The BBC World Service, though current, considered and topical, still had a slight aura of antiquity for Keith. The locations of bureaux a poignant reminder of its scope across this earth: Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing to Delhi and west across the old Silk Road, back to Bush House, London – an image formed in Keith’s mind’s eye of RKO radio pylons bleeping into monochrome clouds and a slight cosmic haze. No wonder radio has been described as “the theatre of the mind.” Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds, the Archers…The King’s Speech.

Did video really kill the radio star? he mused. The Siri app certainly could.

He considered the implications of the app to people in war ravaged Syria – does it get any more Big Brother (strictly in the Orwellian sense) than the voice recognition software on your own phone taking upon itself to MMS the government death squads your number and GPS coordinates? It reminded Keith of another human rights vs communications scenario that emerged in the 1970’s – when the phone book/telephone directory was first published and distributed in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, a consequence was that minority Tamils were readily and easily identified – name, number, address – Knock, knock…bang, bang, bye bye.