Hack-tivists.

Tory MP Christopher Chope presented the Western European Union today with his idiot's guide to Cyber War. He exposed his own nursery school understanding of technical advances.

To be fair to the Christchurch MP, he did confess his abject ignorance of all things technical. That has never been an obstacle to politicians giving opinion, he reminded us.

His report in Paris today was informative. It was certainly news to me that a min-cyber attack against Georgia started 20 days before Russian troops invaded. Many of the hackers were outside of Russia and the Caucasus and were probably doing it for 'fun.' Possibly they did not know which Georgia they were attacking. These are the new free-booting 'hack-tivists'.

I was grateful today to received messages from many correspondents who know far more about Cyber War than I do. Christopher Chope is not in that category. He had a simple solution. He says we need a back-up system that is un-hackable.

His understanding is on a protozoan level. He recalled that all cars once had starting handles. If they did not start, they could be 'wound-up' to jump them into life. If that did not work, it was possible to roll them down the hill in neutral gear and then put them into gear. Now when a chip fails, it's impossible to get a start.

Does Christopher want starting handles brought back? Awkward for transverse engines.  They were a cumbersome and difficult to use.  Does he want  a wind-up handles to kick-start our stand-by wood-burning computers.

We will have to do better than that. The good news is that a Euro anti-Cyber war 'centre of excellence' has been opened in Tallinn. As the country hardest hit be a cyber-war assault, they have powerful vested interests  in strengthening the defences against the hack-tivists.

Ubiquitous

A Labour-Tory combined effort ensured that a group of MPs saw and heard today's Speaker's announcement this afternoon.

It's a tricky decision whether to work in London and Paris. For Monday and Tuesday this week, there was no choice because parliament was not in session.

Although there is no vote in the Commons today, we all regretted missing a key parliamentary occasion. There are no television in the WEU HQ in Paris. A lash-up of computers (without sounds) and a speaker phone ensured that half a dozen Tory and Labour MPs could watch the Speaker's revealing statement. 

Tory Nigel Evans provided the sound with a phone link broadcast through the speaker phone.

The Speaker has shifted attention from the Government and himself and pointed an accusing finger at the police and the Sergeant at Arms. The mini-debate that followed was free of the manic hysteria that marked the press coverage of this curious event.

It will get more interesting when the seven wise MPs report.

DIRE NEWS

450 workers at Novelis in Newport are faced with losing their jobs as bosses at the plant called in unions and employees for emergency discussions after orders suffered due to the credit crunch.

I have spoken with people at the former Alcan plant and I will be having a formal meeting next week. Novelis/Alcan have been a vital part of Newport's industrial life for decades. In the past forty years, I have been on various visits to tis company that has provided splendid skilled decently paid jobs to the city. 

I shall be looking for urgent action to counteract the threat.

Comments

[Graham Marlowe]

"To be fair to the Christchurch MP, he did confess his abject ignorance of all things technical. That has never been an obstacle to politicians giving opinion, he reminded us"

It's not just politicians who don't know what they are talking about. David Freud, multimillionaire investment banker confessed that he "knew nothing" about the Welfare system, and neither does Professor Paul Gregg. Doesn't stop them holding forth though, does it Paul?

[CB]

As a scientist, I'm really annoyed and worried when people who do not understand a subject (admittedly or otherwise) feel they can publicly voice an opinion in such a way as to sway other people's opinions towards their own.

Paul Flynn should be commended on his evidence-based approach to decision making and also in his exposing of people that spout non-evidence-based opinion as fact.

[Graham Marlowe]

Be that as it may, CB, it doesn't stop people like Freud from talking out of their backsides does it?

In a Telegraph interview in February this year Freud said that he "knew nothing" about welfare and benefits before he started his report. He also proved that he knew damn all AFTER he had finished it: for example, he said that people are putn on I.B. by their G.P. If Freud knew the first thing about it, he would know that people ARE NOT put on IB by their GP but by a doctor nominated by the DWP.

Of course most of the people (like Freud and Gregg) who are asked to write these reports rarely inhabit the real world and the government know they will spout the nonsense they want to hear.