Do you feel less watched these days?

[jimslip]

I stumbled on this article written in 2009 and it sent shivers down my spine. It describes how the UK was rapidly being turned into a Police State by New Labour. A country where even your rubbish bin would interrogate you via CCTV. A country where a brutal cop could blatantly knock an innocent man, Ian Tomlinson, to the ground and watch him die, knowing nothing would happen.

A country where spooks could shoot an innocent man, Jean Charles Menendez, dead, in cold blood , and in public view and expect to walk away unscathed and unpunished and a country in which ?Trillions coud be ferreted away by the rich tax free, while the government turned a blind eye. A country where groups of paedophiles could roam free, because of their ethnicity, under the noses of police forces, cowed in terror by political correctness. A perverse country where if you dared remonstrate or defend yourself from an attacker, it would be YOU who would feel the weight of the law! It would be you that would have to pay your attacker, compensation for "Undue upset!"

Read the article, breathe a sigh of relief and thank God New Labour were booted out of office. Remind yourself just how close we were to tyranny.

The Coalition might be a bit crap, they make U turns and fuck-ups but at least they are "Human" They don't all speak as one, like the scary New Labour nutters did. They do not appear to have plans to enslave us all in a New Labour superstate. A place where you and I are pissed on daily, but the "great and good", the fat cats, the bankers, the billionaire tax dodgers, the criminals and benefit cheats are feted on by those in power.

Has anyone else noticed these days you don't feel so, "Watched?" The speed cameras don't flash so readily, you can be late back to a car park and not find some little Hitler has shoved a ticket on your car after 5 seconds over the time. Things are just a bit more relaxed.

You only realise how precious freedom is, when it is taken away from you. How quickly we forget. That gang of crooks on the shadow front bench would have happily watched all of us shackled and silenced inside their dictatorship and they have the bare faced cheek to mock the government. They should all be locked up!

Be reminded:

[andy at handiwork]

As it happens Jim, apart from the scrapping of the monstrosity that was the ID Card proposal, I've noticed very little relaxation of the security state, nor do I feel any less watched. In fact the Home Office is even now preparing the way for total information retrieval, as the storing of EVERY internet and mobile phone action EVERYBODY performs, is readied for the statute books. And I dont know if you've been up Stratford way recently. No let up in the surveillance society there. Nor in Devon where the police have specially installed a lot of vehical recognition cameras for the duration of the sailing event, that will now remain long after the messing around in boats has ended. I could go on. There is no doubt that when it came to such matters as civil liberties, suveillance, and security, the last government had a very tin-ear. I had hoped, and in fact my local (Tory) mp assured me some years ago that the next tory administration would do everything in its powers to turn back the flow of intrusive measures unleashed on us by Blair, Brown and the rest. Good job I didn't hold my breath.

[Flat_Eric]

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

And as long as the electorate continues to vote for the three brain-dead parties, it will always be thus.

- Eric

[David Johnson]

I don't notice any difference at all. Possibly because there is no difference at all.

The coalition plans to overturn the Labour government's over the top measures in this area have all turned to dust.

And even measures that the Labour government dropped are now about to be introduced.

Maybe you are so pleased at the thought of network blocking and how it will get rid of so many "bandwidth timewasters" and startup webmasters from this forum, thus allowing you to make more money for www.jimslip.com, your judgement has been clouded?

[steveb]

People in power tend to want more power. People in control tend to want more control.

Once they've got these powers it's so tough to give them up. The best bet for reform is to catch a government early, before they become used to all that authority.

It'll probably take a couple of big scandals on the misuse of that authority before anything significant is repealed or shelved.

Or so my "sources" tell me. !wink!

[tuf766]

Judging by the over the top military security at the olympics and the turning off of the Boss' and McCartneys mics at the Hyde Park show just because they went beyond 10.30pm id say the country is getting worse, the coalition are no different than the last lot and now Blair is even making a comeback, the Anti Christ reborn, you may think your not being watched as much Jim but they probably just do it more discreetly.

[Flat_Eric]

I remember in the very early days of the Coalition, both Cameron and Cleggy went on TV and invited Joe Public to "tell us which of New Labour's laws you think are crap and we will repeal them!!"

Obviously it was never going to be that easy, but just for a brief moment it seemed that a new broom may indeed be about to come in and sweep away at least some of the Big Brother nanny state stuff that Brown and Blair introduced "for our own good" and to protect us from ourselves.

Never happened though (of course), nor is it ever likely to. As you say, power instils a desire for more power.

- Eric

[Peter]

Good question Jim, on the day the Olympic Delivery Authority are despatching 300 uniformed compliance officers, each with the power of entry, to ensure no-one is illegally associating themselves with the 'brand'.

"Olympics organisers have warned businesses that during London 2012 their advertising should not include a list of banned words, including gold , silver and bronze , summer , sponsors and London . Publicans have been advised that blackboards advertising live TV coverage must not refer to beer brands or brewers without an Olympics deal, while caterers and restaurateurs have been told not to advertise dishes that could be construed as having an association with the event."

The purple hats are coming for you.

[Dave Wells]

Hang on, I'll have a look...........................................................nope they are still there, watching me, every fucking day, watching me, 24/7, the BASTARDS !

[Lizard]

CCTV has a lot of advantages, the main one being that, as a pensioner having being kicked to death by a group of hooded yoof's, it allows the authorities to confirm this quite quickly, therfore saving your loved one's having to search for you.