Peter Rhodes on bulbs, bills and politicians still living in the past
The superglue idiots are back in action, making a nuisance of themselves while having not the slightest effect on saving the planet.
They always claim to be non-violent. Yet this week the Met revealed that policing the likes of Just Stop Oil and Insulate Britain has used up more than 10,000 shifts involving police officers who would otherwise be dealing with burglaries and knife crimes. What sort of non-violence is it that exposes other people to violence?
It is part of the superglue idiots' creed that, while they are bravely blocking roads, the politicians are “doing nothing”. The truth is that, around the world, politicians are doing more to combat climate change than at any time in human history. Building wind turbines may not be enough but it's a damn site more helpful than sticking yourself to the M25
Computer corner. An email arrived a few days ago from PayPal headed: “Login from a new device”. It warned me that PayPal had detected an unknown device logging in to my account and advised me to change my password immediately, which I did. Then I waited 20 minutes and made a test purchase. Immediately, the same warning e-mail appeared. This is deeply scary because it suggests that whoever was trying to access my PayPal account can crack a 12-character password in 20 minutes. GCHQ? The Kremlin?
I turned to Google and found many chatroom references to this mysterious PayPal email. But it seems no-one's account had been interfered with and no-one offered any explanation. I suspect it's some random blip in the system or possibly a fiendishly clever algorithm designed to remind us users that, although we like to pretend we understand computers, they're in charge. Any ideas?
Cop27 throws into sharp contrast the difference between modern politicians, allies in a global fight against emissions, and old-fashioned politicians like Putin, still dealing in rockets and howitzers and chasing the 19th century obsession of adding more territory to your own.
One of the most relevant, and under-reported, comments on the agony of Ukraine came last month when the Indian prime minister Narendra Modi told Putin bluntly: “This is not an era of war.” All civilised people know exactly what he means.
Call me paranoid but, as electricity bills soar, does anyone else reckon the lights are getting dimmer?
