It shouldn’t come as a surprise that I’m voting Conservative in today’s general election. A lot of VFPJ is about the failure of the Labour “government”, particularly its complicity with and failure to answer questions about its involvement with Phorm and BT.
2009: A Year Of Lack Of Clue, Lack Of Balls & Lack Of Ethics
2009 nears its end and I for one won’t be sorry to see the back of it. There have been some very enjoyable high points including the Ashes win, the test win this morning, a wedding in my family and Phorm being all but forced out of the UK but overall 2009 will be a year I remember as a year in which far too many people lacked Clue, balls and ethics.
Some might accuse me of being a Grumpy Old Man. According to the series I am now in the age bracket for being a Grumpy so there may be some truth to the suggestion. My response to that is that I’m not grumpy, I’m a realist and some of what I see is less than pleasing, often lacking in Clue, ethics, common sense and the other attributes I used to expect from those in positions of power and influence. Now I just expect self centredness, obsession with protecting the vested interests and the status quo and control freakery trying to interfere in areas where the state has no right to.
I’m not the only one. Guy Aitchison has written his review of the year. It’s well worth reading; it highlights other areas where government and authorities have failed or fell victim to control freakery or halfwittedness.
Dear Alan Johnson: This Is Broken Britain
My writings might not have appeared on your radar. Perhaps this one will. Since you have decided to spout “New Labour” dogma in a newspaper article I must respond directly to you and put you right on Broken Britain. Home Secretaries often get a lot of flak, much of it justified in the case of your various predecessors who seemed obsessed with making the Orwellian nightmare a reality in this country.
This broken country.
Broken Britain is the country where YOUR government was complicit in trying to allow the illegal interception of peoples’ internet activity for advertising purposes.
Broken Britain is the country where YOUR government has refused to answer questions about YOUR government’s complicity in the Phorm scheme to the people YOUR government is supposed to serve.
Broken Britain is the country where YOUR government’s staff, departments and contractors routinely lose personal information thus compromising the security of thousands of people. Here’s one example for you.
Broken Britain is the country where teachers now go in to work in fear for their safety and knowing that the education system with which YOUR government has interfered and which Ed Balls now wants complete control over offers them precious little support.
Broken Britain is the country where YOUR government’s Police harass photographers, making up the law as they go along.
Broken Britain is the country where YOUR government considers making the mere sight of certain things illegal.
Broken Britain is the country where YOUR government has tried to spread fear of people who prefer to keep themselves to themselves, accusing them of being terrorists.
Broken Britain is the country where YOUR government has overseen the explosion of the Surveillance Society. 174 CCTV cameras recorded me on a recent trip just up the road. I counted them.
Broken Britain is where YOUR government is failing the test of civilisation.
And Broken Britain is where YOUR government now screens outgoing mail to citizens.
One Conservative MEP may speak for himself about the NHS but does he speak for the rest of his party? Does he speak for his leader and his shadow cabinet? Does he speak for me or my family? Does Dennis Skinner MP speak for you on anything? Does he speak for the Cabinet on any matters?
Mr Johnson, the barbarians of whom you speak aren’t the Conservative party. The barbarians are already in government and ruining this country.
I challenge you, Mr Johnson, just as I have challenged Jack Straw and Stephen Pound. Neither gentleman had the desire to try and prove me wrong. Read my response to some of Mr Straw’s bleatings and respond substantively to it.
Prove me wrong if you can. While I’m here prove me wrong on this one too.
Former GCHQ Chief Wants Surveillance Society
According to a BBC report, the former GCHQ chief Sir David Pepper has said that he believes that all internet and phone traffic should be recorded “to fight terrorism”.
This is the same line that David Blunkett, John Reid and Jacqui Smith have spun, the creation of a total surveillance society where every aspect of our lives are logged. Every phone call made, every e-mail sent, every website visited, everywhere you go.
The mantra of this Labour “government” is simple:
Everyone is a criminal, they just haven’t been caught yet.
I showed the Wikipedia page about Sir David to my other half. Her response was “So basically he’s never been outdoors.” One could certainly argue that from what the Wikipedia page says (usual caveats about Wikipedia) that Sir David would seem to be very much a person of theories and policies rather than real life practicality.
I’m sure that Sir David means well but advocating the routine wiretapping and surveillance of everyone is not the act of someone who believes in freedom. It is the act of someone who believes in the right of the state to monitor everyone and everything without recourse to due judicial process.
The View From Airstrip One is a Flickr photo pool dedicated to highlighting the state of Britain today as it heads towards a dystopian future. This photo and this photo would seem to be the kind of things Sir David wants to see in this country.
You won’t often see President Obama and Judas Priest mentioned in the same sentence but you will here. Here is a quote from President Obama’s inauguration address and some lyrics from Judas Priest:
We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.
This country is (for the moment) a free society. Imposing this routine monitoring of everyone turns this country into a state like Nazi Germany or Stalinist USSR. Already the “government” is trying to spread fear and distrust with “anti terrorist” campaigns encouraging people to inform on their neighbours if there is something they don’t like about them. Nazi Germany anyone?
Start Sunday morning with some classic rock in the form of Judas Priest’s album Screaming For Vengeance. Here are the words to Electric Eye (you can listen to the song here):
Up here in space
I’m looking down on you
My lasers trace
Everything you doYou think you’ve private lives
Think nothing of the kind
There is no true escape
I’m watching all the timeI’m made of metal
My circuits gleam
I am perpetual
I keep the country cleanI’m elected electric spy
I’m protected electric eyeAlways in focus
You can’t feel my stare
I zoom into you
You don’t know I’m thereI take a pride in probing all your secret moves
My tearless retina takes pictures that can proveI’m made of metal
My circuits gleam
I am perpetual
I keep the country cleanI’m elected electric spy
I’m protected electric eyeElectric eye, in the sky
Feel my stare, always there
There’s nothing you can do about it
Develop and expose
I feed upon your every thought
And so my power growsI’m made of metal
My circuits gleam
I am perpetual
I keep the country cleanI’m elected electric spy
I’m protected electric eye
I’m elected electric spy
I’m elected protective, detective, Electric Eye!
I’m sorry Sir David. I don’t doubt that intelligence is very challenging work. If you want surveillance on named suspects then you go through judicial procedures to justify it. That is how law enforcement in a democratic society works.
If you want surveillance on everyone then you aren’t interested in protecting the way of life of a free society.
Police ‘arrest innocent youths for their DNA’
The Telegraph reports how police officers are arresting innocent youths and taking their DNA to “prevent future crime”.
Minority Report anyone?
The report also says that
Last month the Home Office drew up plans to amend the DNA database after the European Court of Human Rights ruled that a blanket policy of retaining profiles of innocent people indefinitely was illegal.
However, adults and children arrested, but not convicted, of terrorism or serious sexual or violent offences will still have their profiles held for 12 years before they are deleted.
This is the surveillance state under New Labour.
Shami Chakrabarti, director of the human rights group Liberty, said: “This is diabolical and proof positive that Liberty’s fears are being realised.
“The current law has created an incentive for the abuse of police power so that youngsters are being targeted purely for the purpose of stockpiling their DNA for the future.
“We hope that dealing with this outrage will be high on the list of priorities for any new Home Secretary.
“Politicians can no longer demand due process for themselves whilst showing such contempt for the freedoms of others.”