Apropos the Prince - He'll never live it down

A cautionary tale

Anyone in government with a red face? Nah....

How else to provide proof to an insurance company?

Are Judges in league with criminals? Are they getting a cut?

Oops!

Iran’s image? It doesn’t care!

So apt

Tougher to be a Dad!

Wow, 34 years after it was made!

These Accountancy firms get the easiest things wrong

Charming!

Remind you of someone?

If you play your cards right, this is how it is.

From today's Times newspaper

Andrew Neil's homily on BBC's This Week

IBM Trusteer Rapport

I replied to NatWest's response to my complaint as follows:

I refer to your email of the 16th November in which you address my concerns over the lack of security software support during the first three weeks of October. I see that you have decided that as NatWest did not publish the software itself, it bears no responsibility for any shortcomings. However, under the doctrine of “duty of care” I would have thought for you to completely abdicate responsibility is quite foolhardy. After all, this software was paid for by NatWest, and was made available to its customers through its website. So I don’t understand how you can take this attitude. If you absolutely intend to hold onto this principle, then I will, of course, take it up with the Financial Ombudsman Service. However, please be aware that I will also be making this issue very public in the National newspapers too.

The issue is that on the day that Apple released their latest OS, El Capitan, the IBM Trusteer Rapport software was incompatible with the new OS. No notification was given to the NatWest users of this desperate situation. Furthermore, on the 21st October IBM released a new version that was finally compatible. However, this was not made available to the users as the new OS had nullified the previous version. I only became aware of this when, on the same day, the 21st October (by coincidence), I realised that the IBM Trusteer Rapport icon was missing from the toolbar of Safari. I downloaded a new version of the software, and contacted IBM to find out how this had occurred. I have attached a transcript of my conversation with IBM below.

My concern is that all those parties who use Macs, and who have upgraded to El Capitan since the 30th September, are now unprotected by IBM Trusteer Rapport software, and unless they become self aware, as I did, they will never find out that they need a brand new software installation. NatWest and IBM have not seen fit to make contact with them to reveal this information, and I think this is despicable. 

You cannot abdicate responsibility by merely stating the software was provided by a third party. It was downloaded directly from your own website. Does’t that make you responsible?

I have approached IBM on this issue too, but their response was only this: 

"As mentioned in the chat session, Rapport started to support OS X El Capitan since the 21st of October.
We would like to thank you once more for your feedback, we have forwarded it to the relevant departments.”

If you think that this reaction to such a serious matter is acceptable, then you are very mistaken. Please address these points with the seriousness it deserves. We are dealing with a matter of banking security, and for NatWest and IBM to abdicate responsibility is monstrous, and the National newspapers will be all over you unless you deal with it with the respect and urgency it deserves.

Sebastian Coe - Inept or what?

This fellow has today been denounced by Jonathan Calvert, Insight Editor of The Sunday Times. SC holds so many directorships and employed positions that conflict with his Presidency of the IAAF that he is totally unfit to hold that position. Furthermore, to demonstrate the degree of ineptitude of SC, he used to be the Head of the Ethics committee of FIFA - yes, the very organisation whose Executives are currently the subject of police investigation for corruption. Also, during his electioneering to be the President of the IAAF, he offered each federation $100,000 extra if he won. He is a disgrace, and should face the fact that his position is untenable. 

ISIS Attack in Paris

Now that this dastardly attack has taken place in Paris, killing over 120 people, the time has come for all nations to unite, through the United Nations, to counteract these terrorists. They should act in conjunction with Syria in dealing with the ISIS threat once and for all.

IBM's Trusteer Rapport

I posted the following comment on a NatWest Forum on this topic.

"I don't understand why IBM had to wait for three weeks before releasing a version that was compatible with El Capitan. Furthermore, on the 21st October, when it was released, no automatic update was pushed to Macs. Why didn't IBM or NatWest at the least communicate with Users to explain what was happening, and point out the risks of online banking without the protection of Trusteer during this time? For a security product to provide zero protection to millions of Users, through the auspices of IBM and NatWest, is staggering. I suspect that most Mac users who have upgraded to El Capitan are still unaware that they have abandoned protection by upgrading to El Capitan.

I have raised this as a complaint with NatWest already, and have been told that IBM Trusteer is owned by a third party supplier to NatWest, and they are unable to investigate further. So this means that NatWest is taking no proactive lead in this matter and is content to leave IBM to take all the blame. Well, I believe NatWest's lack of concern is diabolical, and I wouldn't be surprised if it attracts a lot of negative publicity.

Of course, if I have my facts wrong, I will be very pleased to stand corrected."