Monty Free And More CCTV

It was bound to happen - Madeleine in tears and Monty on the lamb. Somehow the clever rodent dis-connects a Habitrail tube, drops four-feet to the ground and scrambles - all clear! Eitan, Madeleine and I follow her trail - food in the corner, nibbles behind the bed.. we find droppings in Eitan's room and finally indications in ours .. I open the radiator and there she is - shocked by the light and three over-sized faces peering down upon her with the gravest concern. The poor thing freaked and welcomes the comfort of her hamster-ball offered by Madeleine. Mission accomplished.


With barely any notice, government databases - including CCTV - used by local councils to access our information for the most basic observations. This otherwise the preserve of the police who pursue terrorists or abducted children; the police follow strict guidance established British courts. Not surprisingly, they are concerned. This issue to the forefront as a mother accused, using secret video surveillance, of a false cachement to ensure her child's place in the local primary. Ultimately the charges false yet the council's position: "what, me worry?" Cameras now found in the classroom - like Stockwell Park High School, where 68 in place. Or pursuing flytippers and home recycling and other pettinesses. A person's image protected by the Data Protection Act yet local government failing to adhere to the most basic guidelines like notifying neighborhoods of surveillance. No doubt and eventually, policing supplemented, if not completely taken over, by new technology.


"There are jobs Americans aren't doing .... If you've got a chicken factory, a chicken-plucking factory, or whatever you call them, you know what I'm talking about."
--George Bush, Tipp City, OH, April 19, 2007

Big Brother is watching you.

--George Orwell