Nobbut Laiking, by Ross Brewster
Remember those old cowboy pictures at the flicks? The ones they still show in black and white on nostalgia-based TV channels.
They invariably had a gallows in the street, just in case the locals fancied a quick lynching before lunch. Some dramatic rescues were performed as innocents were about to take the drop. The goodie was always cut down in the nick of time.
In 2023 you don’t need a gallows. They hang innocents out to dry remotely using their laptops and smartphones.
The internet should be a warning to all those who think AI — artificial intelligence — is going to be the salvation of the planet. Quite the opposite could apply.
Like so many great inventions and innovations, AI promises great benefits. But just as the internet sites have trolls spreading their malicious false information, so AI is as open to bad actors as to good ones.
Several leading BBC presenters were driven to declare their innocence as speculation ran rife online about the identity of a famous figure who was alleged to have paid a lot of money for pictures of a sexual nature.
One of them was Jeremy Vine. He went further, unmasking one of the trolls and eliciting an apology for the suggestion he might be that BBC personality. Thus Andy Plumb, from Nuneaton, paid £1,000 to charity for his accusatory tweets.
Well done Jeremy. It won’t stem the tide of unpleasantness, but if it makes a few keyboard warriors stop and think before they hit the “send and share” buttons, that can only be good.
These trolls seem unaware they are bound by the same rules as newspapers when they make their libellous and unproven comments without apparent fear of retribution.
It’s gone too far to be totally stopped. Some dubious posters online have literally millions of followers. But the internet is a warning to those who await unfettered use of AI.
As the falsely accused in the Huw Edwards story discovered, they may not hang ’em high like they did in the Wild West, but a lynching by computer can be just as effective if it’s not nipped in the bud.
Should’ve gone to Ullswater
School’s out for the holidays. Could this be the summer of the staycation?
I wonder how many people making late decisions will staycation nearer to home during the peak holiday period. I’m all for it myself.
It’s claimed there will be 13.5 million staycations in Britain this summer with customers keeping their powder dry in the hope of bargain deals to offset the cost of living crisis.
The Costas this year? You can keep them. I would not fancy the worry about whether my train will even get me to the airport, whether the French air traffic controllers will be striking, whether there will be a stag or hen party on my flight drunk and fighting, and whether I will literally fry in 48 degree heat if and when I get to my destination. All that and increased prices in Europe where the natives don’t like us any more since Brexit.
Latest figures show an increase in air rage incidents where pilots had to detour. There have been stabbings, assaults on air crew and other passengers and one bloke managed to open the door at 30,000 feet, something we were always led to believe was impossible.
I’m not a comfortable flyer at the best of times and I can’t think of anything worse than a journey to the Costas with a bunch of drunken yobs.
There is one simple answer of course. Don’t sell booze in airports and certainly don’t keep selling drink to people on board planes who are manifestly drunk. They do all sorts of checks before you get to your flight, it would not be difficult to weed out drunks and tell them they can’t fly unless and until they are sober.
It surely can’t be that airlines, for all their fine words about passenger and crew safety, keep flogging the booze because it makes money.
Nah, forget the Costas this year. What could be more refreshing than a ramble up Scafell Pike with a soft, refreshing cloudburst in your face and gales whipping off the Irish Sea. Ah, you realise as you dial for mountain rescue on your phone, so this is why all those cagoules are in the shops in Keswick.
I wonder how many folk this summer will have cause to regret going abroad if the weather remains as unbearably hot as it is now. As rivulets of sweat run down their noses they will be saying to themselves, “should’ve gone to Ullswater.”
It would be a shame to lose the Commonwealth Games
I would be sorry to see the end of the Commonwealth Games.
The Aussies have determined that the cost is not justified for a 12-day sporting event. Surely it could be done cheaper, perhaps at different venues even in different nations.
I remember being at Manchester when a competitor from one of the smaller nations came in a long last in a race only to get the biggest cheer.
It exemplified the spirit of the games. It would be a shame to lose it.
