vivweb01blog

There has been much talk in the press and on social media recently about the Government’s intention to roll out digital ID in the UK. As yet, the fine detail of the eIDs themselves, and the process of their implementation,   hasn’t been presented. Reading between the lines, I suspect the leadership are wary of imposing this in their usual 'bull in a china shop' fashion, and are testing the water before revealing any concrete plans or timescales.  Here are some thoughts regarding the practicability and implications of such a scheme, assuming the end result is some sort of smartphone-based personal ID product. First, let’s consider desirability. We are told that a personal ID card will assist us in allowing quicker access to all manner of benefits and other state provisions, as well as removing the cumbersome requirements for paper documents that are needed to prove ID and address at present. That could indeed be the case, but we seem to have managed with the old paper s...

  We in the UK are undoubtedly a nation of dog lovers..... While I’m all in favour of the benefits of owning one of ‘man’s best friends’, and there are undoubtedly many, keeping a dog is no mean task, and really must be taken on responsibly….. When you aspire to dog ownership and actually take the plunge, you are effectively becoming that animal’s sole guardian, and are then legally responsible for its actions during its whole lifetime.  In one sense, this a more onerous responsibility even than adopting a young child, since in that case you would only be responsible for his or her well-being and actions until they are 18; and as individuals, they will become legally responsible for their own actions at age 16 under current UK law. A dog will never be legally responsible for anything it does…you are - until it dies, or you transfer its ownership to someone else. It has to be said that most dog owners are responsible people and ensure that their dogs are kept firmly on...

  A midst all the discussion about the perils of global warming, there has been no mention recently of when we might expect the start of the next Ice-Age.... This was a topic that hit the headlines some years ago and was all the rage for a year or two before fading into obscurity. It is probably no coincidence that this media fade-out coincided with the increased coverage in the media about global warming and its wider implications for our future well-being. But should we be so quick to dismiss the posibility of  a much cooler future ? There is now no doubt that our global climate is warming – and doing so quite rapidly. There is also little doubt that our large-scale release of greenhouse gases since the dawn of the industrial era in the early 1800s will have contributed significantly to this process. However, despite the views of some environmentalists, our planet's atmosphere is a chaotic and unpredictable beast, and the jury is still out on whether ‘man-made’ clima...