It is not that every day that a British Prime Minister has the chance to address the United Nations but the fact that Andy Burnham is freshly in post give Andy Burnham that opportunity. After an initial meeting with the American president in which Andy Burnham seems to have acquitted himself reasonably well came the opportunity to address the World via the United Nations. Burnham used the opportunity to launch an attack upon Russia and what he termed their sustained campaign of disinformation. Burnham announced a new unit to tackle hostile information attacks and explained new plans to establish a National Centre for Information Defence amid a growing threat from what he called hostile actors. The Prime Minister also accused Russia of spending around £1.3 billion each year on manipulating information, adding that the rapid developments in AI will only multiply the threat of disinformation campaigns and cyberattacks. Now this is a very interesting, not to say bold, speech to lay before the UN but almost everything that was said could be applied with equal force to Donald Trump’s America and probably the Chinese as well. At the same time, Burnham announced that he would put forward plans for the international regulation of AI. Perhaps the UK is in a unique position to launch attacks on disinformation because the BBC , despite some imperfections and the occasional misstep, is an organisation which few countries in the word can even attempt to emulate. Although America has embodied the rights to free speech in its constitution, this does not extend to the remit of providing free and accurate information so as an old-fashioned liberal, I would heartily applaud what Andy Burnham was attempting to lay before the world. The two issues of accurate information and AI are interlinked of course because there are no unprecedented opportunities for those who can manipulate the new technologies to disseminate information the sole aim of which is to persuade rather than just to inform. What I find personally disturbing is that attacks on legitimate information providers (such as the BBC) are fairly common and a large proportion of the population ‘prefers’ to utilise information that has been broadcast on social media which has no fact-based journalism or integrity built into their basic modus operandi. I consulted the web to remind myself of the processes that are built into the training of every journalist (rather than propagandist) and found the following consensus. In the ‘Reporting phase’, the journalist is primarily responsible for double-checking names, dates, quotes, and background claims during the reporting process. In the ‘Editorial Review’ stage, editors or dedicated fact-checkers review the story, trace documentation, and re-verify key numbers and titles before publication. The ultimate goal is to ensure accuracy takes priority over speed, ensuring that every published claim can be backed up by verifiable evidence. I see that on podcasts such as the LBC James O’Brien show which I tend to view every day then O’Brien will typically ask for evidence of the source from which callers have obtained their ‘evidence’ and the response is very often that the information was obtained via the social media which generally achieves more credibility than organisations like the BBC or the Reuters news agency who are seen as stuffy, old-fashioned and propagating what might be termed an establishment world view. Later on in the day, as we are mid-week, I shall visit the ‘Chatty Table’ in the Methodist Centre which is situated conveniently close to the Bromsgrove High Street and will then probably go off and do my weekly shopping. Because of my newly re-kindled interest in soup making, I now have to read up on ingredients that are needed in the recipe, very often the things that are not bought every day such as herbs. This week, I am going to attempt some celeriac soup and so am in need of cumin seeds and ricotta or mascarpone cheese.
After I had exercised, showered and breakfasted, I made my way down to the Methodist centre where I spent quite a jolly half hour with one or two of my acquaintances including ‘Mary’ from Liverpool who can chat the back legs of a donkey. She had been undertaking a tour of the local undertakers seeking some quotes for a simple funeral without any ceremony which is what she indicated she wanted. This gave rise to a certain degree of black humour. I did wonder out loud who owns your dead body once you are dead. The answer is that legally, a dead body does not belong to anyone because a corpse is not considered property under the law. Instead of ownership, the law gives specific people the right to take possession of the body and the duty to arrange for its burial or cremation. Resuming a more ‘normal’ life, I made my way to Asda to get some money out pf their ATM and I popped in to buy some celeriac and other soup making ingredients for the weekend. I also took the opportunity to buy a couple more Kilner jars whilst they were available at only £1.50 each. I then did my more normal shopping and came home and unpacked the shopping and was contemplating preparing my lunch when my son and daughter-in-law turned up with some of those specialised containers which are called ‘Freeze pods’ and which allow you to pit 2 x 400ml portions of soup into the freezer from which it is quite easy to eject a soup portion when you need to consume it. These were sold in specialised kitchen shops and are, evidently, worth their weight in gold and coming from a reputable source they are BPA free.