If the interrupter operated every 2 sec., the current would rise to 10 amp. and drop to zero with successive makes and breaks.

Moreover, given the risk of verballing, it is by no means apparent that it is in the interests of justice that the prosecution have the benefit of admissions that are made on occasions when recordings are impracticable.

Digital images of any sort, from family photographs to medical Xrays to geosatellite images, can be treated as data.

In emailed comments supporting the new initiative, the laureate professor Noam Chomsky said: “Humans are marching towards a precipice. When we reach it, unthinkable catastrophe is inevitable. […]”