In my attempt to reduce the spam (polite term) that clutters up Gmail, it looks like I have been building a portfolio of filters as great as the sum of the smut that gets through Gmail. Google has a lot to answer for, not least for raking in $$$$$$ and ££££££ and €€€€€€ for lots of dubious advertising and allowing the muck to spread.

I realise I am censoring my own cyber gateway, which is my right. Filters include senders, lots of the headers, a variety of words and phrases, yet the same words appear time and time again. My efforts are being sabotaged. I'd be daft if I thought it was in Google's interests to filter too rigorously.

Yahoo is now the subject of a Microsoft takeover bid. The chips are down. It might not be such a bad thing if there was a bit more heavyweight competition in cyberspace, providing the other player did not have the same loose principles when it comes to coining in the cash for absolutely anything that came its way.