A massive AI breakthrough has give hope to our children (Image: Getty)
That trees had twigs and that stars twinkled in the night sky was so amazing to my myopic eight-year-old eyes that I never minded the clunky glasses I was forced to wear, the only kind available in those days. Nor was I troubled by the taunts of classmates who called this lone four-eyes “Joe 90”.
A whole new world opened up to me. I no longer had to squint to read a book. A voracious consumer of words from an early age, my facial furniture never embarrassed me. How could it? The boost to my vision changed my life.
So my heart sank on hearing that shortsightedness in children is sharply on the rise. The British Journal of Ophthalmology’s study, just published, has found that one in three children and teenagers are nearsighted. This global trend is blamed on lockdowns and excessive screen time.
In other words, children have not been spending enough time outside – and too much time on gadgets. Their research, drawing on data collected from five million youngsters across 50 countries, concludes that shortsightedness in kids has risen dramatically since the 1990s. Between 2020 and 2023, 36 per cent of five-to-19-year-olds suffered from poor vision.
In the UK, 15 per cent or roughly one in seven of all children are affected. Female city dwellers are most at risk. Experts now recommend that all children spend at least two hours, every day, outdoors.
This is scant consolation to those whose eyesight is already diminished. We all need our eyes. With my own sight continuing to deteriorate and a stronger prescription needed every year, I have long prayed for technology to find the answers. Now it has – and two of the world’s biggest tech giants are responsible.
Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive of Meta, this week unveiled Orion, the first working prototype of augmented-reality “smart glasses”. Because Europe is still grappling with the regulation of AI technology, these will be available only in the US, , and for the time being. Even more thrilling is news from billionaire , whose Neuralink Blindsight device is making progress as the future key to restoring sight – and even giving the gift of vision to those blind from birth and lacking an optic nerve.
The experimental implant has just received “breakthrough device” status from the US Food and Drug Administration and could be available to patients within the decade. The company hopes the technology could eventually surpass human vision.
Visual implant technology, however, is still in its infancy. The science is complex. The challenges are huge. All we can do for now is hope, as we keep an eye on developments. Those of us who have endured myopia for decades may not live long enough to benefit from it. But how uplifting to know that the future for millions of short-sighted children looks bright.
* Carole Malone is away
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Richard III had a northern accent. Who knew? In fact, how do they know?
He lived in the 15th century, when recording devices had yet to be invented. The king who gave battle in vain and was killed by Henry Tudor, later Henry VII, at the Battle of Bosworth Field, and whose remains were dug up in a car park in Leicester in 2012, has been subjected to science.
Lo, he is to speak from beyond the grave. Having examined his head shape, experts deployed knowledge of medieval speech patterns to come up with what they assume to have been his accent. It was, quoth the people behind A Voice for King Richard III – debuting at York Theatre Royal in November – probably more -meets-Somerset than the received pronunciation of our plummiest thesps, not least Sir Laurence Olivier, Sir Ian McKellen and Antony Sher, who have played the hunchback monarch.
“A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!” with a touch of northern ecky thump – and Somersetian “that’s the badger”? What’s the dream here, rewriting Shakespeare?
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We lost our dear friend Linda Lewis in 1973, we will always miss her (Image: Redferns)
Songstress Linda Lewis, commented Cat Stevens, was “like an amazing bird that kindly visited the windowsill of our earthly house for a few days, then flew away back to her garden”.
Her 1973 signature hit Rock-A-Doodle-Doo and her cover of the Shoop Shoop Song showcased a magical five-octave range that eclipsed Mariah Carey and Minnie Riperton. She was special – the kind of person who, to borrow from William Blake, saw the world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower.
We lost our dear friend Linda in May 2023. And yesterday, now recognising the artistic contributions of those less represented and collaborating with the Nubian Jak Community Trust, English Heritage installed a Blue Plaque in her memory at Arlington Park Mansions, west London, where she lived with her first husband, musician Jim Cregan, while recording her seminal album Lark.
We will always miss you, Linda. In the words of Don McLean, this world was never meant for one as beautiful as you.
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No one is more sympathetic than I towards the UK’s poorest pensioners, for whom life is a struggle enough without the prospect of another winter of eat-or-heat. Abandonment of the blanket-benefit fuel allowance and introducing means-testing has inflamed millions. I understand why. But isn’t proper means-testing, to ensure that those genuinely in need of it will get it, the right and least wasteful thing to do?
My friend, who used to spend her handout on her grandchildren’s Christmas presents, is rivalled only by another chum, who confesses to having saved hers and put it towards her hairdressing budget.
Clearly, neither needs it. Yet millions do. It’s not brain surgery. It’s about getting that money to those who deserve it most.
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It’s hard to believe we lost Christine McVie almost two years ago. Fleetwood Mac’s Songbird, the mother of the band and writer of many of their most enduring hits is the subject of my new biography, to be published on November 14 and available for pre-order now. I have authored many a rock biography in my time. Never one as emotional and as heartbreaking as this.
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Have you ever heard of the world-famous Thursford Christmas Spectacular? Nope.
Staged in Norfolk’s middle of nowhere, it is said to be the biggest Yuletide show in Europe with a cast of 130 and vast orchestra, as well as a dazzling production all round.
It draws audiences back year after year. They love it. The reviews are extraordinary. Still nope. Tried getting tickets? Good luck with that. If you go, give my son Henry Shine a yell, would you? He’s one of the singers. Well I would say that, wouldn’t I.