Apr 06 2007
More posturing on law and order
The government’s decision to introduce lie detectors to tackle benefit cheats, and its new Big Brother surveillance centres to shout at people out on the streets could have been good April fool’s stories, but unfortunately are true.
Faced with a failure to act through normal policing, intelligence and prosecution of offenders, the government turns once again to spending more of our money in the hope that there is an easy technological answer to deep seated behavioural problems.
John Reid thought it was a good photo opportunity for him to be pictured against the backdrop of a camera monitoring centre, where a man in shirt sleeves was able to bellow commentary out of a street speaker to someone not using the litter bin properly.
Ruth Kelly and David Milliband seem happy that we now live in a world where Councils can put cameras in our dustbins to?? find out which of us has broken increasingly arcane local rules about what can and can’t be recycled. Is cardboard to go with the recycling or not ? What about those famous Yellow pages? Dos my local Council take plastic or reject it? Is the man who fails to master the minutiae of his local rubbish scheme a bigger villain than the yob who sprays graffitti? In Labour’s universe relative values are constantly shifting and never clear cut.
All the time this government uses the threat of terror as an excuse to intrude more and more in the daily lives of the law abiding, whislt failing to have proper control of our borders to stop new terrorists coming in, and failing to track down, prosecute and if necessary deport the foreign terrorists we do have and to bring charges against home grown terrorists. They try to get us all to live in fear, claiming the threat is of much larger proportions than previous terrorist campaigns, which were countered without so many clumsy attacks on our liberties.
John Redwood has been the Member of Parliament for Wokingham since 1987. First attending Kent College, Canterbury, he graduated from Magdalen College...
So good to hear practical common sense from a Conservative these days. Especially since the party is led by a lightweight content-free Blair wannabe. Does he not know how ridiculous he looks riding round on his bike? Does he think we don’t know that it’s for the cameras, and he’s got a Lexus parked round the corner to whisk him off after the press leave?
Mr. Redwood, about 10 years ago on the Reading train when you got on at Wokingham and sat opposite me. I’ll be honest and admit I couldn’t immediately place your face. I must have been staring at you a little too intently, trying to work it out, because you abruptly closed your bag, stood up and got off the train again as quickly as you’d boarded!
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If they rig these talking cameras up around London, what’s to stop Ken Livingston or any number of the barmy local councils there using them during the day to ‘promote their services’ or ‘make important public announcements’? Based on my experience within London local government I reckon most managers would think it a fantastic idea to do this.
Apparently they have a tannoy system in parts of North Korea. Every morning it wakes up the citizens with renditions of patriotic music and diatribe about what a wonderful country they live in and how great their dear leader is. Another 10 years of Livingstone and this could be London, except the messages would probably range from reminding us all to eat 5 a day and give up smoking in a dozen different languages to call to Friday prayers.
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Lie detectors don’t actually detect lies in the first place, they measure stress responses. So someone who is completely blase about claiming false benefits would pass more easily than someone who is panic stricken just because they are being examined. Not that this policy has any chance of ever becoming reality anyway.
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On the basis of their oft quoted “nothing to hide, nothing to fear” mantra, could you suggest Tony (and the rest of them) be wired up to just such a detector at PMQ’s.
If the logic is, you are getting something from the taxpayer, then as go benefit claimants, go PM’s. My bet is, like most things, he’d think this was a splendid idea…for someone else.
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