It's a curious state of affairs when the imminent arrival of the latest series of Big Brother (tomorrow night, folks!) is heralded by the latest in a long line of erosions of civil liberties which would even have made old George Orwell think: "Blimey, that's a bit much."
The latest proposals in Britain under Blair - Tony, not Eric, Orwell's real name, of course - are to give the police "stop and quiz" powers.
Determined to spend his last couple of weeks in power ensuring he is remembered for all the wrong reasons, Blair has got his fractured Home Office to dream up this latest policy in which police will have the power to stop pretty much anyone in the street and demand to know who they are and where they're going.
Of course, it's all done under the the auspices of "prevention of terrorism", so that's all right then. And while, let's face it, this law isn't going to be directed at middle-aged couples carrying copies of the Daily Mail on their way to a neighbourhood meeting about dog poo on the street as much as it is to young chaps with dusky faces and rucksacks, once something like this gets on the statute books it's pretty much there forever. So if a time comes when there's a Government that does actually demonise middle-aged Daily Mail readers (one can dream) it'll be just as likely be Concerned of Ilkley up against the wall and being frisked by PC Copper as it is Young Muslim of Manningham.
"Prevention of terrorism" is a marvellous vehicle for driving through odious laws. I mean, if you're opposed to prevention of terrorism then you are, logically speaking, in support of terrorism, aren't you?
Look at those "terror suspects" who, it was widely reporter last week, went on the run. But closer examination of the case reveals that these men were on control orders, which means that although they might be suspected of potential wrongdoing, the authorities are unwilling to make public their secret intelligence that gives rise to this suspicion.
If someone's done something wrong, charge them with an offence. If someone's suspected of being about to do something wrong, then tell us why. But the path of shining the light of suspicion on people because they may be related to bad 'uns or might do something wrong for reasons we cannot be told about is, to my mind, a very rocky one to go down.
Those of us who are trusting souls might be inclined to think all of this is designed to keep us safe in an uncertain world, and I have to believe there must be an element of that in the decisions of the policy-makers, or we might as well all just tattoo our serial numbers on our arms right now and buy some striped pyjamas.
But with burgeoning CCTV cameras - and ones that even tell you off - as well as the impunity of Western governments to jail people without trial in places like Guantanamo Bay, I have to wonder who is keeping us safe from the people who are determined to turn our society into something far outstripping George Orwell's expectations.
Ask anyone who lived in Northern Ireland in the Eighties whether being monitored wherever you went, being asked at gunpoint what you were up to and being banged up in prison without judicial process was much fun.
Then again, maybe people don't particularly care. After all, Big Brother's back tomorrow, which should keep most of us quiet and indoors for the next three months. Who wants to go out anyway? As the original Big Brother was known to say, Freedom is Slavery after all.
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