Apart from stories of a natural disaster in Nepal in which many Britons may have died, news percolated through of the results of a massive court case in America. Meta has agreed to pay up to $18bn (£13.2bn) to dozens of US states to settle claims that its social media platforms harmed children. The landmark trial – the biggest ever of its kind – saw Meta accused of knowingly and deliberately designing features that get children addicted to its platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. According to court papers, the company has denied wrongdoing while agreeing to the settlement. Alongside the payments, the company has agreed to make major changes to Facebook and Instagram, including daily usage limits and a restriction of nighttime usage by children who use Facebook and Instagram. The company will also enhance measures to prevent children from accessing age-restricted content. The settlement resolves claims brought by 29 US states and ends a federal trial that had been one of the highest-profile tests yet of allegations that social media companies harmed young users. The settlement will be paid out over 10 years. California will get the largest sum of at least $1.5bn, but several other states will still collect hundreds of millions of dollars each over the decade. In order to put this seemingly enormous sum in con context, in the last full fiscal year (2025), Meta Platforms generated $200.97 billion in total revenue. After deducting all operating costs, taxes, and expenses, Meta brought home a net income (pure profit) of $60.46 billion. So the payout sum which extends over several years is less than a third of one year’s profits. Personally, I am surprised that Meta succumbed so quickly in this court case which I thought would drag on for months or even years so the case against them must have been pretty overwhelming. Turning to domestic issues, the evening that I arrived in Harrogate, I went out for a long anticipated drink with one of my nieces and her husband in the pub immediately opposite the hotel which serves a magnificent and locally brewed dark mild beer. We had a wonderful evening together and I had taken along with me two little items of Meg’s jewellery to pass onto my great nieces. At the same time, I had brought along with me the card that had been signed in a variety of European languages by members of an international linguists conference that Meg had attended in the past before her bad back put paid to international travel. But one of the early testaments on the card mentioned about Meg dancing on a table on a restaurant in Thessaloniki (Greece). Meg had mentioned this to me and she knew, even at the time, that it was going to be her ‘swan song’ and the extraordinary sequel to this story is that whilst my daughter-in-law was going through mountains of family snaps, we actually managed to discover ‘the’ photograph which is the definitive proof of Meg dancing an a restaurant table. By the way, exuberant acts like dancing on tables are much more common in diaspora communities (such as Greek-American celebrations) or entertainment-focused tavernas than standard domestic dining. Just as our evening was concluding and my niece and her husband were on their way home, I discovered another piece of the jigsaw that is my family history. I mentioned that I thought that it was probably the case that my mother had worked briefly in WW2 in the Crown Hotel (in which I am staying) when it was commissioned as an operations HQ for the Air Ministry. I had known that my family had moved from a small village on the North Yorkshire moors (Levisham) to Harrogate but why Harrogate? Apparently, a lot of research has been done locally and during the location of ministries to the large Harrogate hotels, there was a massive demand for trained secretarial labour so my mother (and my grandmother) probably moved to Harrogate as my mother being Pitman shorthand trained would have some of the skillset which was very much in demand at the time. This, of course, is conjecture rather than proof but I think the chances of it actually being the case are probably very high.
In the morning, I caught the train to Knaresborough actually missing one by 2 mins but there was another half an hour later. My sister seemed to be quite in good spirits and we reminisced about family matters. The residential home provided me with a lunch which was good of them and then I left in giving myself 15 minutes before the rain back. But this had a fault on it and the running of it was delayed so after a wait of 45 minutes we limped into Harrogate where they immediately took the train out of service. And it was raining when I arrived back so I was thankful for the shelter provided by my broad brimmed Australian style bush hat. My sister had been taken out yesterday by the residential home where she is lodged and had been to an art exhibition which was ‘so-so’ but afterwards had been taken for tea at Betty’s Cafe in Harrogate which is almost a national institution by now. The care staff were also talking with my sister about another ‘day out’ but this time to Harewood House which is a very well known day trip out in the Harrogate/Leeds area. Naturally, I am every pleased by this because it means that my sister had some existential stimulus instead of staring at her own four walls. Meanwhile I have just been contacted ‘urgently’ by a local hospital to enquire whether I still am in need of an ENT appointment which was requested more than 12 weeks ago – I was informed that failure to fill in the online form would mean that my place on the waiting list would be forfeited and the pending appointment cancelled. I just wondered to myself how many of the ‘information poor’ in our society may be adversely affected by such waiting list management practices and, however good the intention, I do get the feeling that all of this reflects a political imperative to see what can be done by getting waiting lists ‘down’ by hook or by crook. Now that I am safely back in my hotel room, it has stopped raining but I suppose we can hardly complain as the rain is so badly needed. Although I had put a light raincoat on one side before I left home, I did forget to pack it which I now regret somewhat. But the restaurant to which I shall repair in the evening to dine with nephews and great nephews/nieces is only a few minutes walk from the hotel and I think should be quite easy to find.