work on it but it is a hard problem. One can hope it gets solved.

Simon Clark does a good video that reinforces this point. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3AnLL2vR9I

Bait headline and the BBC practically copied and pasted The Times article.

Open Rights Group generally have campaigns and actions you can take. Most the average person can do is raise awareness and write hopeful letters to MPs. https://www.openrightsgroup.org/

Quite the switch over. Nice work.

Reminds me of this related article about why unions have a tricky time supporting migrant workers. https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/beyond-trafficking-and-slavery/an-indictment-of-the-trade-union-movement-why-no-one-is-organising-seasonal-workers/

tl;dr seasonal workers don't become members and so the union can't/won't support them.

A nation's engineering sector mostly built on military doesn't inspire much confidence in me.

Clannad, more specifically Clannad After Story.

Not quite sure what a "new VPN architecture" means. As long as it's not new protocols, security is not something you should usually re-invent yourself. Hopefully these new aspects are open source too.