diff --git a/backend/flags.py b/backend/flags.py
index a06e93e..663ade9 100644
--- a/backend/flags.py
+++ b/backend/flags.py
@@ -57,6 +57,23 @@ REGISTRY: dict[str, Flag] = {
             ),
             added=date(2026, 8, 26),
         ),
+        Flag(
+            name="about_page",
+            description=(
+                "The /about page, its footer link, its sitemap entry, and the "
+                "named-author byline on every blog post."
+            ),
+            added=date(2026, 9, 8),
+        ),
+        Flag(
+            name="blog",
+            description=(
+                "The /blog index, post pages, the RSS feed, their footer link "
+                "and their sitemap entries. Not /admin: posts must be "
+                "writable before the blog is readable."
+            ),
+            added=date(2026, 9, 8),
+        ),
     )
 }
 
diff --git a/e2e/tests/journeys.spec.ts b/e2e/tests/journeys.spec.ts
index 314fc07..cfb614f 100644
--- a/e2e/tests/journeys.spec.ts
+++ b/e2e/tests/journeys.spec.ts
@@ -2560,8 +2560,56 @@ test('the destinations section never claims a pupil stayed at this school', asyn
  * These journeys assert the load-bearing parts of that — a name, a face, the
  * honesty claim, and a resolvable Person entity — rather than exact copy,
  * which will be edited.
+ *
+ * Both are behind flags (about_page, blog), so each has a lit journey and a
+ * dark one. Flag state is read from the observable effect rather than from
+ * /api/flags, which the public proxy denies on purpose — the same approach
+ * distanceFeatureIsOn() takes above.
  */
+async function aboutPageIsOn(page: Page): Promise<boolean> {
+  return (await page.request.get('/about')).ok();
+}
+
+async function blogIsOn(page: Page): Promise<boolean> {
+  return (await page.request.get('/blog')).ok();
+}
+
+test('with the about page off, it is absent rather than empty', async ({ page }) => {
+  test.skip(await aboutPageIsOn(page), 'the about_page flag is on in this environment');
+
+  // Dark means the URL does not exist, not that it renders empty: a 404 is
+  // what stops a crawler keeping the page in its index.
+  expect((await page.request.get('/about')).status()).toBe(404);
+
+  // A footer link into a 404 is the failure this flag has to avoid.
+  await page.goto('/');
+  await expect(page.locator('footer a[href="/about"]')).toHaveCount(0);
+
+  // And a sitemap must never advertise a URL that 404s.
+  const sitemap = await page.request.get('/content-sitemap.xml');
+  expect(await sitemap.text()).not.toContain('/about');
+});
+
+test('with the blog off, it is absent rather than empty', async ({ page }) => {
+  test.skip(await blogIsOn(page), 'the blog flag is on in this environment');
+
+  expect((await page.request.get('/blog')).status()).toBe(404);
+  expect((await page.request.get('/blog/rss.xml')).status()).toBe(404);
+
+  await page.goto('/');
+  await expect(page.locator('footer a[href="/blog"]')).toHaveCount(0);
+
+  const sitemap = await page.request.get('/content-sitemap.xml');
+  expect(await sitemap.text()).not.toContain('/blog');
+
+  // The admin panel is deliberately NOT flagged: posts have to be writable
+  // before the blog is readable, or there is nothing to turn on.
+  expect((await page.request.get('/admin')).status()).not.toBe(404);
+});
+
 test('the about page names a human author and is reachable from the footer', async ({ page }) => {
+  test.skip(!(await aboutPageIsOn(page)), 'the about_page flag is off in this environment');
+
   await page.goto('/');
   const aboutLink = page.locator('footer a[href="/about"]');
   await expect(aboutLink).toBeVisible();
@@ -2585,6 +2633,8 @@ test('the about page names a human author and is reachable from the footer', asy
 });
 
 test('the blog lists posts and each one renders with a byline', async ({ page }) => {
+  test.skip(!(await blogIsOn(page)), 'the blog flag is off in this environment');
+
   await page.goto('/blog');
   await expect(page.getByRole('heading', { level: 1 })).toBeVisible();
 
@@ -2612,8 +2662,13 @@ test('the admin panel is not indexable', async ({ page }) => {
 
 test('the content sitemap lists the about page and is advertised in robots', async ({ page }) => {
   const sitemap = await page.request.get('/content-sitemap.xml');
+  // Served whatever the flags say: robots.txt names it unconditionally, and
+  // with both dark it is a valid empty urlset rather than a 404.
   expect(sitemap.ok()).toBeTruthy();
-  expect(await sitemap.text()).toContain('/about');
+
+  if (await aboutPageIsOn(page)) {
+    expect(await sitemap.text()).toContain('/about');
+  }
 
   // The school corpus sitemap is proxied from FastAPI; this one is Next's.
   // robots.txt must advertise both or the blog never gets discovered.
diff --git a/nextjs-app/__tests__/app/blogMetadata.test.ts b/nextjs-app/__tests__/app/blogMetadata.test.ts
index ac3ee41..1f74c7f 100644
--- a/nextjs-app/__tests__/app/blogMetadata.test.ts
+++ b/nextjs-app/__tests__/app/blogMetadata.test.ts
@@ -27,14 +27,27 @@ describe('BlogPosting structured data', () => {
   it('names the same Person entity the about page declares', () => {
     // By @id, not by repeating the person: search engines must resolve every
     // post and the about page to one author entity, or the site has several.
-    const ld = blogPostingJsonLd(post);
+    const ld = blogPostingJsonLd(post, { namedAuthor: true });
     expect(ld['@type']).toBe('BlogPosting');
     expect(ld.author['@id']).toBe('https://www.schoolcompare.co.uk/about#tudor');
     expect(ld.publisher['@id']).toBe('https://www.schoolcompare.co.uk#organization');
   });
 
+  it('attributes to the organization when the about page is dark', () => {
+    /*
+     * The two flags are independent, so blog-on-about-off is a reachable
+     * state. The Person entity lives at /about#tudor and that URL 404s while
+     * the flag is dark, so claiming it would declare an author that resolves
+     * to nothing — worse for the blog's credibility than having no named
+     * author at all. Attribute to the publisher instead.
+     */
+    const ld = blogPostingJsonLd(post, { namedAuthor: false });
+    expect(ld.author['@id']).toBe('https://www.schoolcompare.co.uk#organization');
+    expect(JSON.stringify(ld)).not.toContain('/about');
+  });
+
   it('carries a self-referencing canonical url and the publish date', () => {
-    const ld = blogPostingJsonLd(post);
+    const ld = blogPostingJsonLd(post, { namedAuthor: true });
     expect(ld.url).toBe(
       'https://www.schoolcompare.co.uk/blog/what-the-data-cannot-tell-you',
     );
diff --git a/nextjs-app/__tests__/components/Footer.test.tsx b/nextjs-app/__tests__/components/Footer.test.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6c7b95d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nextjs-app/__tests__/components/Footer.test.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+/**
+ * The footer is the only navigational route to /about and /blog, so it is
+ * where a dark flag would otherwise leave a link into a 404.
+ *
+ * Both props default to false. A caller that forgets to pass them hides the
+ * links, which is the direction that cannot break a page — the same reasoning
+ * as backend/flags.py's "every flag defaults to False".
+ */
+import { render, screen } from '@testing-library/react';
+import { Footer } from '@/components/Footer';
+
+describe('footer feature links', () => {
+  it('links to both when both flags are on', () => {
+    render(<Footer aboutEnabled blogEnabled />);
+    expect(screen.getByRole('link', { name: /who's behind this/i }))
+      .toHaveAttribute('href', '/about');
+    expect(screen.getByRole('link', { name: /^blog$/i }))
+      .toHaveAttribute('href', '/blog');
+  });
+
+  it('omits the about link when that flag is dark', () => {
+    render(<Footer blogEnabled />);
+    expect(screen.queryByRole('link', { name: /who's behind this/i })).toBeNull();
+    expect(screen.getByRole('link', { name: /^blog$/i })).toBeInTheDocument();
+  });
+
+  it('omits the blog link when that flag is dark', () => {
+    render(<Footer aboutEnabled />);
+    expect(screen.queryByRole('link', { name: /^blog$/i })).toBeNull();
+    expect(screen.getByRole('link', { name: /who's behind this/i }))
+      .toBeInTheDocument();
+  });
+
+  it('drops the whole section when both are dark, not an empty heading', () => {
+    // Shipping dark means the footer renders as it did before the feature
+    // existed, not as a section with its contents removed.
+    render(<Footer />);
+    expect(screen.queryByRole('heading', { name: /^about$/i })).toBeNull();
+    expect(screen.queryByRole('link', { name: /who's behind this/i })).toBeNull();
+    expect(screen.queryByRole('link', { name: /^blog$/i })).toBeNull();
+  });
+
+  it('defaults to dark when a caller passes nothing', () => {
+    render(<Footer />);
+    expect(screen.queryByRole('link', { name: /who's behind this/i })).toBeNull();
+  });
+});
diff --git a/nextjs-app/__tests__/lib/flags.test.ts b/nextjs-app/__tests__/lib/flags.test.ts
index ddadc7e..12d8fb6 100644
--- a/nextjs-app/__tests__/lib/flags.test.ts
+++ b/nextjs-app/__tests__/lib/flags.test.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { getFlags } from '@/lib/flags';
+import { getFlags, FLAGS_REVALIDATE } from '@/lib/flags';
 
 // jsdom provides no global fetch, so there is nothing for jest.spyOn to attach
 // to — assign it and restore the original afterwards. This is the first test
@@ -31,4 +31,28 @@ describe('getFlags', () => {
     mockFetch(async () => ({ ok: false, status: 503 }));
     await expect(getFlags()).resolves.toEqual({});
   });
+
+  /*
+   * Reading a flag pins the calling route's ISR floor: Next uses the LOWEST
+   * revalidate among a route's fetches for the whole route. That is why the
+   * revalidate is an argument rather than the constant.
+   *
+   * Every SEO route here declares `revalidate = 604800`. A gate that read
+   * flags at the 300s default would drop the whole school and place corpus
+   * from a weekly cache to a 5-minute one, which is a large origin-load
+   * regression to pay for a feature flag.
+   */
+  it('reads at the 300s floor by default', async () => {
+    mockFetch(async () => ({ ok: true, json: async () => ({}) }));
+    await getFlags();
+    expect((global.fetch as jest.Mock).mock.calls[0][1])
+      .toEqual({ next: { revalidate: FLAGS_REVALIDATE } });
+  });
+
+  it('lets a caller pass its own route floor instead', async () => {
+    mockFetch(async () => ({ ok: true, json: async () => ({}) }));
+    await getFlags(604800);
+    expect((global.fetch as jest.Mock).mock.calls[0][1])
+      .toEqual({ next: { revalidate: 604800 } });
+  });
 });
diff --git a/nextjs-app/app/(frontend)/about/page.tsx b/nextjs-app/app/(frontend)/about/page.tsx
index 3107e06..f8d0fa4 100644
--- a/nextjs-app/app/(frontend)/about/page.tsx
+++ b/nextjs-app/app/(frontend)/about/page.tsx
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 import type { Metadata } from 'next';
 import Image from 'next/image';
+import { notFound } from 'next/navigation';
 import { absoluteUrl } from '@/lib/site';
+import { getFlags } from '@/lib/flags';
 import { personJsonLd, organizationJsonLd } from '@/lib/jsonld';
 import styles from './About.module.css';
 
@@ -11,7 +13,18 @@ export const metadata: Metadata = {
   alternates: { canonical: absoluteUrl('/about') },
 };
 
-export default function AboutPage() {
+/*
+ * Gated on about_page. The default 300s read is the right floor here: this
+ * page declares no revalidate of its own, so nothing is lost by it, and a flip
+ * lands within five minutes.
+ *
+ * notFound(), not a redirect: while the flag is dark this URL does not exist,
+ * and a 404 is what tells a crawler not to keep it.
+ */
+export default async function AboutPage() {
+  const flags = await getFlags();
+  if (flags.about_page !== true) notFound();
+
   const jsonLd = {
     '@context': 'https://schema.org',
     '@graph': [personJsonLd(), organizationJsonLd()],
diff --git a/nextjs-app/app/(frontend)/blog/[slug]/page.tsx b/nextjs-app/app/(frontend)/blog/[slug]/page.tsx
index d717e91..658e7fe 100644
--- a/nextjs-app/app/(frontend)/blog/[slug]/page.tsx
+++ b/nextjs-app/app/(frontend)/blog/[slug]/page.tsx
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import type { JSXConvertersFunction } from '@payloadcms/richtext-lexical/react';
 import { getCachedPayload } from '@/lib/payload';
 import type { Post, Media } from '@/payload-types';
 import { absoluteUrl } from '@/lib/site';
+import { getFlags } from '@/lib/flags';
 import {
   blogPostingJsonLd,
   breadcrumbJsonLd,
@@ -112,6 +113,15 @@ export default async function PostPage(
   { params }: { params: Promise<{ slug: string }> },
 ) {
   const { slug } = await params;
+
+  /*
+   * Flags read at this route's own declared floor, so gating costs it nothing.
+   * Checked before the post is fetched: a dark blog should not query Payload.
+   */
+  const flags = await getFlags(3600);
+  if (flags.blog !== true) notFound();
+  const namedAuthor = flags.about_page === true;
+
   const post = await findPost(slug);
   if (!post) notFound();
 
@@ -120,10 +130,15 @@ export default async function PostPage(
 
   const jsonLd = {
     '@context': 'https://schema.org',
+    /*
+     * The Person entity is anchored at /about#tudor, so it is declared only
+     * when that page exists. Claiming an author whose URL 404s is a worse
+     * signal than attributing the post to the publisher.
+     */
     '@graph': [
-      blogPostingJsonLd(summary),
+      blogPostingJsonLd(summary, { namedAuthor }),
       breadcrumbJsonLd(summary),
-      personJsonLd(),
+      ...(namedAuthor ? [personJsonLd()] : []),
       organizationJsonLd(),
     ],
   };
@@ -142,7 +157,10 @@ export default async function PostPage(
       <h1 className={styles.heading}>{summary.title}</h1>
 
       <p className={styles.byline}>
-        By <Link href="/about" className={styles.link}>Tudor</Link>
+        {/* Unlinked while about_page is dark; the flags are independent. */}
+        By {namedAuthor
+          ? <Link href="/about" className={styles.link}>Tudor</Link>
+          : 'Tudor'}
         {' · '}
         <time dateTime={summary.publishedAt}>
           {new Date(summary.publishedAt).toLocaleDateString('en-GB', {
diff --git a/nextjs-app/app/(frontend)/blog/page.tsx b/nextjs-app/app/(frontend)/blog/page.tsx
index d52a948..22504aa 100644
--- a/nextjs-app/app/(frontend)/blog/page.tsx
+++ b/nextjs-app/app/(frontend)/blog/page.tsx
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 import type { Metadata } from 'next';
 import Link from 'next/link';
+import { notFound } from 'next/navigation';
 import { getCachedPayload } from '@/lib/payload';
 import { absoluteUrl } from '@/lib/site';
+import { getFlags } from '@/lib/flags';
 import styles from './Blog.module.css';
 
 /*
@@ -31,6 +33,9 @@ function formatDate(value: string) {
 }
 
 export default async function BlogIndexPage() {
+  const flags = await getFlags();
+  if (flags.blog !== true) notFound();
+
   const payload = await getCachedPayload();
   const { docs } = await payload.find({
     collection: 'posts',
@@ -48,7 +53,11 @@ export default async function BlogIndexPage() {
         <p className={styles.standfirst}>
           What school performance data shows, what it doesn&apos;t, and how to
           read it without being misled. Written by{' '}
-          <Link href="/about" className={styles.link}>Tudor</Link>.
+          {/* Plain text when about_page is dark: the two flags are
+              independent, so this link would otherwise point at a 404. */}
+          {flags.about_page === true
+            ? <Link href="/about" className={styles.link}>Tudor</Link>
+            : 'Tudor'}.
         </p>
       </header>
 
diff --git a/nextjs-app/app/(frontend)/blog/rss.xml/route.ts b/nextjs-app/app/(frontend)/blog/rss.xml/route.ts
index f2ebef8..2f1b744 100644
--- a/nextjs-app/app/(frontend)/blog/rss.xml/route.ts
+++ b/nextjs-app/app/(frontend)/blog/rss.xml/route.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { getCachedPayload } from '@/lib/payload';
 import { absoluteUrl } from '@/lib/site';
+import { getFlags } from '@/lib/flags';
 
 /*
  * Dynamic, not ISR.
@@ -18,6 +19,11 @@ function escapeXml(value: string): string {
 }
 
 export async function GET() {
+  // A dark blog has no feed. 404 rather than an empty channel: an empty feed
+  // is a live feed with nothing in it, which a reader would keep polling.
+  const flags = await getFlags();
+  if (flags.blog !== true) return new Response('Not found', { status: 404 });
+
   const payload = await getCachedPayload();
   const { docs } = await payload.find({
     collection: 'posts',
diff --git a/nextjs-app/app/(frontend)/content-sitemap.xml/route.ts b/nextjs-app/app/(frontend)/content-sitemap.xml/route.ts
index 9d0cc44..0996f84 100644
--- a/nextjs-app/app/(frontend)/content-sitemap.xml/route.ts
+++ b/nextjs-app/app/(frontend)/content-sitemap.xml/route.ts
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
  */
 import { getCachedPayload } from '@/lib/payload';
 import { absoluteUrl } from '@/lib/site';
+import { getFlags } from '@/lib/flags';
 
 /*
  * Dynamic, not ISR.
@@ -21,18 +22,33 @@ import { absoluteUrl } from '@/lib/site';
 export const dynamic = 'force-dynamic';
 
 export async function GET() {
-  const payload = await getCachedPayload();
-  const { docs } = await payload.find({
-    collection: 'posts',
-    where: { _status: { equals: 'published' } },
-    sort: '-publishedAt',
-    limit: 500,
-    depth: 0,
-  });
+  /*
+   * A dark page must not be advertised. Submitting a URL that 404s is the one
+   * thing a sitemap is not allowed to do, so each entry is gated on the same
+   * flag that gates the page itself.
+   *
+   * With both flags dark this emits a valid, empty <urlset> rather than a 404:
+   * robots.txt names this sitemap unconditionally, and an empty sitemap is a
+   * well-formed statement that there is nothing here yet.
+   */
+  const flags = await getFlags();
+  const aboutEnabled = flags.about_page === true;
+  const blogEnabled = flags.blog === true;
+
+  // Only query Payload when the blog is actually being advertised.
+  const docs = blogEnabled
+    ? (await (await getCachedPayload()).find({
+      collection: 'posts',
+      where: { _status: { equals: 'published' } },
+      sort: '-publishedAt',
+      limit: 500,
+      depth: 0,
+    })).docs
+    : [];
 
   const urls: Array<{ loc: string; lastmod: string | null }> = [
-    { loc: absoluteUrl('/about'), lastmod: null },
-    { loc: absoluteUrl('/blog'), lastmod: null },
+    ...(aboutEnabled ? [{ loc: absoluteUrl('/about'), lastmod: null }] : []),
+    ...(blogEnabled ? [{ loc: absoluteUrl('/blog'), lastmod: null }] : []),
     ...docs.map((post) => ({
       loc: absoluteUrl(`/blog/${post.slug}`),
       lastmod: new Date(String(post.updatedAt ?? post.publishedAt)).toISOString(),
diff --git a/nextjs-app/app/(frontend)/layout.tsx b/nextjs-app/app/(frontend)/layout.tsx
index 96a2be4..f41880d 100644
--- a/nextjs-app/app/(frontend)/layout.tsx
+++ b/nextjs-app/app/(frontend)/layout.tsx
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import { ComparisonToast } from '@/components/ComparisonToast';
 import { RouteTrail } from '@/components/RouteTrail';
 import { ComparisonProvider } from '@/context/ComparisonProvider';
 import { SITE_URL } from '@/lib/site';
+import { getFlags } from '@/lib/flags';
 import './globals.css';
 
 // Manrope carries headings and key messaging — the guideline's "friendly,
@@ -78,11 +79,28 @@ export const metadata: Metadata = {
   },
 };
 
-export default function RootLayout({
+/*
+ * The footer's About and Blog links are flagged, which makes this the one
+ * place on the site that reads a flag on every route.
+ *
+ * 604800 is deliberate and load-bearing: it is the revalidate every SEO route
+ * here already declares. Next pins a route to the LOWEST revalidate among its
+ * fetches, so reading flags at the 300s default would drop the whole school
+ * and place corpus from a weekly cache to a 5-minute one — a large origin-load
+ * regression to hide two footer links.
+ *
+ * The cost is latency in one direction only. The pages themselves read the
+ * same flags at their own floors and flip within minutes; the footer links
+ * follow within a week. Turning a feature on early therefore shows the page
+ * before its footer link, which is harmless. Turning one off leaves a link to
+ * a 404 until the cache turns over, so a rollback that matters wants a purge.
+ */
+export default async function RootLayout({
   children,
 }: Readonly<{
   children: React.ReactNode;
 }>) {
+  const flags = await getFlags(604800);
   return (
     // The font variable classes must sit on <html>, not <body>. globals.css
     // declares --font-display on :root as var(--font-manrope) and --font-ui as
@@ -126,7 +144,10 @@ export default function RootLayout({
             {children}
           </main>
           <ComparisonToast />
-          <Footer />
+          <Footer
+            aboutEnabled={flags.about_page === true}
+            blogEnabled={flags.blog === true}
+          />
         </ComparisonProvider>
       </body>
     </html>
diff --git a/nextjs-app/components/Footer.tsx b/nextjs-app/components/Footer.tsx
index 439b07f..47d0f36 100644
--- a/nextjs-app/components/Footer.tsx
+++ b/nextjs-app/components/Footer.tsx
@@ -10,7 +10,17 @@
 import { LogoMark } from './Logo';
 import styles from './Footer.module.css';
 
-export function Footer() {
+/**
+ * Both default to false so a caller that forgets a prop hides the link rather
+ * than pointing it at a page that 404s. Same reasoning as backend/flags.py:
+ * "Every flag defaults to False."
+ */
+interface FooterProps {
+  aboutEnabled?: boolean;
+  blogEnabled?: boolean;
+}
+
+export function Footer({ aboutEnabled = false, blogEnabled = false }: FooterProps = {}) {
   const currentYear = new Date().getFullYear();
 
   return (
@@ -94,17 +104,26 @@ export function Footer() {
             </ul>
           </div>
 
-          <div className={styles.section}>
-            <h4 className={styles.sectionTitle}>About</h4>
-            <ul className={styles.links}>
-              {/* The only route to a named human. Deliberately not in the nav:
-                  the mobile bottom bar already carries four items, and both of
-                  these are lower intent than any of them. Post bylines link
-                  here too, which is where a reader actually asks the question. */}
-              <li><a href="/about" className={styles.link}>Who&apos;s behind this</a></li>
-              <li><a href="/blog" className={styles.link}>Blog</a></li>
-            </ul>
-          </div>
+          {/* Dropped entirely when both flags are dark, rather than left as an
+              empty heading: shipping dark means the footer renders as it did
+              before the feature existed. */}
+          {(aboutEnabled || blogEnabled) && (
+            <div className={styles.section}>
+              <h4 className={styles.sectionTitle}>About</h4>
+              <ul className={styles.links}>
+                {/* The only route to a named human. Deliberately not in the nav:
+                    the mobile bottom bar already carries four items, and both of
+                    these are lower intent than any of them. Post bylines link
+                    here too, which is where a reader actually asks the question. */}
+                {aboutEnabled && (
+                  <li><a href="/about" className={styles.link}>Who&apos;s behind this</a></li>
+                )}
+                {blogEnabled && (
+                  <li><a href="/blog" className={styles.link}>Blog</a></li>
+                )}
+              </ul>
+            </div>
+          )}
         </div>
 
         <div className={styles.bottom}>
diff --git a/nextjs-app/docs/PUBLISHING.md b/nextjs-app/docs/PUBLISHING.md
index f50254b..fefbb4b 100644
--- a/nextjs-app/docs/PUBLISHING.md
+++ b/nextjs-app/docs/PUBLISHING.md
@@ -4,6 +4,26 @@ The blog is Payload CMS, running inside the Next.js app. There is no separate
 service and no second deploy. Writing a post is done in the browser and takes
 effect on the live site within seconds.
 
+## Before any of this: the flags
+
+`/blog` and `/about` are behind feature flags (`blog` and `about_page`), and
+every flag in this system starts off. While `blog` is dark, `/blog`, every post
+page and the RSS feed return 404, and neither appears in the sitemap or the
+footer. Posts still save normally, because `/admin` is deliberately **not**
+flagged: you have to be able to write a post before there is anything worth
+switching on.
+
+So a new post published to a dark blog is invisible, and that is working as
+intended, not a bug. Flip the flag in Unleash when the content is ready.
+Staging and production hold their own values (`development` and `production`
+environments), so you can light it on staging first. The page follows a flip
+within five minutes; the footer link takes up to a week, because it renders in
+the root layout and is cached at the same weekly floor as the school corpus.
+
+Both flags are temporary scaffolding, like every flag here: a test starts
+failing once one is older than 90 days, at which point either the feature is
+permanent and the flag comes out, or it was never going to ship.
+
 ## Signing in
 
 `https://www.schoolcompare.co.uk/admin`, one account, no registration. If you
diff --git a/nextjs-app/lib/flags.ts b/nextjs-app/lib/flags.ts
index 0f21e44..0840bb2 100644
--- a/nextjs-app/lib/flags.ts
+++ b/nextjs-app/lib/flags.ts
@@ -26,11 +26,21 @@ export const FLAGS_REVALIDATE = 300;
 const API = process.env.FASTAPI_URL || process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL
   || 'http://localhost:8000/api';
 
-/** Every flag and its value. Never throws: an unreadable flag is a dark one. */
-export async function getFlags(): Promise<Flags> {
+/**
+ * Every flag and its value. Never throws: an unreadable flag is a dark one.
+ *
+ * `revalidate` is the caller's, because reading flags pins the whole route to
+ * the lowest revalidate among its fetches. Every SEO route here declares
+ * 604800; gating one at the 300s default would drop it from a weekly cache to
+ * a 5-minute one. Pass the route's own floor and gating costs it nothing.
+ *
+ * The trade is flag-flip latency: a route that revalidates weekly takes up to
+ * a week to notice a flip. Pass a smaller number where a flip must land fast.
+ */
+export async function getFlags(revalidate: number = FLAGS_REVALIDATE): Promise<Flags> {
   try {
     const res = await fetch(`${API}/flags`, {
-      next: { revalidate: FLAGS_REVALIDATE },
+      next: { revalidate },
     });
     if (!res.ok) return {};
     return await res.json();
diff --git a/nextjs-app/lib/jsonld.ts b/nextjs-app/lib/jsonld.ts
index 10d69f3..41435e2 100644
--- a/nextjs-app/lib/jsonld.ts
+++ b/nextjs-app/lib/jsonld.ts
@@ -44,15 +44,27 @@ interface PostSummary {
  * References the Person and Organization by @id rather than repeating them, so
  * search engines resolve every post and the About page to the one author
  * entity. Repeating the shape would declare several people with one name.
+ *
+ * `namedAuthor` is the about_page flag. The Person entity is anchored at
+ * /about#tudor, and that URL 404s while the flag is dark, so a post published
+ * in that state must not claim it: an author @id resolving to nothing is a
+ * worse signal than no named author. It falls back to the publisher, which is
+ * always live. The parameter is required rather than defaulted because every
+ * call site has the flag to hand and the wrong default is silent.
  */
-export function blogPostingJsonLd(post: PostSummary) {
+export function blogPostingJsonLd(
+  post: PostSummary,
+  { namedAuthor }: { namedAuthor: boolean },
+) {
   return {
     '@type': 'BlogPosting',
     headline: post.title,
     description: post.excerpt,
     url: absoluteUrl(`/blog/${post.slug}`),
     datePublished: post.publishedAt,
-    author: { '@id': `${SITE_URL}/about#tudor` },
+    author: {
+      '@id': namedAuthor ? `${SITE_URL}/about#tudor` : `${SITE_URL}#organization`,
+    },
     publisher: { '@id': `${SITE_URL}#organization` },
   } as const;
 }