The end of the world as we know it.
Today the government announced plans to fit every home in the UK with cameras and microphones so that behaviour within the family home can be "effectively policed". A secondary plank to this legislation will be the automatic issuing of ASBO's to any family or individual that social services deems to be abnormal.
Sounds far fetched doesn't it? Except we're not that far away from it. The UK's Information commissioner, Richard Thomas has warned that we are "Sleepwalking into a surviellance society". He also said he did not want to sound "paranoid" but pointed to General Franco's Spain and Communist Eastern Europe as examples of what can happen when a government gets too powerful and has too much information on its citizens.
Britain has 20% of the worlds total CCTV cameras! 20%! That's one camera for every 14 people. Add to this the camera monitoring number plates, the shop checkouts that monitor your spending and you can see we are indeed not far off from the camera's in the home eventuality. Orwells 1984 has never been a more serious threat/reality. And it's something we must fight. We must have freedom, not the illusion of freedom.
The Police have asked the government to make flag burning illegal. For what? Don't we have enough laws? Enough rules and regulations? Can't people see that the more you lock people down the more they kick back? Have we learned nothing in the last 20 years when society has been all but destroyed and people can live their lives and simple black and white?
More insidious still was the small print - that Police want to make it illegal to cover your face during a march/protest/whatever.
Why is this worrying? Put simply, the most basic foundation of our legal system - innocent until proven guilty, will be removed. This will be replaced with the assumption that you are about to commit an offence and you will be treated as such. The balance of power will have shifted from us electing the government with the police here to protect and serve our rights, tot he government controlling us and the police ensuring our compliance with government diktats.
We are reaching a turning point. Which way will you turn?
Sounds far fetched doesn't it? Except we're not that far away from it. The UK's Information commissioner, Richard Thomas has warned that we are "Sleepwalking into a surviellance society". He also said he did not want to sound "paranoid" but pointed to General Franco's Spain and Communist Eastern Europe as examples of what can happen when a government gets too powerful and has too much information on its citizens.
Britain has 20% of the worlds total CCTV cameras! 20%! That's one camera for every 14 people. Add to this the camera monitoring number plates, the shop checkouts that monitor your spending and you can see we are indeed not far off from the camera's in the home eventuality. Orwells 1984 has never been a more serious threat/reality. And it's something we must fight. We must have freedom, not the illusion of freedom.
The Police have asked the government to make flag burning illegal. For what? Don't we have enough laws? Enough rules and regulations? Can't people see that the more you lock people down the more they kick back? Have we learned nothing in the last 20 years when society has been all but destroyed and people can live their lives and simple black and white?
More insidious still was the small print - that Police want to make it illegal to cover your face during a march/protest/whatever.
Why is this worrying? Put simply, the most basic foundation of our legal system - innocent until proven guilty, will be removed. This will be replaced with the assumption that you are about to commit an offence and you will be treated as such. The balance of power will have shifted from us electing the government with the police here to protect and serve our rights, tot he government controlling us and the police ensuring our compliance with government diktats.
We are reaching a turning point. Which way will you turn?
posted by p8ddy at 11:56 am
5 Comments:
Morning P8ddy,
Haven't been near a pc much lately, hence the lack of posting.
Heard this info re the cameras on the news as well. I would imagine (lazy journalism - cannae be bothered checking up on the stats!) that the introduction, and increased use of such devices has led to a reduction in certain types of crimes in the areas where those cameras have been installed.
However, like the much hyped Dispersal Notices, I think that this simply moves the criminals to areas where there is no coverage. Net result - same (or even more?) crime.
So the answer is simply to have blanket coverage of the country, so the crims cannot do anything illegal, including inside all houses. Seems reasonable to me. NOT.
I have to agree with you that the expansion of surveillance devices must come to a halt now. There are more than enough - that film "Enemy of The State", while being fiction, did give an indication of how far down the road we have come. So P8ddy, you forgot the satellite cameras did you not? And the helicopters - "Police, Camera, Action" anyone?
As regards governments, don't get me started. They have had centuries of tinkering with this, dabbling in that, and modifying the other. Have our lives improved as a direct result of government? NO!
They should be banned. Dissolve Parliements, and only allow them to interfere in our lives for a couple of weeks avery year in order to sort out any issues that have arisen since they last claimed for their bloated expenses.
Their workload seems in the main to consist of developing even more means of getting our hard earned into their coffers. Boo, Hiss!
Flag burning should be banned for one reason only - it adds to Global Warming. Glad to see that recycling is being pushed to the fore however. I have recycled everything I can for many a year.
I live on my own, but only rarely have more than 1 supermarket sized bag to put into the bin, the rest (bottles, cans, paper, etc) going to the local recycling centre on a monthly basis. To quote a Native American Proverb - "We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. "
We should always remember that.
Sorry about the sidelining of your original, and as always, well thought out comments, but it was rant time again!!
Hail! Hail!
Curly
Curly...
increased use of such devices has led to a reduction in certain types of crimes in the areas where those cameras have been installed.
I agree. It moves the problem from one area to another. We'll end up with either, non CCTV ghettos or complete blanket coverage. Amusingly, on TV today there was a piece wondering why children are massing in parks etc and how the numbers are intimidating. I wonder why? ;-)
You're also right that I didn't mention the satellite cameras or helicopters! It's odd, that now there are so many methods of survielance that it's easy to forget about them!
As regards governments, don't get me started. They have had centuries of tinkering with this, dabbling in that, and modifying the other. Have our lives improved as a direct result of government? NO!
The problem is that for too long, being a politician has been either the preserve of the upper classes who exisit only to further their own superiority, or now of the career politician, whose only aim is to stay in power as long as possible. That this usually involves jumping in bed with large corporations is more the pity. The political system now is absolutely corrupt.
They should be banned. Dissolve Parliements, and only allow them to interfere in our lives for a couple of weeks avery year in order to sort out any issues that have arisen since they last claimed for their bloated expenses.
I think the old brehon laws (ancient Irish) were a great system. And certainly, a government that insists on macro managing in such a large country is never going to work. Effective devolvement to smaller areas is a much better idea. Even, for instance, local income tax etc. I think the issue is that the bottom 20% of the population don't control the vote and are therefore ignored. Further to that, Scotland has no appreciable influence on westminster and is also ignored, or at best looked on as the bastard child that's only good for trailing policicies to check for popularity.
Their workload seems in the main to consist of developing even more means of getting our hard earned into their coffers. Boo, Hiss!
I don't have a problem with paying more tax ;-) I do have a problem with paying tax to make corporations a profit. I object to my money being paid to Jarvis in order to disolve the NHS or pay for shoddily repaired roads...
/p
No Bread No Cakes...
Cmon P8ddy , give us the lowdown on peak oil, bankrupt pension plan, the UK economy and future built on a house of cards ! its back to 80's protest punk bands only this time its blogging!
I was thinking that just the other day! :-) THe shame is that now there are far more people who have just been cowed into submission. Even music now has ben commoditised - Look at X-factor, the INXS show etc...music as an artform has been controlled. Kids listen to music and imagine being a trillionaire rather than smashing the system. Of course, this has been entirely the fault of the record companies who have neutered music. Art being run by accountants rather than artists. :-(
Whatever happened to crass and the pop group? they maybe missed the mark at times but boy they got use thinking.
I know! There are still bands that have that vitality - Rabbit Junk being one, bt their visibility has been curtailed somewhat. I do think though that things will get better. For me, it looks like we're heading toward another situation where revolution will become when, not if. I know that sounds far fatched, but look throughout history - when governments get too controlling people kick back. It'll get worse before it gets better, but better is where I'm sure it will end up.
So we are now sitting here in our Safely monitored european homes and we canny burn a flag. Walking blinfold into the Gulag more like.
It is frightening, isn't it?
And BTW - The pensions stuff etc...Don't worry, I have a few subects coming up! I've started making a list! :-)
Earlier blog music comment, Adam and the Antz - surely the dirk wears white socks and Matthew Ashman days were the best ?
Ahhh...an afficianado! Dirk... was a great album, but I think my favorite is probably Kings Of The Wild Frontier. The burundi style drums, 2 drummers and Chris Hughes's (Merrick) excellent rythmic style was entrancing. I discovered he also played/programmed drums for "The Hurting" era Tears For Fears! Again, I love that album, TFT's goth album!
Were you an old Apollo, Mars Bar, Night Moves regular?
I was well behaved in those days, early to bed and sensible. I did make rooftops on a few occasions though on Thurday nights to watch some of the bands that played. I also still have the video of the Sisters of Mercy playing there! I was jealous of my mates going to nightmoves on a regular basis though. :-)
P8ddy,I was at the Apollo to see Tears For Fears.
Apart from The Pogues at the Barrowland,that was the last concert I seen in Scotland.
On the subject of Scotland.
I have been getting a few wee snippets here about the SNP being in serious contention to win power in the next Scottish Parliament,
and compete devolution being on the agenda.
Is this correct?
And does there seem to be much chance?
P8ddy/Curly, I was an Apollo/Mars Bar (played there once) person but never heard of Nightmoves. That must have been after I moved south.
Here's my tuppenceworth on the "Art" side of the discussion.
Remember the George Michael/Sony court case? A friend of mine went through a similar thing with the same record company (albeit on a much smaller scale and it was CBS then) and at the time he told me "George Michael will never be allowed to win that case". There's just too much money involved in record sales for mere artists to have a say in how their careers should go.
They gist of his argument against record companies is this...
All artists when they start out, dream of having a record deal and having a big 'advance' from their record company, little realising the true meaning of the word 'advance'. All expenses like recording studios, tour buses, living expenses, travel expenses, etc etc, all come from future earning potential, i.e. a massive hit in the charts. All profits go then to record companies, who then take out the aforementioned expenses, pay the artists their meagre 1-3%, yes that's right 1-3%. After that, the rest is for the companies themselves. And do you know what the hard to take bit is? After risking nothing at all and doing none of the work, it's those same record companies who OWN the product. Yep, EMI (or whoever owns them now) own the back catalogue of all Beatles recordings. Not John, Paul, George and Ringo who actually done all the work.
Think about it! If Paul McCartney is worth £850m, can you imagine what EMI is worth?
Also, from a purely personal point of view, I reckon that art flourishes under a socialist society and suffers under a capitalist society. Look at the music biz in the 60's/70's compared to under the 80's/90's. There's just no comparison!!!!
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