Have your say on these MetroTalk topics and more in the comments.
How will the elderly adapt to an AI world?
Thousands fell for a scam claiming to offer a way of withdrawing from Meta’s AI engine (Metro.co.uk, Wed).
Although AI scams are a new and emerging threat because of their ongoing sophistication, I feel that legitimate AI is also letting down the elderly.
My parents, who are in their 70s, often feel anxious about their limited computer skills. While they are lucky to have children who can help them, many elderly individuals may struggle to navigate these AI-driven systems.
Many over-70s, such as my parents, are unprepared for the growing reliance on AI chatbots and AI phone interactions for tasks such as taxes, TV licensing, benefits, pensions, car registration and insurance.
I’ve seen first-hand the stress my parents experience when trying to use AI chatbots or AI phone calls. It’s no joke, especially when they’re trying to reorder their medications or schedule hospital appointments.
Insurance companies, the NHS and other organisations must provide more support to help the elderly adapt to the digital age. James Dewey, Nottingham
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Come on hackers be nice
Following on from the recent cyber attack on major rail stations across Britain (Metro, Fri), cyber hackers need to up their game. Why don’t they hack into the mortgage accounts of people who are struggling financially and pay off their mortgage instead? Would be nice. ER, London
Hydropower isn’t the answer you think
Tony B (MetroTalk, Fri) asks why we can’t utilise the power of our rivers and streams to generate energy for our homes.
Early during the Industrial Revolution, Britain’s waterways were saturated with watermills and the like. However, small generators will not provide sufficient power. While hydropower can provide some of our power, it is neither financially nor environmentally appropriate for supplying all our needs in the UK.
Hydropower from large dams brings unpleasant consequences, such as disruption of the flow of the river, the migration of its wildlife and displacement of communities.
Rotting vegetation and the deoxygenation of water also produce methane. Environmentalists, from the 1950s to 1980s, opposed hydropower on ecological grounds. C’est la vie. Elizabeth, Brentwood
Having accepted a long-term contract role just outside Edinburgh, the weekly commuting cost has gone up such that I’ve had to take the bus to and from work.
Meaning a longer commute time. And no option to work from home for me, sadly. The return of peak rail fares is a massive mistake in a series of ever-continuing errors by the Scottish government. Chris, Edinburgh
He may have outlasted Truss but…
Sir Keir Starmer’s time at 10 Downing Street has already outlived the life of an iceberg lettuce, which has become a milestone of sorts since the brief tenure of his doomed, penultimate predecessor Liz Truss.
However, if my understanding of the conclusions drawn by the esteemed political historian Sir Anthony Seldon in his recent book Truss At 10: How Not To Be Prime Minister are correct, Sir Keir has already echoed some of her undesirable traits.
Despite Liz Truss championing an inspirational economic growth plan, she didn’t listen to others and dogmatically stood by decisions that were demonstrably unwise at the time
Sir Keir’s vision of giving Britain ‘its future back’ is laudable but discontinuing a winter heating benefit affecting up to ten million senior citizens to help achieve that goal has resulted in a backlash including a non-binding vote from the Unite union for the decision to be reversed, as a humiliating finale to his maiden party conference last Wednesday.
And then on Saturday, the sensational resignation of Canterbury Labour MP Rosie Duffield, accusing Sir Keir of sticking rigidly to unpopular policies and of ‘heavy-handed management tactics’, is an inauspicious start considering Sir Keir’s government is yet to outlast the achievable lifespan of a potato, cabbage, carrot or that of numerous other vegetables. Robert Hughes, London
A landlord’s reaction to the Renters’ Rights Bill
I am a senior, small landlord who lives on incomes from my three rented flats.
The new Renters’ Rights Bill proposed by Labour shocked me.
Tenants can, at any time, give two months’ notice to end the lease but landlords have to give four, plus statutory grounds for doing so?
Is it going to kill or help the private rented sector?
Will it lead to massive rent increases?
Will landlords switch to Airbnb operation, or simply sell their properties?
Will these cause further increase in homelessness?
Think thrice, think thrice, Labour. Don’t drag this country into another dark era. C Lee, Manchester
