e all love to joke about buzzwords like “AI” spinning out of control.

Sometimes some of us joke about hypothetical “AI” products.

I thought I had seen it all.

Today in the Sunday Market there was an entire stall devoted to AI glasses.

What does this mean?

I did not ask.

I didn’t even need to ask.

Seeing it was enough.

nshittification is not a term that I used, but here it is for everyone to see:

Some time ago I wrote to you regarding a cyber issue. I appreciated your response and it seems like you took my input seriously and changed accordingly so as to alleviate concerns about online scams and communication over E-mail.

Today I want to give some input regarding your branch at Manchester City Centre (Market Street).

In a nutshell, my wife and I had a 9:30 appointment and spoke to an employee whom we liked and has been very helpful to us in the past. We appreciated how she solved an issue and even communicated with us several time, by landline, to ensure the issue had been solved.

Today it seems like when handling us she was being supervised from the desk to us (accompanied from afar), where a person we assume to be her manager eavesdropped on our communication and threw mildly demeaning remarks our way (if not microaggression, definitely micro-managing the lady who served us, based on our intuition). The lady we sat with wanted to offer the services that we scheduled the meeting for, however this was interrupted by the other lady, who insisted we needed to do it using an “app” (which we don’t have) on our own. It was rather unpleasant, probably not only for us but also for the lady who served us.

After this appointment my wife and I spent some hours discussing this matter in a coffee shop down the road and decided to write to you about it. We want to be heard and we amicably ask for our input to be humbly considered. We write with good intentions, no bad faith here.

To keep this tidy, I wanted to take this opportunity to raise a number of pertinent concerns only partly related to this appointment (some are more general). The appointment started OK, but ended with some disappointment, not appointment per se.

1. Online Pressure and Discrimination Against ‘Offline’ Banking

When online banking was phased it more than 2 decades ago we were assured it would mostly enhance services rather than exclude or discriminate against people (e.g. things exclusive to some customers, not available to those who don’t opt in; some cannot feasibly opt in, see point (3) below).

My wife and I are both Computer Scientists and prefer for banking to be done in person. We know why. We know how computers work. Herding clients into “apps” and Web sites is not only unsafe; it’s also a risk. It is possible that things will not be done correctly, then blamed on the customers. Instead of saving time it might end up costing the customers a great deal of time, even distress.

2. In-Branch Services

We were told that there is guarantee of access to a branch, however the branch where we both opened out accounts more than a decade ago literally became a casino (the branch got closed, only to be replaced by a gambling shop near Piccadilly Station) and it looks like senior staff – i.e. people who know us and vice versa – was removed over time, only to be replace by much younger people who are less experienced and very dependent on colleagues. That slowed things done. Things that can (or could) take just 5 minutes would take up to an hour, sometimes even longer.

It moreover seems like every year more things become “online-only”, thus we are led to assume the end goal is for the bank to just become some “app” and Web site with no physical presences, no staff to approach, and no collaterals or assets with which to back savings. This seems like a risky gambit and a worrying trajectory that does not inspire confidence.

With banking, it all boils down to trust and confidence. People need to sense that they can confidently withdraw their money. They need to feel like the money is in safe hands.

3. Accessibility

For the sake of people with disability/ies (all of us are likely to become at least partly disabled at one point our our lives) it is crucial to maintain in-person services and imperative that assurances to this effect are given. Contrary to this, the impression given to us today is that such a commitment is gradually being phased out and banking with a human touch (as such) will be only temporarily available, leaving clients grappling to face persons who are qualified and familiar with the particular processes.

Please, can you investigate and clarify these matters? Our aim is not to belittle or insult anybody; we just try to do our best to improve the service or the perceived customer experience. We felt like we witnessed today competing interests: the profit motive against the clients’ genuine interest.

4. Customer-First Approach

In 2000 I was already a very early adopter of online banking, but now I partly regret what became of it; it seems to be means of outsourcing labour from bank staff to the clients, both at the expense of staff and clients and at risk (accountability) to staff and clients, for neither stands to benefit from this role-passing, i.e. it’s detrimental to us all, even your own staff, whose future seems increasingly uncertain. There is no lack of manpower (there are many people out there eager to find a job), there is just a race to the bottom in terms of filling up positions (or simply deprecating them altogether).

T may seem repetitive, but this is still important. It’s also more relevant than ever, even if the media chooses to brush it under the rug.

New ONS data came out this morning (in Microsoft’s proprietary format, as usual). 9,867 England and Wales deaths in Week 13 of 2019 compared to 11,241 in the same week this year.

It’s like this almost every week, including the prior week (12). I check this every Wednesday (for years already).

Is it OK to ask my government what has caused this very sharp increase?

Does it make one a “crank” for asking?

N the final weeks of the Biden Administration ceasefire was secured in Gaza and Lebanon.

In prior years ceasefire calls or attempts were also made in Ukraine.

The corporate media likes to frame any “ceasefire” news as some sort of Trump thing when as a matter of historical facts he only ever helped Russia on several levels.

Today’s media really sucks. It tries to change history, maybe for clickbait.

NFLATION is not a new problem. It is a problem that’s “always there” – sometimes just worse (higher) and therefore more visible. It’s also a form of hidden tax. To make matters worse, it’s part of false promises made by banks and economies built mostly upon debt, not wealth. There’s no “quick fix”; the best solution is to avoid debt altogether.

But there are still some people out there who are debt-free and actually save money.

People of that latter group like to talk about securing assets or “diversifying investments” etc. People with a ‘survivalist’ mindset or survival instincts do not look ahead or foresee danger; instead they wait for something to happen and then respond to that, putting out fires instead of preventing fires (to use a metaphor if not a real scenario).

Some people like to believe that hoarding money will make them very safe, even if the process of making that money harms their physical and mental health, not only shortening the life but also lessening its quality. Some processes of hoarding money increase the risk of getting arrested. How’s that for safety?

Some people make bunkers because of an assumption of looming war/s; some lose money to classic scammers, including the fear-mongering “bunker industry”. Some become drug addicts. Some try to “spread” the assets/money, but that often focuses on: 1) multiple bank accounts. 2) multiple banks. 3) like (2) in several countries. 4) gold/silver 5) fakecoins (‘crypto’). 6) a safe at home. 7) car (loses value fast). 8) home (endless maintenance). 9) jewellery (value lost immediately once purchased).

Yes, a car is a liability and constant cause of unforeseen expenses, including several annual bills, never mind the wear and tear. It is a truly terrible form of investment. There is no “magic” or “perfect” option.

Here’s another: purchasing future supplies – inevitable or unavoidable commodities – years in advance (some not perishable), especially when inflation rates are high and financial rewards for savers are low. This option relies on ample storage space. Does that pay off? Maybe.

Inflation is still high; governments changed what they measure.

KEPT refreshing this page and a minute ago the data was finally released, at 9:30, as usual for Wednesdays. Before COVID-19 the average number of deaths in Week 7 was 11,301 (England and Wales). Now it’s 12,366. That’s an increase of more than 1,000 (deaths) for this week alone.

Last week: In First 5 Weeks of 2025 67,630 People Died in England and Wales Compared to 58,461 in the Same Period in 2019

HIS morning’s new numbers look like this:

It may not seem like that says very much until one checks pre-COVID-19 numbers for the same timespan. It was 11,660 in 2019 and about the same for prior years (average of 2014-2019).