No, it is not artificial intelligence taking over. Nor is it an army of robots, an alien invasion or a space odyssey.

Far worse than that, it is the sound of bad design, poor customer care, a careless attitude, unbridled selfishness, bad parenting and general stupidity.

It is the sound of the lovely ‘massaging armchairs’ found at Malta International Airport, which beep constantly when sat on without being fed the right coinage.

Naturally, a number of in-dividuals, from mischievous children to headphone-wearing, oblivious adults do sit on these comfy recliners.

And the only thing to stop this madness? A sign noting, in multiple languages, that the chair will emit a beeping noise to punish and annoy the rest of the travellers for the culprit’s lack of monetary contribution.

We all know that a visit to the airport can be a hectic experience in itself, so, hopefully, MIA will take care of this problem, of which the only positive outcome is to censor the expletives which inevitably come out as I suffer the unending barrage of noise.

Meanwhile, I will sign off with my own ‘beep’ and save the editor some trouble. Beeeeeeeeep!