Michael Laws On Jacinda Ardern

 

As you were

GP practices across England now have to offer online booking

Every GP practice in England will now have to offer online appointment bookings, in a bid to reduce the so-called “8am scramble” every morning.

From 1 October, practices will be required to keep their online consultation tool open for the duration of their working hours for non-urgent appointment requests, medication queries and admin requests.


Mrs H just tried it.

No appointments available.

As you were.

Woven City

Toyota has just opened a mini city in Japan where employees will move into smart homes, use electric cars...

Car manufacturer Toyota has built a mini city in Japan where thousands of employees will be moved in to test a raft of future technology, including e-mobility vehicles.

The world's most prolific car seller this week unveiled its 'Woven City' - the first purpose-built high-tech village that will become an experimental test bed for autonomous driving, robotics and smart home features.

A cluster of hydrogen-powered homes, which has been built on the grounds of Toyota's disused factory at the base of Mount Fuji, has already welcomed its first members of staff and their families, which will be made up of inventors and 'weavers' - the term used for those living in the properties.

Bosses at the car giant have touted the village as a real-life setting in which to trial myriad inventions, from flying taxis to robot pets and drones that escort you home at night.

 

It's easy to understand what this is about from a Toyota research and development standpoint, but there is a heavily idealised social aspect to it too. What lies beyond the 'Woven City'?

Factories, farms, mines and waste disposal for example, they seem to lie well beyond Woven City.

Essential

Millions of households skip 'essential' bills - while higher earners miss more credit card payments

Millions of households are failing to make essential payments for housing and bills, with higher earners increasingly missing loan and credit repayments.

Data from the consumer website Which? reveals the proportion of missed housing, bill, loan and credit card payments increased to 7.7 per cent in the month to 12 September, the highest level this year.

It means that an estimated 2.2 million households are struggling to meet the cost of these outgoings.


It's a small point, but words such as 'essential' and 'struggling' aren't in the data. We have the data and the trends and are capable of applying the social interpretation ourselves - or not. 

Yet no media outfit seems able to resist a few hints about what that social interpretation should be, even if it's only a word or two slipped in here and there. 

Yes, a small point, but it goes on and on and on.