You cannot be serious! How gullible – sorry, stupid do they think we are? A defect in a little software update and the whole world (prone to a little exaggeration) shuts down? Who’s not surprised about the whole world shutting down, though? I mean, being totally reliant on technology is utter lunacy … Welcome to the superior race; the ones who kicked Paradise into touch and ate the apple! Surely that was warning enough? Oh, no, give them another six thousand years or so and here we are: planet all but destroyed, including the wonderful species which dared to share it with us; continual wars and mass killings in the name of religion and greed, and the best of all – guaranteed self-destruction, courtesy of arrogance and stupidity, at the hands of AI. It’s all there, in front of our noses and most just keep on swallowing it. Self-cultivated viruses designed to promote mass panic, prompting the miraculous vaccine – experimental but mandatory – to save the world? More like massive profits for Big Pharma, excess deaths and ongoing fear and isolation. There is no such thing as recovery. Too much damage. Too many just too apathetic to think. That’s what’s really scary.
The thing is, this is not an isolated incident. Granted, the ongoing damage has been ubiquitous – from banks, to hospitals to flights – but there have been many other recognised breaches of late. In May, alone, there was that involving a Ministry of Defence contractor which was accessing the data of thousands of MoD staff – had been for months! While the Government would not name the country involved, it is widely believed to be China whom, it is said – in a Sky News article of 7 May, 2024 courtesy of Sam Coates – is to be accused of two or three attempts at hacking MoD employees, including personnel. No surprise there, then!
Again, in May, there was another data security incident involving the BBC which put 25,000 former employees at risk … and there are so many more. Well, besides the ones to which we are privy! The Cloud. The most dangerous weapon of all. Invisible. Undetected. Omnipotent. Fallible … On a personal note, I have always been reticent when it comes to internet banking – and with justification, I might add. I remember, many years ago, being in the Clydesdale Bank in Edinburgh, opening an account. The guy who was helping me said that he would never have internet banking following the evidence gleaned in situ. From the horse’s mouth! Do I have it now? What do you think?
So, there we have it. Not only is the radiation from our phones killing us, slowly, but we have handed ourselves to China and Russia on a plate. Cyber security breaches. We are sitting ducks. Every detail of our lives – that pertaining to each and every one of us – is data; data which is stored on the Cloud. Personal data which can be accessed, with increasing ease, and used. Every time you swipe a supermarket store card detailing your purchases – those three bottles of wine you bought because they were on offer … that’s data. Self-checkouts. The cameras which ‘recognise’ you, storing your image as you pack your bags. I refuse to use them but that’s data. Everything we do now, in our daily lives, is data. It’s all data!
CrowdStrike, based in Austin, Texas, is one of the largest cyber security companies on the planet which services businesses and governments worldwide. About half of all Fortune 500 companies (the largest companies in the United States) rely on this Cloud software. Not to worry, though, according to this major cyber security company, the world chaos is merely due to a defect in one of its software updates which hit Windows operating systems. Phew! That’s okay, then. In the iconic words of Butch Cassidy, as Lefors and his posse are about to wipe he and The Sundance Kid out in a blaze of bullets at the end of the film: ‘Oh, good. For a moment, there, I thought we were in trouble.’ Sarcasm at its best. Perhaps, though, there comes a point when denial is just easier. Perhaps that’s why the majority choose to bury their heads …
It’s been another lovely week. Twentieth of July and summer has yet to come from the sunny lands – just a reference to a happy song we always used to sing as innocent little children. The rain is teeming down outside, as ever, but there is no denying the humidity. Even our resident pigeons are manic … As doctors are told to lecture their patients on climate change, and yet another prominent member of the SNP is under investigation – Humza ‘Useless’ Yousaf’ and his re-direction of the £250,000, assigned to UNICEF, to a Gaza aid agency the day before the release of his parents-in-law from said warzone – King Charles and Queen Camilla (that sticks in my throat) presided over the State Opening of Parliament on Wednesday. Is it just me or does King Charles (that, too, I find difficult) actually look like a pantomime dame in his robes and crown? Seriously. Too short? Too portly? Somehow, he looks so effeminate. I can’t put my finger on it. Suffice to say, he certainly didn’t inherit the masculinity of his father, nor the majesty of his mother. Rather, it’s as though they have raided the dressing up box! Moving on, swiftly. How long before our friend, Ronan, is a fully-fledged policeman?!
Shall I avoid the riots of Harehills, Leeds on Thursday night? Scenes of a mindless, feral mob vandalising a police car and setting fire to a bus, among other things, as our force for law and order retreated in fear? A further reminder of mob rule. We have no protection anymore in this lawless country and we should all be suitably terrified! Multiculturalism. Listen to Suella Braverman. Listen to Ben Habib. Listen to Nigel Farage! I took a screenshot of a comment on Instagram which shocked me, denoting that the white population of Harehills equates to 1.7%. One point seven percent in a city in the United Kingdom, a country which once was predominantly white. Once. No more. However, fielding any accusations of racism, colour is not the issue; never has been. Culture is the problem and the refusal of those who come to this country to adopt ours! Instead, as the number of immigrants increases – uncontrolled – our cities are undergoing/have undergone an ethnic transformation the likes of which we are powerless to prevent. The white population is being marginalised as our culture and traditions are cast aside and dismissed. No need to integrate or to learn our language, even, such are the numbers. However, that lack of integration, that lack of unity is exactly what fuels the violence seen in Leeds on Thursday night. Moreover, an ineffective police force only makes a white flag inevitable as we ‘racists’ are left to mourn a Britain which, once upon a time, was Great.
‘They have seen the passing of the American Indian and the buffalo; and now they query as to how long the Anglo-Saxon may be able to survive.’
William Ripley, Atlantic Monthly, 1908.
Any point in mentioning that Brits abroad are to face sun lounger fines of up to £210 in Spain? What’s that old saying, again? Where there’s a will, there’s a way!
This is Trish, signing off.
