Portrait of the Week – 18 May 2017

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The National Health Service was one of the first big victims of a vermiform global ransomware computer infection going by names such as WannaCrypt and WannaCry, which locked computer systems. Hackers demanded $230 a time in Bitcoin to unlock them. Thousands of NHS devices were affected and outpatient appointments had to be cancelled. The Nissan plant at Sunderland was also hit. A 22-year-old from Devon, Marcus Hutchins, who runs the Malware Tech blog from his bedroom, found an effective kill switch that slowed the infection’s spread. Organisations abroad affected included Renault and Telefónica. Baddies had apparently unleashed the worm from software once in the keeping of America’s National Security Agency. Some people blamed North Korea.

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A BBC Panorama investigation showed how litter enforcement officers were paid bonuses for handing out penalties for supposed crimes such as pouring coffee down the drain. Labour got used to its election manifesto having been leaked in full to the Daily Mirror and the Daily Telegraph a week early. In the real thing, nationalisation of the railways and some utilities and more money for the NHS, were to be paid for by a rise in corporation tax and in income tax for the top 5 per cent (those earning more than £80,000 a year), adding up in all to £48.6 billion in planned tax rises. Much-needed help with Labour’s campaign came from a new organiser, Andrew Murray, seconded from the Unite union. Mr Murray, whose father was Slains Pursuivant of Arms, joined Labour last year, having since 1976 been a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain (and then the Communist Party of Britain). Ian Brady, the Moors Murderer, died aged 79.

Among bright ideas for the Conservative manifesto was the right to take a year’s leave to care for elderly relatives, one of 11 pledges to workers by Theresa May, the Prime Minister.