HATE HOUR

An extraordinary story in the Sunday Times about the police installing CCTV inside people's homes to try an crack down on crime (I would link but Murdoch's gone behind firewall).

There is a brilliant contradiction in the article:

...police say they will collect footage from the cameras if other "serious offences", such as domestic violence or murders, are committed

Ok at least they are upfront about that but... then it goes on -

[Chief Inspector Martin] Kinchin denied the cameras curtailed civil liberties. "It's something that is done with the consent of the home owner...so a lot of the systems they will switch on when they leave the house and switch off when they're at home"

Can you spot the discrepancy?

And is everyone ready for the exercise and hate hours?

BIG BROTHER

I am at a loss over all of this, really.

The government is to go ahead with the monitoring of all phone calls, emails and which websites every person in the UK has visited.

THis is on top of Ripa, the extension of seizure powers to councils etc, and the introduction of an "exit visa" in 2010.

Would the real UK politicians stand up? You know those people who genuinely believe in the idea of freedom, free speech, the home is a castle and all that.

Where are they?

Will the Conservatives make a commitment to remove, not just repeal but remove, all these pieces of rubbish from our statute books?

I won't hold my breath.

And as others have said, this latest infringement to our privacy comes at the marvellously ironic time of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.