OneGuyFromBarlick

they can afford better lawyers and 'consultants'.

And they can do deals with those who make the rules and create the loopholes for them to function. Proverb..there are none so blind as those who will not see. From Russia with love??

Everyone wants to be an 'influencer'. Some for fame but some with far more sinister motives. There is a major industry around the Westminster Village selling 'access' to power. They call it lobbying. I seem to remember Cameron in the early days (2010) saying that that was the next big scandal, then he went quiet as he faced the realities of running a cash strapped Tory Party. It would appear to be embedded and accepted and is simply wrong.

It used to be done in a more gentlemanly manner - fly out to a chaps yacht in the Med near Corfu

Lots of coverage at the time - that nice Mr Mandelson was invilved too.

Osbourne Mandelson Deripaska.

I remember it well David. I have an idea that Deripaska is a client of Mandelson's 'consultancy' organisation.

Doesn't seem to do them a lot of harm though does it? Mandelson was being touted as a candidate for boss of the WTO recently, until Liam Fox (scoundrel in waiting) took over the role. I have a press cutting on him from the Hartlepool days which should have sunk him.

I think PE must have the same cutting on Fox David. There was an excoriating report of his candidacy in this week's edition. What could possibly go wrong.

I don't know if other OGers are familiar with the QAnon conspiracy theorists....
`QAnon: TikTok blocks QAnon conspiracy theory hashtags' LINK
`TikTok has blocked a number of hashtags related to the QAnon conspiracy theory from appearing in search results, amid concern about misinformation, the BBC has learned. It comes days after Twitter banned thousands of QAnon-related accounts. QAnon is a wide-ranging, unfounded conspiracy theory whose followers support US President Donald Trump. They believe the president is battling a clandestine "deep state" network of political, business and media elites....Videos using the "QAnon" hashtag, in particular, have millions of cumulative views and can still be found if a user's algorithm directs them to the associated content. Many videos promote unfounded conspiracy theories. Recently, some of them endorsed baseless claims linking furniture firm Wayfair to child trafficking.

I'd never heard of QAnon until yesterday. I had a quick look. It'll be the last time I do. Aren't our lives enriched by this internet thingy.

Me too David but I shall not bother to look it up. Reading it might pollute my brain...
It might be polluted already though. I dreamt last night that a rogue post called the Millen Post had infected the site. The dream was as clear as a bell and I remembered it as I woke. Now where did that come from?

Said no Scientist ever.

Take care! Be alert! etc
`Fraud: Banks reveal the 10 coronavirus scams to be wary of' LINK

The world needs more lerts....

Remember QAnon which I mentioned in an earlier post? They're the devil's work! Note the sentence `QAnon followers are mainly supporters of the US president'. Well what a surprise! It's time we banned him!
`Facebook removes QAnon conspiracy group with 200,000 members' LINK

The more I see of Trump and the more I learn about him, the more worried I get for my friends in the US. The red neck tendency was frightening 40 years ago and it has got worse.
Question: What's the difference between a Good Old Guy and a Red Neck?
Answer: They both have a hunting rifle on a rack behind their heads and drink cans of beer whilst driving. The difference is that the Red Neck throws the empty cans out of the window.

`'Blackmailers stole our Instagram account' LINK
`...Attacks on Instagram users, while rarer than other forms of cyber attack, are becoming increasingly common as a growing number of influencers and companies market themselves on the platform, according to Professor Alan Woodward, a cyber security expert at the University of Surrey..'.

Moral, keep as far away as possible form social media. It tends to make for a quieter life!

Stanley wrote: ↑16 Aug 2020, 03:52 Moral, keep as far away as possible form social media. It tends to make for a quieter life!

Or just be aware. We use it to keep in contact with family and friends, I've never felt the need to provide my details to anyone who wants to give away a motor home, sports car, caravan or or 'every like this 3 legged child gets Facebook will donate £1'.

Sadly, there are some who still do this, despite being supposedly intelligent people.

P T Barnum springs to mind.....

As I see it a lot of small businesses and even some of the bigger service organisations use Facebook as a low cost web site entry instead of expensive updates on formal web sites. Pendle Leisure is typical of this approach. The recent lockdown has meant a number of programme changes that may be altered at a moments notice, online booking for example to use gyms, pools etc. Like it or loath it Facebook has become a way of life and if you are careful and selective its quite useful.

Just think of all the data that the social media companies acquire through those little icons on other people's web sites.

If you allowed yourself to think about these matters too much you'd go potty! The genii is out of the lamp and there is nothing we can do about it.

After we've sorted covid-19 the next dangerous virus to deal with has got to be big social media companies...
`Newsbeat has been investigating how social media is being used to sell drugs' LINK

I see analysts are predicting that the brief advertising boycott of the big players will not affect their profits too much. A rise for this quarter is still forecast.

A worry is that the selected choices a person makes for news, music or off beat subjects etc is enhance by the big brother computer algorithms giving you more of the same. Unwittingly what was probably a bit a investigative curiosity develops into a full blown obsession. In effect it is a form of subliminal manipulation pushing people down a route they would normally avoid.