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Interesting comments. Barneys right about previous generations, my families no different.

I concede it's more obvious or focused in innercity environments. But looking at the UK population as a whole, removing the small but vocal extreme nutters, I genuinely don't believe we are a racist nation. I do think we've come along way in the last 30 - 40 years, from women rights, gay rights and minority communities.

I hear you, Rebecca, but I'm still very anti-PC, in my mind we have gone too far worrying about upsetting everyone. Listen to  LBC, or watch the news, and there seems to be far too many people who are looking to be offended. Maybe it's an age thing.

But I think the media are missing the real issue, which is education. From education comes understanding, tolerance and opportunities. But too many still slip through the net. The whole education system needs reforming, from underfunded inner-city schools, to uni students being up to their eyes in debt. But that's a whole different rabbit hole.

My kids don't see colour, they just see mates. Maybe I'm a hopeless optimist, but if we keep looking and moving forward, forget comparisons to the USA, I think we are a more tolerant and continually evolving society. Maybe more than we all give ourselves credit for.

I can't even imagine what you have seen, being South African. You probably have quite a unique perspective.

Great news Andy 

We seem to live in strange times. Few people in this country these days (at least that I'm aware of, and I have quite a diverse range of contacts, from squaddies to directors) are narrow-minded enough to dislike someone because of the colour of their skin or religious belief. 

But everyone seems terrified now of being singled out and labelled as a racist. In fact, people are going out of their way to show and prove how un-racist they are. The latest example being Keith Lemon apologising about Bo'selecta.

 The recent events in America have been horrific and there does seem to be a lingering institutional racism in certain States and organisations. But do we really believe that here?

There was the shameful episode of Stephen Lawrence, but are we as a nation as racist as the media is painting us out to be?

I've always been of the opinion that something is obvious when it is meant as humour, and just as obvious when it meant to be malicious. If someone has an axe to grind or a chip on their shoulder, it's normally pretty visible and obvious.

But in the modern world, everyone seems to get offended by absolutely everything. Colour, race, religion, nationality, gender, age, weight, height, sexual persuasion, job, news, stereotypes. Without any regard to context or overreaction.

I sat recently with my kids watching the old Carry On Films. As an 8 and 10-year-old, they found these 50-year-old films hilarious. Most of the cast may have past away, but it was timeless humour. Even tame compared by modern standards.

I do wonder what the crew room banter of the modern military looks like. I wonder if I would still be "Fat lad", "Dwarf" or things that aren't repeatable on a public forum. I don't ever remember taking offence, neither did the Gingers, Troggs, Paddys, Lumpy Jumpers, Ruperts or myriad of Forces labels designed to take the mickey out of everyone. True equal opportunity in action.

We do seem to be in an era of negativity, extreme political correctness with an immediate social media witchhunt for any slip of the tongue or perceived wrongdoing. 

Wrong and nastiness will always be wrong and nastiness, but let's allow some room for humour and commonsense.

Got to go, can see villagers with pitchforks and torches approaching...

Spotted this gem online 

Google it, there are loads to choose from now. I've had mixed experience over the years trying different sites, but freelancer seemed ok. Just remember you get what you pay for.

So Twitter, President Trumps primary communication platform to the world, has fallen out of favour after Trump claimed Twitter was incorrectly adding fact-checker labels to his posts

It's a bit of a Goliath meets Goliath as these two clash. You do have to smile at how Twitter is handling it 

I suspect things will get messy...

This is a copy of a post I made on trustedtrader.scot/news/How-to-secure-Zoom but is useful info that the Police asked us to share.

Zoom has proved to be a very popular communications application, and along with similar applications, it can also bring some security concerns. The National Police Chiefs Council has produced a useful Zoom guide explaining some of the risks, and giving step by step instructions on how to reduce them.

DisclaimerSocial Media, Browser, App and device security settings change constantly. Check your settings and options regularly to ensure that you are using the highest levels of security. Neither the NPCC, nor TRMG, accept responsibility for any loss or breach arising from the use of this document. The document represents best efforts to encapsulate the common body of knowledge existing at the time of writing and is a guide to the security features available to users of online services and smartphones. This is not an operational guide and the reader is advised to consult his or her respective organisation for operational guidance on security and best practice.

CreditsConceived and commissioned by the National Policing DCG Futures Group
Produced by The Risk Management Group (TRMG | www.trmg.biz )
OSINT Consultant, Esti Medynska, TRMG
Artwork produced on commission to TRMG by Nic Brennan

I am absolutely useless when it comes to LinkedIn. I have over 4000 contacts and think I can safely say I've never made any direct business from LinkedIn, so hows that for inefficiency 

The only thing I actively use Linked In for is a reference when I'm bidding for Council Contracts, as I know my profile gets checked out, so it's useful as a live CV.

I auto-schedule content from time to time on the Linkedin business pages I manage, but this is normally the same as what goes out on FB or Twitter.

But I very rarely put a decent post out on my own profile, and because it's never done much in the past, it's become a self-fulfilling prophecy that Linkedin doesn't work, so I don't pay it much attention.

But I know a few people, yourself included that use it very successfully for lead generation, so it's interesting to see how you do it.

One day I may start taking it seriously, when I've got a spare few hours

Well I did say don't be shy about being vocal, you didn't let me down

The intro forum is no more, so the spammers are exit stage right 

As for playing with the forum, absolutely, no denials here. In the last week, we've dumped thousands of older posts, been analysing where traffic is coming from and scrapped the blog, which seemed a good idea at the time, but in reality, never got updated.

Instead of the blog, I'm simply going to use some of the best or popular forum posts and populate the "showcase" tab in the header menu on the MLS site.

With intro's gone, it means no more self-promo one post wonders and we can concentrate on adding useful content which will populate our social media channels. Likewise, if anyone else wants to contribute something worthwhile, then that can be showcased and also pushed out over social media.

I have been guilty of just leaving the forum in tick over, with Rebecca keeping an eye on things, mainly because my focus has been elsewhere, and to be honest, didn't really know what to do with the forum longterm wise. Options ranged from culling it completely to converting it to a blog, to doing nothing!

But after sitting down and analysing it all, I was surprised how much traffic the forum is generating and the sheer volume of viewers versus contributors. So rather than turn it into a blog which was generating little traffic, I've gone the other way. 

I get my kicks out of passing on wisdom and cock ups, and want to focus on better quality posts, positivity, stuff that helps people. Always up for a bit of humour or an occasional rant, but with the world falling apart, a bit of positivity wouldn't go amiss. 

If longterm members like yourselves and Barney want to contribute, then perfect.