There is big talk around private messages again, this time the scrutiny is upon the people who claim to be in charge. But alas, like with a previous political debacle, suddenly the electronic trail that is supposed to be there, is missing. How convenient you might say, that when it comes to accountability there is nothing to prove anything with. Which could work the other way too, as they have no evidence of who did what, they could all be held liable for bankrupting the country. If they can’t remember basic facts and actions of their own selves only a mere few years ago, how can they be trusted with anything. We know they can’t, but it does seem as though gross incompetence, negligence and criminal activities are overlooked currently when it is politicians.

But another thought occurred to me about it, how it might also serve a double purpose aside from getting them all out of a publicly embarrassing jam. It would neatly usher in more monitoring, of personal devices by anyone working in government or certain institutions deemed of interest. Because if the people running the country can just ‘lose’ such vital communications, it should make people question whether 100% electronic is even viable anymore. But instead they will say it was the ‘human hand’ that screwed it up. If only it was monitored and backed up to a central point (which everyone seems to believe WhatsApp did anyway). Whether they can or not won’t be the focus probably, it will be the consequences of those messages all being deleted. No-one gets held accountable, and the technology gets even more scrutiny when it should be the people.

Like the new regulation that has just been bought in which says the government can monitor the bank accounts of pensioners. An odd move when literally they are means tested to get that pension in the first place, and most of the time have actually paid into the system to create that benefit. Not monitoring the people who are known to scam thousands each year via all sorts of benefits which are approved along the way, so they allow the corruption to occur, facilitate it, and then use it as a tool to impose further rules and restrictions, while not actually stopping the flow of thievery.

In fact, it has given new ground to all forms of it, and it’s obviously reaching a tipping point. Elections and more laws and rules to come, power struggles and political wars using people as pawns. It’s clear that someone needs to pull the plug, but that’s why they made sure there is no one plug anymore. A convoluted society with so many middlemen, gatekeepers and jobsworths it creates its own problem. Of shirking responsibility, spending others money and helping to hasten the country’s demise. And they just keep going…

(c) K Wicks