Nothing to fear?

Just a quick heads up for all those who are happy to give away personal freedoms and then say "if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear!". Well, whether I have anything to hide or not, I still have plenty to fear, for instance, the UK government losing 25 million (and thats British millions, not the more paltry US millions) personal details of people who have had contact with the UK Child protection agency. So thats, names, addresses, bank details (tho, fortunately not the actual logins) etc. Nothing to fear now?

Judge suggests that UK become one massive DNA database!

Quite astounding! I really can't believe that anyone in their right minds would think that this is a good idea. So instead of actually doing something about the (potential) human rights problem here, he is suggesting that we make it worse!
Were my DNA kept on record for simply being at the same place where a crime had been committed, I would be livid!
It is quite possible to have your DNA sample taken and kept on record indefinitely even though no-one has suggested that you have committed a crime yourself ,in this country.
Were we all to be forced to submit to DNA sampling "in case" we should ever commit a crime in future, I for one would be very worried about the government's use of such information, particularly as it has already shown that it is perfectly willing to sell such information to the highest bidder.
I would like to see this idiot judge made to stand down immediately for such a suggestion!

Speed or cash?

The avalanche of newsworthy stories continues unabated, but it is getting difficult to pick out the ones worthy of attention. I keep looking at items and thinking, is this yet another assault on personal freedoms or just a random hiccup. I recently noticed that a new form of speed cam has been introduced , this one they reliably inform us is vandal proof (so, vandals have stopped using paint now have they?) and can monitor several lanes at once with up to four cameras. It's base is also buried into the ground and made of thick steel, so no more cutting them down, however, quite a few UK Gatso style cameras have been burned down.
I also have to question the thinking behind this kind of camera. If as suggested, they can now be painted to blend into the surroundings, they are not a deterrent to speeding in of themselves (how can they be, you don't know they are there if you are not from that area, and you just slow down in the area if you know it is there, then speed back up again afterwards). So they are not to make people slow down, then they must be there for revenue purposes, exactly what the government have always insisted they are not for. I notice that these cameras are significanly cheaper to install then the Gatso type, and can cover several lanes, so revenues are going to increase significantly with these machines.
Strike one more against the little guy who accidentally steps over the limit.

At last!

The return of Harbour waves, sorry about this, I know all you thousands of people have been waiting patiently for this (right...) but for some reason my Google account hasn't been letting my into my blog of late.
Anyway, we are back and posting and there has been a lot to post about of late!
In fact too much to cover with the little time I have available to me :(
I will be updating again soon with further ponderings on the state (and it is in a hell of a state) of personal privacy in the UK and other things that take my fancy.

Tsunami

Ignore the populace at your peril!

So, President Blair has decided that one million eight hundred thousand (give or take a few) signatories to a petition does not require a review of policy on road pricing.
I do hope he realises that if that many people turned up to vote for the Conservatives instead of Labor at the last election would almost certainly have mean that his party would be sitting in opposition right now (although I very much doubt he would still be in charge of it).
Beware Mr Blair, ignore the very people who vote for you at your peril.
However, the big problem for UK voters is, who else can you vote for? The Tories have already proven themselves to be untrustworthy in power, and I would be a little surprised if the UK populace fell for a "New Conservatives" trick like the one that Labor pulled off so effectively. After all, at least the Labor party actually changed their policies (and in doing so, became the real new conservatives). Where can the Conservative party go? Even further right, or do they try to take the middle ground? Somehow I can't really see them heading left any time soon.
That only really leaves the Liberals (the UKIP party is a joke right?). Well, to be honest, they have hardly endeared themselves to the majority of car drivers (remember, that's where I started this rant :-)) by suggesting a £6000 road tax...
And as far as general suitability to run a country, they are even less likely to be able too than Labor was all those years ago when they returned to power.
So, who can we vote for? I don't have the answer, sorry...

Phil

'Friendly fire' video unearthed

The Sun newspaper says it has obtained the cockpit video at the centre of a row over the "friendly-fire" death of a British soldier in Iraq.
An inquest into the death of Lance Corporal of Horse Matty Hull, 25, from Berks, was adjourned after the coroner said the tape was central to the case.
The MoD said it was classified "secret" by the US, so could not be released.

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And so they are hunting for the person who leaked the video to the press. Personaly I say they should give them an award, surely it can't be legal to hide one's blunders in war by declaring them"secret"...

Or is this something our military do all the time?

Time to own up to our mistakes, after all if they are genuine, then the parties involved can't realy be held responsible, after all, the fog of war should only allow for mistakes, not the covering of them up afterwards.

Where i work

Back!

And we return!
Sorry about the gap, been having problems logging into the new version of Blogger, but all sorted now.
We will continue to bring you the latest in our magnificent government's attack on civil liberties, and other related and otherwise comments.

Tsunami