Currently I can't reach the forum from a UK IP. When I switch to another European IP it works normally.
Weird. Could be a VPN block for that IP, or could be more shenanigans like before.
Well I'm connecting from the UK without issue, no VPN used.
Not sure why you mention VPN block, as by your comment "or could be more shenanigans like before" if you mean Akamai, that wasn't a VPN block as such, but DNS issues as mentioned in this topic.
I mention VPN because I can't say whether it is the VPN IP that is blocked, and it just happens to be a UK IP, or if it is more widespread like before when Akamai was causing problems by effectively blocking an entire continent. That is also why I explicitly mentioned being able to connect from another European IP.
When an IP is blocked, it doesn't show an error page. It just flat out refuses to connect at all, like the whole forum is down. That's just how it appeared with the Akamai troubles.