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Zack Polanski

Year In Review: 2025 Blog Posts, 1 Article and 2 Books

By Life, Adventures, Amazon, Books & Authors, Creativity, Friends & Family, Gay, Happiness & Joy, Health, History, ThinkingNo Comments

This year, I have written, edited and published 52 blog posts, 1 article and 2 books. Here are some of the best posts, information about the 1 article and 2 books, in case you missed them at the time they were originally published:

In January, I published The Heartbreaking Story of Matthew Shepard. The story of a young student who was tortured and then murdered for being gay in America.

The brutal murder of Matthew Shepard gained international news coverage at the time. I was reminded of his story because of Donald Trump’s targeting the LGBT community with his rhetoric.

In February, I published my Z-VIRUS Powers: Map of Anglesey. This post is about my Z-Virus Powers novel, a story about a zombie apocalypse where some kids develop supernatural powers.

The wonderful array of young characters (some with powers and some without) decide to go on a quest for the cure, after their powers that once aided survival are now becoming destructive.

In February, I also published my Health & Future Plans Update: A Dramatic Reduction in HbA1c thanks to Medtronic Insulin Pump. I shared my dramatic reduction in my HbA1c blood test result due to starting the Medtronic Insulin Pump. It really has been life changing.

I shared my future plans for the year, most of which I am proud to say happened.

This included my plans with family and friends. It also included my plans to release Z-Virus Monsters, the next novel/installment of my Z-Virus Series.

In March, I published my FREE article, Influential UK Gay Men. This was an article all about UK Gay Men I find to be influential in society.

Just some of the men included in this list were: Mark Ashton, Jonathan Bailey, Rupert Everett, Paul O’Grady, Alan Turing.

There were many others, with the article dividing the gay men into categories.

I concluded by writing that there probably wouldn’t be a gay man who became Prime Minister of the UK in my lifetime, which I found sad.

In March, I published a post about Refreshing A Money Bowl, which was very popular. I also announced that I had secured a new job.

In April, I published a post titled: How Would You Survive A Zombie Apocalypse? It was a short blog post about the essential requirements for survival in a zombie apocalypse and was used to promote my two books: Z-Virus Powers and Z-Virus Monsters.

I also published a short blog post about the 10 Books I’ve Read That Have Stayed With Me. Each of these books has a special place in my heart. I linked previous reviews of these books in this post. Some of the books on this list include: Mum Can You Lend Me Twenty Quid? By Elizabeth Burton-Phillips, In His Secret Life by Mel Bossa, The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her Mind by Barbara K. Lipska and Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank.

In May, I rebranded My Royal Navy Friend book with a new title (Funny Emails To My Friend) and with a new book cover. I published a post about why I rebranded this book here.

The decision to rebrand the book was driven by feedback, suggesting that people assumed that My Royal Navy Friend was about the Royal Navy. The book was never about the Royal Navy.

My Royal Navy Friend was about maintaining a friendship with a friend who followed their life long dream of joining the Royal Navy through funny, entertaining and occasionally serious emails. So I rebranded, to better reflect what the book is about.

In June, I attended Leigh Book Fest, which was a huge success. I also attended an event a Middleton Library, where I donated some signed copies of my books to the library.

I published blog posts about the importance of Finding Joy and my new old car.

July seemed to be all about animals, in some form or other.

My bengal cat, Dylan, sadly had to be put to sleep.

I had a fantastic time visiting Blackpool Zoo, sharing plenty of photos in a blog post I published.

You can see other recent photos on my regularly updated Photos page here.

In August, I published a post sharing the incredible story of Jonas Salk. In The Story of Jonas Salk and The Polio Vaccine, I shared Salk’s story of the development of the Polio Vaccine.

What is inspirational about this man, is not just that he developed the polio vaccine. But that he chose not to patent it. This meant that anyone could reproduce the polio vaccine without any payment to Salk.

If Salk had patented his polio vaccine, it would have made him several billionaire dollars. But he chose not to and in doing so, helped it become more widely available to the whole of humanity.

In August, I posted a blog post titled: Unsafe Places to be a Gay Man, detailing the places it isn’t safe to be an out gay man in the world.

To balance the above blog post, I later published a blog post titled: Safer Places to Live for Gay Men. In this post, I focused on places that are safer, more accepting and with better legal rights and protections for gay men in the world.

Safer Places to Live for Gay Men is a blog post I am really proud of publishing. I hope gay men looking for places where they are safer and more accepted in the world find this post. I hope they find this well researched blog post useful.

In September, I shared photos and essential information related to two castles in South Wales, in my published blog post: South Wales Castles – Raglan Castle & White Castle.

I also published a blog post explaining that despite on-going treatment for Vasculitis, I am the happiest I have ever been.

In September, I published a post titled: The Power of the Subconscious Mind.

In this blog post, I explain what the subconscious mind is, how it operates, how it communicates with our conscious mind and how to heal a troubled, disturbed or traumatised subconscious.

I give ways to help heal the subconscious mind and explain that it takes both work and time.

But that the hard work is totally worth the benefits of healing the subconscious mind.

In October, I published a blog post about the dangers associated with Emotional Support from an AI (Artificial Intelligence) App.

Dangers included: No Empathy, False Connection, Emotional Dependence, Bad Advice, Can Reinforce Negative Thoughts/Feelings/Behaviours, No Safeguarding, Lack of Emotional Growth & Data Privacy Breeches.

Given the dangers, as a minimum this apps should be regulated, if not banned.

In October, I also published this blog post: Zack Polanski, The New Leader of The Green Party Is Someone I Would Like Add To My Influential Gay Men Article.

Zack has seemingly appeared from nowhere to become the leader of the Green Party. In this blog post, I state that I wish I’d have known about him when doing research for my Influential UK Gay Men article, so that he could have been included in it.

In the post, I discuss Zack’s appeal, share his story (as available online) and state that I may have been wrong about there not being an out gay man as Prime Minister of the UK in my lifetime. In fact, I hope that I am wrong.

So there you have it. My Year In Review: 2025. I wonder what 2026 will bring?

Write soon,

Antony

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Zack Polanski, The New Leader of The Green Party Is Someone I Would Like Add To My Influential Gay Men Article

By Political, ThinkingNo Comments
Image From & Copyright © The Green Party UK.

In Early 2025, I released an article titled Influential UK Gay Men, which you can download for free as a PDF document here.

In the article, I listed all the UK gay men that I thought were influential, by profession, including Politicians.

I spent many hours researching and writing my Influential UK Gay Men article. I was really happy with it.

I concluded the article by writing that I didn’t think we’d get a Prime Minister that identifies as a gay man in my lifetime.

Well, my conclusion might have been wrong.

Indeed, I am starting hope that I was completely wrong about that.

Back in March 2025, when I researched, wrote and published my Influential UK Gay Men article, I had never heard of  Zack Polanski, who is the new leader of The Green Party UK and happens to be a gay man.

Zack has seemingly appeared from nowhere to become the leader of the party and is already making a massive impact on the political world here in the UK.

Zack has expanded The Green Party UK‘s agenda to include the things that ordinary people are worried about such as the ongoing cost of living crisis, the dire state of our public services (schools, NHS, social care, local authorities, Police, etc.), the problems with our sold-off utilities (with Zack advocating for bringing them back into public ownership) and uncontrolled immigration.

What really appeals to me about Zack, from the information I read and the interviews I’ve seen, is that unlike most other politicians, he actually answers questions asked. In a straight-forward manner, displaying honesty, integrity and with an opinion backed by data.

Zack’s approach to talking politics and leaning into his values is something very rarely seen in UK politics today. I think it’s both an amazing and fresh approach that is desperately needed in UK politics. Using this approach Zack comes across as being his authentic self. Zack displays great confidence and charisma in the interviews I’ve seen and is never flummoxed by any question asked. He never fluffs an answer or avoids answering the question. Zack doesn’t use interviews as an opportunity to parrot a pre-prepared speech.

My Influential UK Gay Men Article
I have a rule about my creative works: Once they are done, they are done. I never go back and edit or change them once they’re released/published. I feel that if I started editing my work, it would be a never ending task. That I’d never have the time to create new work. It would become a quest for perfection. All creative people will know that perfection is impossible and unachievable.

But if I were writing my Influential UK Gay Men article now, Zack Polanski would definitely be included among the influential gay men. I’d also remove my conclusion that there will never be a Prime Minister (PM) that identifies as gay in my lifetime. As from what I’ve seen so far, I really think Zack Polanski could become our next PM.

But who exactly is Zack Polanski and what’s his story?
I decided to do a little research and this is what I found:

Zack Polanski, was born in Salford (North West England) in 1982 (making him 42 years old at the time of writing this article). His name at birth was David Paulden. His parents are Jewish and actually chose to change their family’s surname. They did this to avoid being identified as Jewish and potentially discriminated against. Zack’s parents divorced when he was a young child.

Zack’s education years were generally unremarkable, he attended both private and public schools at different points in his life.

At 18 years old, Zack changed his name. It is reported that he felt that he didn’t want to hide his Jewish roots and wanted to find a sense of pride in this part of his identity.

In Zack’s working life, he has previously been involved with theatre and the arts. Zack has previously also worked as a Hypnotherapist, which caused him some controversy when The Sun sent an undercover reporter for a session with him.

In Zack’s political life, he started off associated with The Liberal Democrats, before becoming involved in The Green Party. In The Green Party he has held a number of different roles, but most recently and most notably he was the Deputy Leader of the party in the years 2022-2025. This leadership role no doubt gave him the experience and skills that he is now using to lead the party.

Zack is an openly out gay man, who is in a relationship with a man. He currently resides in London, UK.

What to Know More? Check out these links.
His website: www.zackpolanski.com
The Green Party UK – Our People: www.greenparty.org.uk/about/people/

Hope
In a world that is ever increasingly on the right side of the political spectrum, it is great to see a political party that is proudly left wing. That has values and wants to make every person’s life better, not just the ultra wealthy.

This can be evidenced in The Green Party UK‘s desire to implement a 1% wealth tax on the ultra wealthy. I personally think a 1% wealth tax, for ultra wealthy people, is far too low and should start at 5% at the minimum.

What are you thoughts on Zack Polanski and The Green Party? Feel free to let me know by getting in touch or leaving a comment on this post.

Write soon,

Antony

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