WIREDGOV NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE
Due to a key member of our editorial team being on extended and unplanned personal leave, we’ll be delivering an abridged version of the outbound WiredGov Plus weekly newsletter for the foreseeable future but all regular news sections and researched links will continue as normal.
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RUSI; That wasn’t so difficult |
Facebook announced earlier this month that it had removed dozens of accounts & more than 100 pages controlled by the Russian propaganda organisation & ‘troll farm’, the Internet Research Agency (IRA). However, this is a retroactive step and the damage has already been done. The post describes how ‘the IRA has repeatedly used complex networks of inauthentic accounts to deceive & manipulate people who use Facebook, including before, during and after the 2016 US presidential elections’. These pages and accounts, it added, were removed ‘solely because they were controlled by the IRA – not based on the content’. This represents an apparent change in Facebook’s policy, as it amounts to proscribing & ‘blacklisting’ an entire organisation, rather than simply removing content that is deemed to breach the platform’s Terms of Service. The IRA’s social media disinformation campaigns have been well documented since a 2015 New York Times Magazine investigation revealed how the St Petersburg-based organisation had ‘industrialized the art of trolling’. Facebook’s actions therefore raise 2 important questions:
and does this mark a step change in the way that social media companies deal with disinformation? |
Researched Links: |
RUSI: How Can Social Media Companies Stop the Spread of Fake News? Showing more ‘savvy’ than many adults Trolling does not enhance democracy! They have ‘made ’$bns’, so they can afford to spend ‘$ms’ to ‘police’ their sites |
Editor’s choice of other ICT items of note |
Selected links to key ICT announcement from the past week: |
Researched Links: |
PC&PE: NHS Digital failing to uphold patient interest NHS Digital statement on Health Select Committee's report into patient data sharing PC&PE: Faster action needed on lessons of WannaCry attack techUK: PAC report calls for faster NHS action on cyber security Socitm: Digital leaders set to debate the future of public services |
WAG; Use them (muscles) or lose them! |
A UK-wide campaign to encourage patients to change from their pyjamas and get moving around is being supported by the Chief Nursing Officer for Wales, Professor Jean White. The #EndPJParalysis 70-day challenge aims to achieve 1m patient days of relevant patients being dressed in day clothes and moving around, over a 70 day period. The challenge will run until 26 June 2018 in a number of health & care organisations across the UK to mark the 70th anniversary of the NHS. It has been found that 60% of immobile patients had no medical reason that required bed rest, and that 10 days of bed rest could lead to up to 10 years' worth of muscle mass loss in patients over 80 years old. Participating in such a scheme also leads to benefits such as:
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Researched Links: |
WAG: Campaign encourages patients to get up, get dressed and keep moving NICE: Mind the gap: better evidence, better prevention We don’t ‘bounce’ so well with age ‘Frailty’ may be inevitable with age, but its ‘management’ can still allow an ‘active’ lifestyle Vulnerable elderly woman suffers severe facial bruising in hospital that failed her Take action to prevent repeat falls in older people Better care to prevent falls and fractures will improve lives and save the NHS £bns Shropshire health trust fined over patient death LGA - Hospital admissions due to falls by older people set to reach nearly 1,000 a day |
Editor’s choice of other Health related items of note: |
Selected links to key Health announcements from the past week |
Researched Links: |
NHS Digital: A statement from NHS Digital on the vaginal mesh report |
Editor’s choice of other general items of note: |
Selected links to other key general announcement of the past week |
Researched Links: |
WAG: Thousands in Wales missing out on help with Council Tax Action Fraud: Automated Action Fraud Tech Support scam calls ESPO Corporate Update – Spring 2018 STFC: ActInSpace 2018 competition - tackling industry challenges with space technology WAG: FM opens new 21st century school in Rhymney Valley GOS: Commonwealth scientific advisers to look at global challenges Met Office: Building resilience to a changing climate across the Commonwealth |
Editorial Commentary: We know it could work, but we don’t want you to gain your ‘freedom’ to do trade deals or stop having to contribute £bns to the EU! |
The big question this week, as the EU negotiators emulate De Gaulle’s ‘Non’ to a technological solution to the RoI – NI border post-Brexit, is why are the EU’s negotiators ignoring the EU’s own research if they are being ‘honest’ in their negotiations? European Parliament Think tank - Smart Border 2.0 Avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland for customs control and the free movement of persons: “One of the most politically-sensitive aspects of the current ‘Brexit’ negotiations is the issue of the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland. In many respects, the Irish border is unique, with some 200 possible crossing points along the 500km border. Managing such a porous border in the event that the UK, following Brexit, does not participate in a customs union with the EU, thus becoming an external EU border, presents significant challenges for the EU and UK alike. In order to analyse the various options, on 26 November 2017, the Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs organised a workshop for the AFCO Committee to examine this question. As part of this, Lars Karlsson, a former director at the World Customs Organisation, proposed a solution in his paper ‘Smart Border 2.0’”. At the end of the Study Summary on page 11 it says; “It is possible to implement a Customs & Borders Solution that meet the requirements of the EU Customs legislation (Union Customs Code) and procedures …. If using a combination of international standards, global best practices and state of the art technology ….. Smart Border 2.0 Avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland The EU's solution to the Irish border issue. Who knew ... It's time to stop doom-mongering over the Irish border - the solutions ...BfB: Where Are We On the Irish Border? OE: British-Irish relations show signs of Brexit strain ~ ‘How to fix the Irish border problem - CapX’ |
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Still a ‘hot topic’, with widely spread views, for those who put fingers to keyboard in order to ‘share their views’: |
Researched links |
Brexit microsite (Information about the Article 50 process and our negotiations for a new partnership with the EU) DIT: Trade and the Commonwealth – an opportunity to eradicate poverty for good ScotGov: Continuity Bill ~ NAO: Exiting the EU - The financial settlement Open Europe: Reconciling different perspectives OE: What to make of Labour’s Brexit tests? OE: What future for Europe’s foreign & defence policy? OE: British-Irish relations show signs of Brexit strain IEA releases report ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting BfB: Where Are We On the Irish Border? Smart Border 2.0 Avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland for ... |
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