As I am putting to bed what might be the most ambitious project we will tackle for a while at financialcrimeriskandcompliancetraining.com , a course designed for teenagers and young people up to 24 years of age on avoiding being a victim of financial crime, one big issue has been added at the last minute - the range of conduct that criminals are adopting as their response to the coronavirus / CoVid-19 epidemic / pandemic. Across the world, there are more and more examples of conduct, both in both the physical and cyber worlds.

While doing that, I've been doing the final checks on the rest of the content including the so-called "county lines" problem are very valuable.

There's something odd happening around the coffee tables of the world. It appears to be a social change that was not widely foreseen or, if it was, was kept secret.

The world is mad. There is an overwhelming sense of a need to belong.

Romans blamed "The Ides of March" for the all kinds of things, mostly unpleasant. English myth talks about "mad March hares" which run around, aimlessly, in fields where they would normally hide.

But we can think of March as the month where we will see the first signs of spring (at least those of us above the equator can), half way from the longest night to the longest day and with shoots appearing and the first lambs of the season.

So, March is also a time of renewal - and perfect for fresh ideas, hence "The Ideas of March."

Apparently, LegalTech has become a thing. I'm already bored with it. Why? That's what someone asked me and I told them . Here it is.

Good grief. This blog has always been a bit sporadic but now it looks downright dilatory.

So, you'd think that, except for one post last month I'd slept the winter away, wouldn't you?

Nah.

There's a story and this is the biggest milestone

At least for now. There's more to come.

It's the everyday challenge for the financial crime risk officer.

There is something he's not satisfied with but he can't prove it - it's his experience, what some call his "gut reaction" that says "this doesn't stack up. We shouldn't do this business."

But there are reasons why the business should be done..

There is a fundamental imbalance and, incredibly, a fundamental irony.

Microsoft is pushing hard, and I use the term "pushing" deliberately. It has turned the world into addicts for the product only it sells and it makes withdrawal difficult and, even, frightening. MS is also providing purported advice while, well, pushing and using fear as its tool. Today, my PC (along with millions of others I assume) woke with a splash screen telling me Windows 7 will soon be orphaned. It invites "learn more." But all addictions can be beaten...

Grab (an online car booking service) has just added photo (aka facial) recognition to its app.

It just took me five minutes for it to take a photo it was happy with.

I'm not.

I had put a CD into a crappy player, through an ancient and slowly fading Sony amp and some cheap speakers. It didn't sound good but it sounded a bit better than previous times I'd played it. The reason for the experiment was simple: it sounds absolutely awful on my good stuff. All my good stuff. It even sounds awful on my PC speakers. Why?