Surely the simplest approach is not to use a wifi ssid that you don’t trust. Yes, mobile broadband is slower and more expensive, but is also more under your control, it is however harder for your boss to monitor.

If I was an it manager I’d probably want to keep an eye on WiFi traffic, even on the open ssid, just to see what’s going on. I don’t trust free WiFi.

If you can’t use 4/5g, and can’t find a suitable firewall or VPN, can you set up a different user on your phone? - and be disciplined in is use.

Another vote for scratch. Most kids that age want quick results and not to spend ages debugging something. Funnily enough I’ve seen the same scratch interface used to program industrial robots.

How much time one on one are you committing to spend with the child? This will make the difference.

Alternatively, think about some sort of robotics kit. Doing stuff in software is great but if it changes something in the real world, even better. Have you thought about something arduino?

Just for balance though, make a raft, a treehouse, a tent, make a fire without matches. It’s all problem solving but I bet any kid will remember getting muddy more than writing a neat while loop.

Has a psion5, brilliant tech. Loved it. The calendar was way ahead of its time, 2AA batteries gave weeks of life and you could just about touch type on the keyboard. If I could get it to synch with office I’d be tempted to dig it out again, it really was the future.

Eyesight started going in mid 40s. Still not happy about it.

Long day!

When I was working in Switzerland briefly, people would speak Swiss, German, French and Italian as well as English all in the same breath. I was told they used whatever word was easiest at the time.

I barely remember my birthday.

17.5C typically, but we have blankets to hide under. I lit the fire tonight though so it’s toasty. Drying the air with either the fire or a dehumidifier makes a huge difference.

Remember that you are also interviewing them. They won’t expect you to know all the answers, but will want someone that they can work with. If you can, answer questions with the STAR method (situation, task, approach, result), but don’t waffle. You can use one piece of experience in a variety of ways: teamwork, research, urgent deadline etc.

It’s ok to say that you are nervous, they should try to put you at ease.

You may be asked ‘trick questions’, these are not usually to to you up but to see how you work an unknown problem. There is no right answer. Not knowing stuff is ok. Not being able to think up a plan is less so.

Remember whatever the outcome, this is really useful experience. See if you can get a site tour, ask about the tech used… You can then add this to your knowledge for later. In my experience, industry is frequently several years ahead of academia so you get a good chance to understand the real world.

Yes prime minister is the most accurate documentary about British politics of all time.

There’s a lot of Scotland, and don’t underestimate driving times. Argyll is good, but can be rather wet any time of the year. Going around now you should be safe from the midgies. Recommend getting onto some of the islands too, and boat rides are always nice. Kerrera is a lovely little island just by Oban. It has a very atmospheric castle, though the teashop isn’t as good as it was so pack a lunch. If you like a dram, make a tour of some distilleries, each has it’s own character. Argyll has lots of archeology & standing stones if that’s your thing. There are loads of lumpy bits of you like walking too. Pretty much anywhere is good, tourist hotspot are ok, but try to get off the beaten track once in a while.

If you’re driving, and going onto country roads, please please please learn to reverse.

If you’re lucky you may get to spot some wild haggis, but they’re quite rare now. The farmed ones are cute but have a nasty bite so be careful.

Also don’t neglect the borders, loads of history.

It may not sound your thing, but consider geocaching… It takes you to some interesting out of the way places.

Why wasn’t there security on the device? My works devices are password protected and it’s a disciplinary offence if I share passwords or give unauthorized access.

If he gave them the login creds, then he should be penalised .

If he logged in and gave the device to non parliamentary staff, he should also be penalised.

He got caught because it cost money, which is the lesser offence. Cyber security should be more robust for ministers than it is for most companies, but seemingly not.

Not sure if this vid will help you, but it’s real life experience of carrying for someone who has the disease.

https://youtu.be/jRltbhRO-sY

Apparently other people have said it’s accurate and helps. I’ve no connection other than following the creator for his excellent technical content.

The PI is always a good place to start, but they’re not cheap anymore. You can still do some useful things at the command line (not sure how fun, but a great education), python is there and very accessible. - get a camera and you could do some great things with open CV. Not sure what packages are out there though. Think you’d just have to follow some web tutorials.

As an alternative, have you considered an Arduino kit? Lots of great projects, all very well documented. Playing with LEDs, sensors, motors etc may keep their attention longer than a bash prompt.