It began with a threat, then descended into squabbles about blame. This year, London Tech Week was so riven with conflict, it made Love Island feel like a yoga retreat. The event kicked off with Sir Keir Starmer picking a scrap with Google and Apple in his keynote, when he insisted the titans of technology block access to naked images on smartphones for under-18s. He set a deadline of three months to activate these hidden settings, which are already in most phones, or face new legislation. Everyone knew this was merely a sighter for the real whammy, which duly arrived a few days later, when the Government confirmed it will ban social-media apps — including YouTube — for children by next spring.
