White Noise Underway

Last week, a House of Lords hearing alerted us to the ‘White Noise’ exercise being conducted this week, in which various UK agencies simulate their response capabilities in the total absence of the public-switched telephone network (PSTN).

The BBC uses the exercise – happening yesterday and today – as a hook on which to hang a story about people dispensing with their landlines totally, something I’ve been wanting to do for ages. It’s a little unclear from the piece whether civil servants are actually having to go without landlines for two days. It seems unlikely, even though that’s the thrust of the article. I don’t really know how these exercises work, to be frank, so if anyone does, please pass on your wisdom.