Peter Rhodes on a surprise war, a worrying Bill and the light you don't want to see after the storm

But at least you know in a day or so Openreach will have fixed the line and all will be well. 

My post-storm problem goes deeper. The little light is still blue but the screen symbol that fires up my email refuses to work. 

I have tried the usual remedy (a long walk) but still it won't play. There's nothing like cyberspace to make you feel utterly, helplessly hopeless, is there?

In the world of politics there are lies, damned lies and promises about privacy. So when a new law creeps into Parliament promising the nation billions of pounds in savings by “streamlining access” to personal data, should we be wary? 

The Data (Use & Access) Bill has received little coverage or analysis in the mainstream media. 

A couple of the more serious London newspapers suggest it would help youngsters to prove their age in pubs with a single wave of their smartphone. But if a Government approved app gives you, and others, proof of your age, what else might it contain?

The future? Look to Estonia where a form of digital ID has been operating for years and 99 per cent of folk are signed up; their ID numbers are issued at birth. This may give you great confidence in the future of a digital Britain. Or it may give you the willies. 

It is already difficult to work, travel, book a table or bore other folk to death with pictures of your kids without possessing a smartphone. Where will it lead?

Stop press: Keir Starmer has promised that using a digital ID “will not be mandatory.” Now I'm really worried.

Finally, spare a thought for those dedicated journalists who have spent the past few weeks working on their brilliant year-end features looking expertly back on 2024 and cleverly predicting events in 2025. Now they've had to start all over again. Syria? Who the hell was looking at Syria?