Speaking honestly
Saturday, April 26, 2008 One of the great pleasures of Saturday morning is reading the papers, in the conservatory, with a mug of coffee in one hand and a Belgian bun in the other. I particularly enjoy the Daily Telegraph's Motoring section, especially Honest John ("the dealer you can trust") whose views on speed cameras, speed bumps and other motoring issues mirror my own.
Today, in response to a reader's query, HJ writes:
With a security camera for every 14 people, ours is the most watched nation on earth. Town-centre security cameras, allegedly installed for our protection, are now being used to extract penalty payments for the most minor transgressions. And in relation to vehicle owners, the Data Protection Act has been torn up so that anyone can get hold of our personal details to impose and enforce civil penalties. Britain has become a really nasty country.
Honest John's personal website can be found HERE. Warmly recommended.
Reader Comments (10)
For the first time last night I saw a TV ad for the TVLA. It has a distinctly sinister, threatening tone, more appropriate to a Dictatorship than a Democracy. The ad informs us that the Government is, in effect, using surveillance to enforce compliance.
Another blog reports that local authorities have been recruiting "covert human intelligence sources" (paid snitchers) who scour the land looking for people to report for minor offences.
I believe that civil servants [sic] in the Capital Taxes Office of HMRC now enjoy performance-related pay.
Anyone who supports the introduction of biometric ID must be out of their minds.
Joyce, the DVLA have been doing adverts of a similar tone for a few years now. For a long time they used the slogan:
"YOU CAN'T ESCAPE THE COMPUTER"
Don't you just feel that they're working themselves up to "Big Brother is watching you"...?
The adverts contained footage of people being encircled by lights wherever they went, trying to escape detection but, alas, the technology beat humanity every time.
Yes, Col, the message certainly is that you can't escape and the tone in which they say it is becoming uglier and uglier. It has, at least in part, to do with the EU issuing directives, failure to comply with which results in financial penalties for the counties involved. Central government is then passing responsibility on to us either directly or indirectly via local government which is being granted more and more power to enforce through fines. I'd be interested to know if the concerns voiced in the UK are being echoed on blogs by people in other 'member states'.
Just heard David Milliband on the Andrew Marr Show describe his Government as "warm" (as in warm-hearted) before the men in white coats took him away.
Yes, Joyce, my theory is that we are being lulled into thinking that the whole of Europe is in agreement with total authority from Brussels. I really very much doubt it and might try to find time to contact a few friends in various countries and ask them.
Meantime, I have a strongly growing feeling that the main effort from Brussels is directed at the U.K. To conquer once-mighty Britain would be the biggest prize anywhere in the world. I see us as being designated as the dustbin of Europe. Already nuclear waste is being dumped here. Wealthy Germany had the biggest problem ever when the Berlin wall came down and impoverished Soviet-controlled Eastern Germany flooded back over that border to claim their rights as German citizens. When the Eastern bloc's equally impoverished citizens were allowed to join the EU, they were channeled straight to our shores.
We need to bear all these things in mind.
Good point, Margot. It can't be coincidence that everyone seems to want to come here. An inside job, I reckon - "we're" probably being bribed.
It might interest you all to know that over 95% of CCTV's deployed in the UK do not comply with legislation. (Source CameraWatch).
If they are not clearly signposted, any images gathered cannot be used as evidence in a court of law.
Nice if you happen to be the villain. Not so nice if you or someone you know is the victim.
It is possible to be clearly filmed strangling someone but if the CCTV site is not clearly posted, your lawyer can have the video thrown out.
Are you saying, Colin, that there has to be obvious signage saying that CCTV cameras are in operation? I have to admit that it always surprises me when I hear the statistics about the sheer number of CCTV cameras because, apart from speed cameras, I don't actually see that many which I wouldn't if 95% are 'hidden'.
Yes Joyce.
Without signage they may as well not be there.
I am not saying that they are hidden or covert. (But it would surprise me if there weren't some that we didn't know about........)
Speed cameras are just another nail in the coffin as regards our liberties and big brother watching over us. Its being used in england and ireland as a revenue collecter and you dont know how effedctive it is in reducing accidents, however someone will have to pay for it and someone will make money on it. As for those suspension breaking ramps that seem to appear like mushrooms overnight and that achieve nothing only extra garage bills for motorists the tax payer is being hung drawn and quartered at every level.