Less waste, less liberty

And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there?
V

Yes, there is, I would say. When you see on the news this country has the highest cctv cameras per person ratio in the world (above one per every 14 people), you start thinking something's not alright. The same, of course, applies to speed cameras on the road, or to the recently approved law which allows the police to keep people under arrest for 42 days without charge, under terrorist suspicions. This is all pretty bad enough. You may add up some mor stuff, for instance the tv license (you've got a TV, you pay), or, even better, the tv license inspections that permit someone to enter into your house to check if you have a tv, regardless if you use it to play in your console, to watch football or to iron your shirts on it. Wherever you make a little effort to check it, you realize the liberty vs security compromise is always unbalanced, favouring the latter. Does it make any sense?

Is quite easy to carry on. Alberto, a friend of mine who lives in Guildford, told me a couple of weeks ago that local police was handing out mobile speed radars to pensioners in order to check themselves over the limit speeds in several roads. Yet, what kind of credibility have someone who's usually doing nothing , as a pensioner does, to check anything at all, less something that might be object of further prosecution if you are found to drive too fast? Does it make any sense? In that same town, Guildford (it is actually a quite posh town, I have to say), the police is breaking up youngsters gangs on the street whose only crime is to be talking... and, of course, look like menacing. So what if I look menacing? So what if I like to hung up some mates in a bench? So what the fuck if I want to enjoy a beer with them?

Anyway, the reason for the post wasn't any of those. The thing is I have read this morning inspectors are being rolled out all around the country to check random people's rubbish bins. Yeah, your rubbish bin can be checked now, in fact, it can be being checked right now, no notice required. The mighty reason? Well... national security, you know... it looks like some nasty people are wasting too much food. Yeah, food. I mean, they buy a kg of potatoes, some of it go off, and... well, you are not gonna believe it, it's so monstrous... yes, they do it. They take the rotten potatoes into the litter. Even more, those... animals... some of them don't even wait the food to be rotten to throw it out, they spoil it while it is eatable! And there are so a terrible famines all around the world, in Africa, Asia... it can't be tolerated.

So you can be checked out. Be quite careful, tear every important document in a thousand pieces, be sure someone else will know the condoms brand you prefer and remember... happy new 1984 year.

The funniest thing? They are stoutly firm against ID cards, as they are a horrible affront against liberty.

I love this country. I really do, and I think this blog is a nice piece of evidence of it. But sometimes I think... they are crazy, those romans...