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When you voted did you see in the Party Manifesto "we plan to invest £millions to snoop on you with more spy cameras". Was "we plan to introduce State control of eating sandwiches at the wheel" in the script! Or "we plan to criminalise smoking in cars" a specific Party pledge?

Big Bro gets super-petty. News of 44,000 fines by local Councils having an apparent "War on Refuse Proliferation" with one person fined £200 for leaving his wheely bin lid open 4" is the tip of Big Bro's stab resistent jacket SS-brigade who threatened to tow away his car.    

Has there been any Party political statement along the lines of  "we support any business proposition, no matter how petty and no matter how expensive, that provides government with any opportunity to fine citizens for any menial act to makes us money".

A new DVD camera, called Concept, can operate as a conventional speed trap. But thanks to the instant playback, they also double up to photograph motorists flouting any petty law. The camera is made and sold by Tele-Traffic UK whose chief executive, Jon Bond, is a former police chief superintendent.

Last October, Mr Bond and his Tele-Traffic team were under fire after admitting to undercover reporters posing as customers that speed cameras were a "scam" and that setting up cameras was the equivalent of having "a blank chequebook" that would result in "bucketfuls" of cash.

Daily Mail (Nov '07). http://www.tpuc.org/node/172

Big Bro gets car-control. Under the cloak of "reducing accidents" and "aiding congestion" our State-Control-Is-All-Good Government are researching ways to control mobility at Stalag MIRA. We already have Sat-Nav congestion warnings so why duplicate it? Because Big Bro wants to weazel its way into your car to control your movement, charge your road use by satillite (even though we have a system called 'tax on petrol' and 1.6M have signed a petition against road charging) and can even control your brakes and cruise control. 

Big Bro gets up your nose. Under the cloak of "National Security" Home Secretary Jacqui Smith introduced (sneeked) new laws that record all landline and mobile call conversations with files kept that'll pinpoint your location and movement.

By 2009 the 'Marxist-Lennonists Central Database of Britain' extends its powers (to itself - without you) to cover internet use: the websites we have visited, the people we have emailed and phone calls made over the net. All cloaked under "terrorism" and for national security!

So who has access to your files under this terrorist alert? Mi6? Well yes.. errr and 795 public bodies and quangos including the tax authorities, 475 councils, the Food Standards Agency and the Charity Commission... you didn't know how many Big Bro Depts were involved in 'counter-terrorism' did you?

A spokesman for Liberty said: 'Hundreds of bodies have been given the power to look at  highly sensitive information.. is yet another example of.. little debate and little public accountability.'

Tony Bunyan, of civil liberties group Statewatch, said: 'The retention of everyone's communications data is a momentous decision, one that should not be slipped through Parliament without anyone noticing.'

The new measures were implemented after the Home Secretary signed a 'statutory instrument' allowing Marxists "to alter laws without a full act of Parliament". The move was "nodded through" the House of Lords 2 days earlier "without a debate".

http://www.tpuc.org/node/71

At some point we have to ask ourselves did we ever endorse this spying on motorists (and us), vote on reducing our freedom of movement and destroying our privacy. Were we ever given a Party Manifesto clearly stating the choice. To allow us a voice. A vote.

Are the terrorist, the health, the motoring 'threats' so large as to justify such massive intrusion? No they are not by any measure or any maths or from any liberal, democratic angle.  

How can so much of our countries defining laws be sneeked through with slight of hand, manifest deceipt, so undemocratically without our explicit consent. We have to ask is government for the people, by the people. Or has it become a self serving un-democratic machine turning every day life into the very opposite of a free and liberal democracy.

“Political correctness does not legislate tolerance; it only organizes hatred”
Jacques Barzun 

Stupidity like these rants deserves to be watched and monitored though.

Oxster 

guess you won't be buying a Range Rover then!

Seeing as how you seem to believe that 'the man' has already got at your PC doesn't this just seem like a natural progression?

Darth - putting the personality issues aside do you approve of what the government is doing and the way it's going about it?

The exponential growth in the amount of surveillance in the UK is extremely worrying. I don't believe it is part of any 'Marxist' conspiracy, more likely it is being driven by the security forces. I don't think that our politicians are doing anything other than listening to those who advise them.  There is no real opposition to any of this in parliament, and I don't see the Tories ever reversing it if they were ever returned to power.

It is also shocking how many people are entirely apathetic about this and who happily trot out the old 'what's the problem if you have nothing to hide?' line. I've met researchers in the field of facial recognition systems who see no problem with it (obviously as it keeps them in a job). Similarly there are those in the forensic DNA typing field who would be happy to establish a DNA database with everyone in it. Some of the arguements come across as cynical exploitations of political correctness - if we target everyone then we can be seen as discriminating against anyone. I am very much against that too.

At least wearing a hood or a peaked cap still provides protection from the CCTV as they still have to be above head height, even the most advanced versions.

I also oppose the road charging scheme on the basis that, although it is 'not intended' to be used to monitor and track people, it will only take one application by a police force wanting surveillance data to change that. I would seriously consider giving up driving or leaving the UK if (when?) that comes in.

Where this is all going is anyone's guess but the writers of the BBC thriller 'The Last Enemy' came up with a scenario where ID cards would be replaced with biological and/or electronic tagging of actual individuals. It's not really that far-fetched - I think there are those in power who would gladly sign off on 'chipping' every member of the population.

I don't (knowingly) engage in criminal activities but I still don't like feeling that I'm always being watched - I value privacy.

Being paranoid does not make my fears any less real!

Darth - Good post. As you say British citizens are just not aware, in a coma, to just what is going on - in our name. We must never forget parliament is 'us'. It is our system of organising our society to everyones benefit. That has been lost. To the EEC and to extremists (health, safety and climate) that walk the corridors of Parliament.

That's why 'the machine' has become paranoid (security), destructive (endless tax grabbing destroying living standards) and deceptively undemocratic (to hide its motives because their real arguments would not get democratic approval). Parliament now looks down its nose at citizens as simply a means of funding its growing obesity through law and control.

What's happening with cars is happening everywhere regards survellince, control and the most petty (anal) enforcement of harmless normal activites - driving, habits like smoking, noise, emissions, litter (post to follow) ete etc.

Whether it be roads, speed limits, climate, health or WMD/Iraq nobody in parliament is engaging in democratic debate and a real analysis of the issues or policy forming. Because the people, who are liberal by nature, would never endorse what politicians are doing in their name. 

Mother fined £75 by litter police after 4 year old daughter drops piece of sausage roll on the pavement.

A young single mum has been fined £75 for "littering" after her four-year-old daughter dropped a piece of sausage roll on the pavement.

Fuming Sarah Davies, 20, was feeding hungry Chloe with the snack when it accidentally slipped from her grasp inches from her daughter's mouth and fell to the floor.

Moments later pigeons swooped to seize the offending piece of pastry - but busybody council officials had already spotted the food on the ground and issued stunned Sarah with a fixed penalty ticket.

She initially refused to give them her details - but shockingly was threatened with arrest if she did not comply. "I went back to take a picture of the 'litter', but it had been gobbled by pigeons. There was no litter there at all."

A spokeswoman for Hull City Council said: "The issuing of the fixed penalty notice is the result of the mother's actions and not as a result of child's."

Daily Mail (24/04/08). http://tinyurl.com/6qs5ey

Hmm  - I always take anything from the British press with a pinch of salt, 2 pinches when it comes to the Daily Mail.

That story reminded me of a few weeks ago when I was walking to the shops near my house and saw a young mother out with her 2 kids, one in a pram and one who looked about 4 walking alongside. The 4 year old finished her ice pop and dutifully handed the wrapper to her mum, who looked at it and then chucked it over her shoulder - NICE!

Darth Balls:

Some of the arguements come across as cynical exploitations of political correctness

Exactamundo. That's why I think there is so much opposition to 4x4s, so much bullshi t spoken about CO2 etc etc because the government knows that all it has to do is cynically exploit the zeigeist of uber-political correctness. The government has become our master whereas it should be our slave.

Darth - Excuse me getting petty here but a sausage roll landed on a pavement for 3 seconds.. it is bio-degradeable... it is as much threat to the enviroment as a Daisy!

Are you serious that this warrants a fine? And do you, as a citizen of the country, a shareholder of Britain want to see the setting up of more 'Enviromental Crime' Units. Do you support yet another chunk of Council tax out of your wallet to pay for the proliferation of these petty SS-Anal litter police?

Have you seen the 'State trend' where they reduce parking spaces and diametrically increase the number of jackals to petty fine motorists. Do you not also spot the reduction in public bins and can you not see the £35k a year prolifration in Junk-Police increase. See no pattern here registering in your brain waves?

Do we want a liberal democracy or the warped anal police State with already more spy cameras per square inch than any despotic or totalitarian on Earth that we have now? ..and it's getting worse every bloody minute we sit on our backsides like lame sheep!

This how pathetic its becoming (it is already) but its now got to controlling your food. Politicians controlling your driving, habits, emails and now your bloody food; 

The Welsh Assembly, have announced that vending machines dispensing soft drinks, crisps and chocolates in NHS Hospitals are to be removed within 6 months.

The report stated that “Health Minister, Ms Hart said the Welsh Assembly Government would work with major NHS vending firms to find ways of introducing healthier food and drink in their machines, with clear definitions of what will be allowed”.

A regular patient at Llandough Hospital for lung and orthopaedic treatment, said: “It is a matter of personal choice. Banning things like drinks machines shows that the nation is in danger of becoming a police state.”

I agree that such Health fanaticism runs contrary to the principles of a free society where lifestyle choices should be left to the individual and not dictated by an ever-intruding nanny state. Will the public be consulted before clear definitions of what will be allowed are determined?

As a lawyer I object most strongly to having my personal choices limited by Politicians whose many ill thought out initiatives publicised in recent days and weeks leads me to call into question the logic of their own thought processes.

It's only a matter of time before your petrol station stop off sandwiches, coffee and a fizzy drink are approved by Health-Nazis and State decree.. your petrol has already been p*ssed in by the central State Politburo without any consent - they've given you no democratic choice in the matter - imagine how crap the sandwiches are going to taste!!

I have to say I think its the councils that seem to have the most petty people working for them, these are the most frequent cases where reason doesnt prevail. Agree with Darth though that if its in the Mail (or Express for that matter) its probably twisted to suit the the tory cause beyond all recoginition.

On the DNA data base, ive done some legal work as a DNA expert and the problem with a universal data base is that it will diminish the effectiveness of the identification process because there may be a chance that the identified individual is a person with a replicate profile. This actually also translates to my feeling on the Universal monitoring. I dont like it but they will have so much information on so many people that they wont know what to do with it or how to handle it. Of course if you want to speak out and become a maverick this may be a problem because they will go to the information  they have on you and nail you to stifle your opposition to whatever they have in mind.

 I dont think this is any different to what has gone on through history, people who seek political office have always been control freaks, its just that now there are mechanisms by which they can exercise those controls. I have no doubt that when the Tories return to power next time they will use the same systems for the same things. To me its the nature of politicians and it is irrelevant which portion of the political spectrum they allign themselves with.