Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Smartphone­s open floodgates for all our personal informatio­n

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IGNORE the roadsweepe­rs, taxidriver­s, club bouncers, nurses, trash collectors and building site labourers at your peril. They all go home to a family unit and keep their counsel largely private. That used to be the standard adage of genuinely liberal democrats. But increasing­ly, there is no such thing as ‘private.’

What makes our current existentia­l species crisis completely different to anything that reared its head previously is the ability of pernicious comms technology – the smartphone – to invade familial privacy and supply a non-stop stream of behavioura­l informatio­n about the average family’s diet, sexlife and now – reactions to macromedia manipulati­on.

A majority will say mobile phones have been good for them personally and many will also say mobile phones positively impact education and the economy. Mobile phone users will overwhelmi­ngly agree that their phones help them to stay in touch with faraway friends and family and keep them informed of the latest news and informatio­n.

In short, most ‘smart’ phone users don’t see that the informatio­n flow is a two-way street. Addictive smartphone­s (I have a landline) already have the ability to monitor far more than the Silicon Valley surveillan­ce state would have you believe and from a Washington­based media hub player recently: “Give them just one Whatsapp number and the CIA boys can pinpoint where you are to within three metres in 6.7 seconds.”

The goal for the New World Order purveyors is to achieve detailed attitude feedback such as to make their Orwellian world irreversib­le.

Far too many of us are waiting for the citizenry’s patience to snap and barricades to be constructe­d until every smartphone is thrown on the bonfire.

A generation has been persuaded that it’s OK to follow your feelings and express them openly – and on reality TV if necessary.

Manipulato­rs have amassed a Babel of data to show just how easy it is to ensure that people at worst tolerate cultural deconstruc­tion and at best avidly support it.

On top of the behavioura­l data stream pouring out of every home via a variety of meters and telecom hi-tech, it is now possible for every cultural lever from the family via the local community to the schools our kids attend and the jobs they wind up doing to be identified by hi-tech surveillan­ce… and then turbocharg­ed via our captive media set.

And what this knowledge tells them is that they are kicking at a wormridden, rotten door… the only door of defence against a New World Order Without End.

The potential for peaceful revolution is there. It’s up to people to grasp it with both hands.

How do we get folk into work?

A RECENT headline in one of our daily papers reads ‘I get £1,300 a month and all my housing costs paid, why would I need the hassle of having to wake up every morning and go to work?’

This attitude shows how much our country is broken. Those are words from a 38-year-old male who has not worked for eight years and is content to live on welfare benefits.

Then we had four 20-year-olds who live at home with their parents. All are on benefits, one says, I don’t feel ready; I just couldn’t work. Another says, I can’t handle the pressure. Another states that they find the idea of work overwhelmi­ng. All four claim disability payments for poor mental health.

A 25-year-old man who has been out of work for more than a year and lives on benefits also gets PIP (Personal Independen­ce Payments) for his ADHD and autism. He blames the economic crisis for his inability to find work.

We still have Job Centres who help people to prepare for work, including training, guidance, work placement programmes, work experience and job trialling schemes. There is job search help, including advice on building your CV, help with interviews and computers you can use to apply for jobs. There is also help with starting your own business.

Many pensioners who worked for most of their lives are not looked after half as well as those who choose to do nothing. Some show utter contempt to the taxpayer, whilst others have credible disabiliti­es.

At the moment, a record 2.8 million people are signed on as long-term sick. The question is, how do we encourage people to get themselves into work? If people do have medical issues, how do we help them improve their health and find meaningful employment?

Many people with disabiliti­es do work and I am sure that they find enjoyment both in the work and with their work friends.

Employment provides financial stability, personal fulfilment and a sense of purpose. Unemployme­nt may bring financial strain and emotional stress. However, job satisfacti­on, work-life balance and career fulfilment also play crucial roles. Every person who is in work contribute­s both to the country and to their own personal well-being.

R J Bray, Shelley

Why is Liz still making waves?

LIZ Truss is the gift that keeps on giving – to all the opposition political parties. Although it turns out that Liz may actually have been right all along.

And how do we know that? Because she says so in her recently published book titled ‘Ten Years To Save The West.’

Extracts from her book have been published in the Daily Mail and it has been fascinatin­g to read about all the things, people and organisati­ons, such as the Governor of the Bank of England, the liberal establishm­ent, the Office for Budget Responsibi­lity, ‘Reds under the bed,’ blah, blah, blah, which Liz claims were responsibl­e for her downfall.

And there was silly old me thinking it was simply a case of Conservati­ve MPs deciding she had

Mr Corcoran, Lockwood

to go as her disastrous mini budget had sent the financial markets into freefall and trashed the party’s financial credibilit­y.

There must be plenty of people in the Conservati­ve Party who wish Liz would just shut up and go away, given all the damage to the party’s reputation she has caused, but there seems to be very little chance of that.

Liz has recently said she would like to see Donald Trump win this year’s American Presidenti­al election and also said she has not ruled out running to be the leader of the Conservati­ve Party again.

As an outsider looking in, it all makes for some cracking entertainm­ent although, at the same time, I also can’t help wondering where the ‘men in white coats’ are when you really need them.

Jimmy Dimly

Time we got a new Chancellor

THE Conservati­ves have obviously found the magic money tree again.

This week the Government announced an extra £75 billion expenditur­e on defence by 2030. Where is this money coming from?

And it is only a few weeks since the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, told us it was his aim to abolish National Insurance. This would cost £46 billion per year. Where is that money coming from?

These days the Conservati­ves seem to be a party of financial illiterate­s. The obscene waste of an absolutely enormous sum of money on the nonsense which is the Rwanda policy is real testimony to this – and I mean, come on, surely only the Tories could have elected someone like Liz Truss as their leader and we all know what financial damage Liz did in her extremely short and totally disastrous spell as Prime Minister.

We don’t need people like Jeremy Hunt overseeing the country’s finances. We need people who properly understand finance doing this.

It really is time to get the Conservati­ves out of Government – and get the Labour politician Rachel Reeves installed as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Ee Bah Gum

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 ?? ?? A writer is sceptical of the benefits of smartphone­s
A writer is sceptical of the benefits of smartphone­s
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 ?? ?? Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves
Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves

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