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Boards at some of the UK’s biggest companies still don’t fully understand the potential impact of a cyber attack according to a new report.

The Government’s Cyber Governance Health Check looks at the approach the UK’s FTSE 350 companies take for cyber security. The 2018 report  shows that only 16% of boards have a comprehensive understanding of the impact of loss or disruption associated with cyber threats.  That’s despite 96% having a cyber security strategy in place.  Additionally, although 95% of businesses do have a cyber security incident response plan, only 57%actually test them on a regular basis.

The implementation of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) in 2018 has had a positive effect in increasing the attention that boards are giving cyber threats.  77% of those responding to last year’s health check said that board discussion & management of cybersecurity had increased since GDPR.

Meanwhile, more work is being done to improve the cyber resilience of business, and a new project has been announced that will help companies understand their level of resilience. The cyber resilience metrics will be based on a set of risk-based principles to allow firms to measure & benchmark the extent to which they are managing their cyber risk profile effectively.

A new taskforce has been set up by Education Secretary Damian Hinds to support students to deal with the challenges that starting university can include to preserve their mental health.

On University Mental Health Day (7 March), Mr Hinds announced that the new taskforce will look at how students moving from sixth-form or college to university can be better supported in their crucial first year, building on the work already underway across the sector to improve support for student mental health.

It follows work by the Department for Education to identify 4 key areas of risk that can affect the mental health of people going to university.  These are:

• Independent living – including things like managing finances, having realistic expectations of student life, as well as alcohol & drugs misuse.
• Independent learning – helping students to engage with their course, cope with their workload and develop their own learning style & skills.
• Healthy relationships – supporting students with the skills to make positive friendships and engage with diverse groups of people.  Other risks can include abusive partners, relationship breakdowns and conflict with others.
• Wellbeing – including loneliness & vulnerability to isolation, social media pressures and ‘perfectionism’. Students may also not know how to access support for their wellbeing.

Members of the new taskforce – which will be known as the Education Transitions Network – will develop measures to help people make a smooth transition into higher education and help students maintain good mental health. 

The network will firstly look at ‘what works’ to help students handle the challenges of moving into higher education and spread good practice from examples of initiatives, such as the University of Huddersfield’s award-winning Flying Start inductions and the University of Portsmouth’s Welcome Ambassadors project, Student Minds’ Transitions and Know Before You Go, as well as measures developed through the Office for Students’ Challenge Competition projects.

After being awarded Entrepreneur of the Year 2018, Josh Dixon decided to take a step back from his day to day duties and reflect on his journey so far.

The Defence Secretary marked International Women’s Day alongside the most senior female military officer in the Armed Forces.

On a visit to the Defence College of Technical Training in RAF Cosford, Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson and Air Marshal Sue Gray met with some of the 45 female apprentices currently studying STEM trades at the college.

Some 9 trades were represented, ranging from aircraft engineering to cyberspace communications, survival equipment, photography & the emergency services, showcasing the breadth of skills of apprentices in the Armed Forces.

One important reason for studying history is to learn the lessons from past events that all too frequently tend to be forgotten by subsequent generations and then repeat themselves - to the detriment of those generations.

Many younger adults seem to have a only a ‘fuzzy’ knowledge about how, in 1938, PM Chamberlain came back from meeting German Chancellor Hitler ‘waving’ a piece of paper  (an agreement he had made with Hitler) and declaring “Peace in our time”.

While historians look back on the event and consider that in some ways he had no choice but to accept such a one-sided agreement, in the end it proved to be an illusionary peace, with war breaking out in 1939.

Chamberlain Declares “Peace for Our Time,” 75 Years Ago – HISTORY

80 years after that historic event, PM May came back from the EC ‘waving’ several reams of paper declaring ‘Brexit in our time’, but not to such a rapturous waiting crowd (& this time we don’t know what the monarch thinks of it).

Looking back, the former event gave us time to prepare to fight for our (& Europe’s freedom), but when one analyses the EC’s agreement for Brexit, in reality she seems to have agreed to the UK accepting a permanent ‘vassalage’ with no escape clause!  And the big question is WHY?

B4B:  Letter to A Remainer Friend:  The Seduction and Corruption of Our Elites

B4B:   Four “pathetic fallacies” of the Remainers

B4B:  What Should the UK Do Now?

MPs voted to hold the referendum (by 544 to 53 in favour of the bill and in the referendum the electorate voted by 51.9% to 48.1% in favour of leaving the EU, on a 72% turnout) and subsequently voted for Article 50 (498 votes to 114).  While the subsequent parliamentary debates on Brexit have reflected the personal views of MPs rather than the delegated desire of the majority of voters that is a natural reflection of the political elites thinking that they know what is good for us and the ordinary voter is ‘ignorant’.

However, one does wonder why some ‘Remainer’ supporting MPs seem to have actively ‘connived’ with our negotiating ‘enemy’ (the EC – there are no friends in a trade deal!) rather than helping to get the best Brexit deal possible.

Dominic Grieve hosts French minister for Brexit discussions on ...

One is reminded, when one hears them talk of ‘The Norway option’, of a term applied to certain Norwegian citizens who co-operated with the German invasion of Norway in WW2 and its subsequent occupation – ‘Quislings’!

Quisling becomes prime minister of puppet regime in Norway – HISTORY