“Fake news” is the throw-away line favoured by politicians and political supporters of all bents at the moment; a quick missive to undermine any ounce of criticism no matter how factually based, in the hope that it desensitises us enough to actual fake news making the two indistinguishable. Social media has been a breeding ground for misleading stories and downright lies and there is a tooth and nail fight to stop it becoming mainstream.

Rather worryingly this week, researchers at the University of Washington unveiled a new video editing tool that allows them to superimpose audio over a video and automatically calibrate the movements of the speakers lips to fit the words. The scientists used the example of Barack Obama, creating a video where they could make him say anything (or in one case have an impressionist make him say anything). It is entirely possible with the technology to cut together fragments of speech to create untrue statements, filter them through the programmes artificial intelligence and produce a perfectly convincing film. It’s all little bit terrifying.

A special thank you to Freddie who joined us in the Siren office on Wednesday whilst on work experience at MBNA Thames Clippers and contributed to this week’s round-up.