vivweb01blog

  Although 2029 is a long way ahead, and Labour's leadership and cabinet will be focused on more immediate policy decisions, their advance planners should already be thinking hard about their electoral prospects…and not just for the next general election. The reason why they should be concerned at this early stage is that the next tranche of local elections are only a little under 3 months away, so the first ‘day of reckoning’ at the ballot box is, relatively speaking, nigh. Does this really matter, though, given their huge majority in parliament ? The answer is that it does…the hard reality is that the brunt of any early disapproval of the new government by the electorate (and there’s plenty of that around just now!) will fall on local Labour councillors, many of whom come up for re-election this year and will be worried about retaining their seats on May 1 st . If, as seems quite possible,  Labour  suffer a whitewash in these polls, it will signal they are 'gettin...

AI development has continued apace since this blog was first published in June 2024, with little sign of a slowdown. Herewith an update for 2025.....   Introduction There has been much discussion, and not a little concern, voiced in the press and on social media recently about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the dangers it might pose for humanity.. How dangerous is it really, and what if anything can, or indeed should, we do about it ? First, let’s try to pin down what we mean by the term ‘AI’. The OED dictionary definition is: “.. the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages. ” This rather narrow definition focuses on the use of AI as a tool, to be used to enhance what we as humans already accomplish, rather than considering what a new ‘cohort of intelligent machines’ might do themselves in the future. Apocal...

  Editor's Note: I published this blog in March of last year in response to an upsurge in phishing emails and other hacking incidents. The recent UK government demand that Apple provide them with a bypass to their end-to-end encryption serves as reminder that our comfidential data is at risk. Whatever the outcome of this particular 'spat', (in which I suspect Messrs. Trump and Musk will soon become involved, given their roles as 'champions of free speech') there is only one way to ensure that your 'at risk' data remains hidden - encrypt it yourself. ....read on to find out how....... ------------------------------------------- Could my email be hacked....? Unfortunately, it's more likely than you might think that your email either has already been hacked...or will be at some point….here’s why. There are a host of opportunities for a would-be hacker to find a way into your email account, and some of the 'professionals' are really expert at it. ...

  'Norovirus' (otherwise known as the 'winter vomiting bug') is the term in general use to describe the symptoms of an unpleasant stomach complaint caused by a virus.  This isn’t a new virus, as was the causative agent of Covid i.e SARS-CoV-2. Many of us will already have been exposed to it during our lifetimes. It’s certainly not a ‘nice to have’, particularly for the very young and the elderly. The incidence is to some extent seasonal, and the virus does seem to be gaining the upper hand this winter, with significant numbers catching it in UK, hence the recent reports in the news media. There have been quite a few consequent hospital admissions over the last few weeks, hence the use of the term 'epidemic' in the press. The NHS is concerned about a rapid influx of new patients, at a time when it's already stretched to the limit,  if the situation continues to worsen. The recent surge in admissions hospitals are already facing due to an emerging 'flu epi...

  Starmer’s latest hobby-horse, which was given an outing in the media recently by his housing minister and deputy Angela Rayner, would seem to be setting his party up for failure…..  Almost everyone with any knowledge of the house-building industry seems to agree that under the circumstances we’re likely to see during the remaining 4.5 years of Labour’s term, building this many houses just isn’t feasible. The majority of our Local Authorities, who will be directly responsible for achieving the target in their areas, endorse this view.  Starmer is thus either a) just not listening or b) convinced that he is right and everyone else is wrong (or indeed both!)….Moreover, by setting himself and his party a fixed target such as this, he is virtually guaranteeing his government will be found wanting come the much-awaited ‘reckoning’ before the next election. So much for the continued ‘crazy’ politics then….but what about the feasibility of building this many houses – why does t...