Wacky Jacqui Smith says whole country crusading against CCTV

Home Secretary Wacky Jacqui Smith has conceded that there is zero support for CCTV cameras in UK communities. In a shock letter to the Guardian, she claims massed phalanxes of irate burghers are poised to join a Tory march on Whitehall to overthrow the hated devices. Apparently... Jacqui herself still seems massively …

[Eddie Edwards]

The thing is, right

The thing is, Ms Smith probably wrote the letter correctly, so as to convey the intended opinion, and the Grauniad probably just misprinted it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Feckless bint

"CCTV has helped to reclaim our town centres and public spaces for the law-abiding majority..."

Er, no it hasn't. My local town center is still full of teenage chav's getting drunk outside the golden arches, fighting and generally being a nuisance. Also, when my house was broken into they caught the scum on CCTV doing it but couldn't use the CCTV footage as evidence because it wasn't proof they broken into my house!!

Complete waste of public money, a bit like our Jacqui.

[Paul Gomme]

Join the campaign!!

I've been so inspired by her apparent insanity, we now have a Facebook group dedicated to Wacky Jacqui. Please join up at:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=46271966027

April 1st should definitely be designated "Wacky Jacqui Day", so please join up and submit your ideas. Serious discussions on our continued erosion of civil liberties are very welcome.

[Dave]

Jacqui vs the UK

I claim movie rights!

[Anonymous Coward]

Sacky Jaqui

And fast !

Now get your coat and piss off.

[4a$$Monkey]

Sigh

What I want to know is who voted for her? <clickety> ah Redditch that explains it...

Redditch you suck!

[N]

Too many

"CCTV has helped to reclaim our town centres and public spaces for the law-abiding majority..."

Like most things these half wits fail to grasp the basics, the crimes just get committed out of sight of the CCTV cameras, whilst their operators go chasing after people whos only misdoing, may have been to drop litter.

We dont want Waqui Jacqui to turn the country into an Orwellian state, but shes having a dam fine crack at it.

[Anonymous Coward]

private eye

Almost as if el reg were printed on bog roll and sold for a couple of quid :)

[Dennis]

Nothing to hide...Nothing to fear

I would imagine that Jaquai has some other things on her mind like getting caught with her hands in the cookie (expenses) jar.

I wish I could get the tax payer to pay off my mortgage for me on 2 house whilst staying with her sister. Naughty naughty!

Oh well welll nothing to hide! Nothing to fear isn't that what you say Jaq!

Couldn't happen to a nicer person

[Anonymous Coward]

tierney

surprised she didn't get her husband, i mean parliamentary advisor to 'anonymously' write the letter

at least he might be doing a bit more for the £40,000 odd a year, which is not a bad rate for a part time job

jacqui 'fill your boots' smith

[Ash]

@Paul Gomme, and anybody who read his comment

No. No, no, no, no NO.

Do NOT join a sodding Facebook group; Facebook is for socially inept idiots (I have a facebook account).

Join the MARCH ON PARLIAMENT where the WORLD will see your support. Nobody gives half a shit about some fucking facebook group.

GET AWAY FROM THE COMPUTER, LEAVE THE TV BEHIND FOR A DAY, AND ACTUALLY ACCOMPLISH SOMETHING.

[Mike Crawshaw]

Waste of Time...

She freely admits that CCTV is hated by pretty much every community - not too long after she was insisting that everyone loved it and wanted more. She's proven that she, like her master, cares not a jot about the opinions of the unwashed masses over and over, so I expect nothing short of "You don't like them? Tough. I do. Get ready for more. BWA HA HAAAA!!! POWER!!!"

CCTV was pointed straight at the junction where idiots who piled out of a pub, piled into their car, and piled into the side of my gf's car, forcing her off the road, though thankfully without her injury. The police refused to even investigate because she hadn't written down the licence number of the offending car. What's the frickin' point of CCTV then?

And like AC ("feckless bint") above, our local urchins are quite content to congregate around their bottles of White Lightning right in front of one of the damned things, whilst playing chicken and hurling bricks about.

In Sheffield and Leeds, we regularly have fights (ok, 2 blokes pushing each other shouting "come on then!!" until one of them gets jumped by the other's mates and kicked into the pavement) on a Friday & Saturday night, right in front of them, and they sure don't seem to discourage the protagonists - I certainly don't hear anyone saying "dear me, there's a CCTV there - let's not rough-house tonight, eh old chap?"

But I bet if I wore a "Jackie Smith is a fucking moron and I like cartoon pornography" T-shirt in front of one whilst toking a joint, the boys in blue would show up quick enough.

Considering the time of year, she's due a single red rose - V for Vendetta style!

[Anonymous Coward]

@ AC (13:02)

While I agree with the general thrust of your comment, I am moved to ask;

"is still full of teenage chav's getting drunk "

Full of teenage chav's what?

[censored]

The last letter...

...on that page is interesting. Someone claims they felt safer when threatened by thugs on a bus.

Why? She'd still have got hurt. Would the police have trawled London looking for the people who matched the blurry images on the camera. I doubt it.

[Mike Crawshaw]

Oops

OK, OK, I read it as it was written, without realising it was just a problem whereby she doesn't understand the English language, nor is she able to effectively speak it. Considering the mumbo-jumbo she comes out with, that's not news.

My coat's the one with the Interflora quote in the pocket, cheers....

[Jon G]

errr...

Perhaps if we politely asked all the teenage darlings currently patrolling our streets to remove their hoods and face masks and look nicely into the cameras then maybe they'll start to perform the function that they are apparently for. Until then they'll just continue recording the innocent majority going about its daily business.

[Anonymous Coward]

@paul gomme

Great idea, but you need a proper website up as not everyone wants to be a member of farcebook.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Feckless Bint

You beat me to saying just that! My local town centre is nothing like a trouble free environment despite the proliferation of CCTV cameras. The local rail stations are like the Sewerpits (Doctor Who & Kaldor City reference for the unwary), with staff locked behind doors and unwilling to come out for anything.

[Roger Lancefield]

Now who's being cynical, eh Jacqui?

Pathetic. Jacqui Boot whining that opposition to the New Authoritarianism and the database state is "Tory rabble rousing". She really needs to get out of Whitehall, take an ideology enema and start mingling with real people again.

[Anonymous Coward]

She's got an overactive imagination!

As not one individual I know agrees with her. In fact, for such an apathetic lot, it's remarkable that this is discussed - but actually everyone thinks she is so out of touch with reality she goes to work on a unicorn.

Is this all a New (ha ha ha) Labour plan to increase the number of voters at the next election? Outrage will be sufficient to acheive that.

The sooner this witch is out of office the better. I just hope whichever administration that follows has the time and the energy (while picking up the shards of a shattered economy, managing the record level of debt, administering the semi-nationalised banks, sorting restitution for an illegal war) to repeal some of the utterly insane things that she has instigated.

With luck they won't seek to rule by fear, and the british can get on with what they do best - minding our own business. Even the most hardened Labour-ites are choking on the effluent gushing from the open sewer that is this government.

I wouldn't be shocked if there is some "crisis" that requires suspension of elections...

[Andy Dingley]

Not the first careless phrasing from Jacqui Smith

This is also the Home Sec who supported Tasers for the police as being a better alternative than firearms.

Of course under UK law, a Taser _is_ a firearm, else we'd be allowed them too. Unless of course this pronouncement means that we're no longer classifying electricity as a "noxious fluid", and thus using it as a firearm.

[Alan Brookland]

Well, she does say it's the reverse..

..although trying to figure out 'Quite the reverse' of that statement isn't not doing my head in.

[Robajob]

Very nice

But am I reading Private Eye?

[Lionel Baden]

got rammed

Got rammed by a hit and run driver Had just driven past a CCTV camera for the town center but as the accident wasnt captured on the film they couldnt even check the cam for the others guys plates !!

It was only the car driving behind me !!!!!!

if your gonna have a tool like this and spend gazillions on it, please find better ways to use it than showing punchups on E4 at peak viewing times

[b]

FOAD

You lying, venal, stupid greedy parasite.

Cleansing fire.

[Peter Labrow]

Doesn't stack up, Jacqui

Knife crime is at an all-time high, so it antisocial behavior, alcoholic-related crime and even gun crime. So, Jacqui, exactly how have CCTV cameras made us safer? Paris, because she can't add up either.

[Luther Blissett]

Smith succeeds in uniting communities

The communities, that is, of the ranks of Grauniad and Daily Fail online commentators in condemnation of her home (not secretary - that was last year's story) expenses grubbing. (Not that you would know if you get your news only from the BBC - which means having the Best Bits Censored).

Could this mark the start of a new religion? We've had sacred cows, sacred bulls, the odd golden calf, snakes on elevated (ie astral) planes - perhaps the time is ripe for the Sacred Pig. Numinous icons of fat pigs, their snouts clamped karmically in troughs overflowing with manna, would really inspire the Great Unwashed to continue to submit to the predations of the banksters. Or something like that.

Guy Fawkes points out that, by precedent, she should have no parliamentary future - http://www.order-order.com/2009/02/michael-trend-precednt-is-worrying-for.html. Luther says there is still time for her to become a martyr to something or other.

[Anonymous Coward]

wait,

wait, my town centre was lost? Where did it go? It was there last time I went.

I loved the cctv footage of a chave spraying bus stops - the filth launched their attack to find that the sprey can was empty and he was on a wind up.

CCTV abuse for fun and profit.

[Vision Aforethought]

@Feckless bint: Sounds like Oxford, am I correct?

Or is this every British city centre?

BTW, the day I arrived in Oxford to live for the first time in 20 years, I rounded the corner from George St onto Cornmarket St about 8pm on a Friday or Sat night. (I cannot recall.) Right outside the HMV shop lying on the ground in a pool of blood, was a young white male. His head was covered in blood while a throng of about 25 clueless Emos and others were simply 'looking on'. A 'friend' was on his mobile telling whoever he was talking to how their evening had been messed up by the (apparent) motiveless attack on their friend. (Someone had walked past and beat him senseless in full public view.) Anyway, stunned that not a single person of authority was around, I called 999 on my mobile. After getting them to send an ambulance pronto, I got put through to the Oxford police station. Before I finished telling them what was going on, the intelligent man at the end of the phone informed me, "Oh, it's ok mate, we're watching it on CCTV." Stunned (but not surprised), I told him in as polite leather hammer manner as possible that it may be prudent if they get off their fat arses and come help the young man and patrol the area, being it was a Fri/Sat evening and the people need protecting from themselves. (The ambulance and police did arrive within about 3 minutes - I then walked home satisfied that my job was done, but still worried about the young chap.)

I should point out that the local services here have done NOTHING to get the pack ice of the pavements making it impossible for the elderly and infirm to get around. Traffic wardens flood the city issuing tickets up until 10pm every day (Sundays too!) and they are on Cornmarket St ticketing immigrant cyclists at £30 a pop (a weeks rent to a starving student) for innocently cycling through the ped area. (No warning, just an instant fine!)

What we have here dear Reg readers is a government who implement a For Profit system of law and order. If they cannot make a penny out of an action (such as helping a young man lying dying on the street), then it's not worth dealing with really is it?

Britain has become a state so divided between those who profit from the misfortune or innocent errors of others, it fails to comprehend it's station. (I lived abroad, and returned to this horror - so it's more obvious.) And it will only get worse as fear based faiths and lefty control freeks gain more control of this nation. CCTV and other cold inhuman technologies automate our lives into one constant hell.

It is no wonder the BBC and lefties hate Mrs. Thatcher. For all her flaws, she had principles and stood for values that would elliminate the need for said technology and fascist dictats. Where's common sense when you need her? (Not in Ms Smith's world.)

[Joe]

CCTV really has helped...

Look how much safer the streets are now than 10 or 20 years ago....oh...

[Tim]

Beyond hope

Is it really the case that the likes of Gordon, Alastair, Jacqui & Harriet (did you hear her on Monday on R4???) are the most intelligent and capable people to run the country?

So, how does one go about starting a revolution?

Tim#3

[Anonymous Coward]

You knew what she means though....

... she meant that anti CCTV people are really tories who have a political motive. i.e. she paints opposition to surveillance as political campaigning.

Not somebody you can argue with really, because she's so dismissive of opposing viewpoints.

[Anonymous Coward]

@joe

<Jaqui>

SO think how much worse it would have been if we didn't have the CCTV looking after you

</Jacqui>

[Mark]

Hey, come on she was right

She doesn't know a *single* community who've been against it. She knows hundreds.

That's not single.

[Eponymous Cowherd]

CCTV can help *cause* anti-social behaviour

Well, maybe not *cause* it, but it can certainly prevent members of the public tackling it themselves.

Take the other day. Bunch of shitty little chavlets board my train and start f'ing and blinding, chucking food and generally being right little douche-bags. Now I could tackle them, I'm a big bloke and pretty 'handy', but all that would happen is that I'd get a load of verbal abuse from the little shites because they know I can't do anything because of the sodding CCTV.

If they'd done that on an old slam-door train (no CCTV) they would have found themselves bouncing around the carriage before being ejected at the next station.

Furthermore, the CCTV doesn't seem to do anything to prevent the sort of damage it is supposed to, trashed toilets, graffiti, slashed seats, etc. The CCTV 'protected' trains are just as vandalised as their predecessors.

So all CCTV seems to do is prevent members of the public tackling anti-social behaviour (for fear of being prosecuted) . This, of course, enforces the idea, in the pea-sized organ that most chavlets utilise in place of a brain, that they are 'untouchable'.

[Anonymous Coward]

ffs

"reclaim our town centres and public spaces for the law-abiding majority" - er, this was the woman who wouldn't go out without a police escort? - http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article3216678.ece

[Anonymous Coward]

@Vision Aforethought

"It is no wonder the BBC and lefties hate Mrs. Thatcher. For all her flaws, she had principles and stood for values that would elliminate the need for said technology and fascist dictats."

Yep, eliminating those nasty fascist dictats by funding them in other countries... nice!

(but at least Pinochet didn't put up CCTV cameras no every street corner)

[Andy Livingstone]

It cannot possible be correct

It would mean that a politician - and a Labour one at that - had told the truth, however accidentally.

[Anonymous Coward]

had to laugh

Under the letter from the thieving home secretary there was one from a 'lecturer in surveillance studies'. This would be like media studies, but more boring?

[Anonymous Coward]

@Ash

lol - march - how quaint.

There is no point in marching,

just think about how utterly pointless it is.

The marchers first arrange a date (bank holiday or a saturday maybe a sunday - depends on dinner parties) and then they get police permission to do so (providing numbers and types of attendees.)

The marchers turn up (often quaffing costas (day out for the middle class twenty somethings to get a feel for what a "protest" used to feel like) or looking like swampy (students) or as if they've recently been released from a care home (the rest)) on their appointed day. Often they have a picnic.

The news goes "ooo look, funny people on a march about something or other," they get in some random guy who they say is a spokesperson who is then battered by the "reporter" then a government spokesman (no ministers though unless maybe it's wacky saying how all the protesters don't understand) will say how they have it all wrong and the news guy will felate him/her. They'll probably batter some random opposition minister too.

At the end of the day everyone goes home after a nice trip to London safe in the knowledge that they "did something".

Well I have a better idea I'm gonna stay at home and play some games with my mates whilst drinking a few beers and cooking a duck.

You want a make a difference you gotta do it where and when it matters (that's everyday by the way), but that'll get you sacked and nicked. A few million people sat outside in squares, parks and outside parliment and Buckingham palace regardless of what the riot police want or what the weathers like, and those need to be people who have jobs and are willing to risk them by waiting for days, weeks or months. You gotta cost the country money, you gotta prove you're not some bunch of ponsy middle class kids playing at rebel.

Till then you're just pissing into a sea of piss and getting your rocks off on feux action. If I see a real movement maybe I'll join it, till then it ain't worth the time, I've got better things to do then wave at cameras with a throng of feel good morons.

[Jessica Werkz]

@Peter Labrow

"Knife crime is at an all-time high, so it antisocial behavior, alcoholic-related crime and even gun crime."

I've heard these 'facts' all of my life and each year I read it's getting worse. By now we should be a country at war!

[Anonymous Coward]

saying that

Saying that though one of the most interesting campaigns of late has to be that of anonymous as peculiar and childish as it may seem, it's persistant and multipronged, in a way it's quite clever in its chaotic method. I remember thinking "lol fail - newfags take things too seriously" but they're still at it.

A bit like flash mobbing I suppose.

There are ways to make a modern day protest work with a few thousand people, but you need to throw out the rule book, use the internet to gather people then organise flash strikes - occupying council offices, police stations and government buildings. If ten thousand london residants suddenly go and block ten downing street there'll be little that can be done. A single event may do nothing, but dozens across the country at one time and until the government serves the people again.

Hmmm now that could be interesting.

But a march is a waste of energy.

[Anonymous Coward]

@Ash

Well said. I'm sick of people banging on about how X, Y and Z is wrong and the most they can be arsed to do is join a fecking facebook group. The ammount of my friends and collegues who whinge about the government but never bothered voting drives me nuts. The government will only begin to take notice if people get of their fat arses and do something.

Join protest? Clickiky-click

Is not going to get as much notice taken as:

Join protest? Cerntainly, I'm going to write to my MP (www.theyworkforyou.com) or going to join a protest march in a major city.

Don't like the way your chosen political party is working? Maybe you should join it and influence its policies.

(Incidentally, if any of the facebook group do send mail to jacky whenever it is, that will be fairly ammusing, although trivial to stop for hey IT guys, assuming they are competent.)

[Mark]

Anonymous Coward Posted Tuesday 10th February 2009 15:09 GMT

And Ronnie Reagan hearts Pinochet.

[ElFatbob]

ha-fuckin-ha

'CCTV has helped to reclaim our town centres and public spaces for the law-abiding majority'

Except in Glasgow and London and <insert town name here> where stabbings are regularly recorded on CCTV.

sheesh. Even the governments own reports have deemed CCTV as a steaming pile of crap...

[Jon]

The Tories and wacki's tax affairs

I don't understand why Cameron is trying to get her sacked through tax affairs etc. She is the best thing to happen for the Tories in 30 years. Her and Brown are focing me to vote tory next election mainly due to her ineptitude and inabilty to use scientific evidence over her own misconceptions she peddles as "common sense".

[John Dougald McCallum]

Cheap video camera in a tin can

CCTV might be a useful tool if the picture was a hellofalot better most I have seen are total shite a six year old with a VHS camera would get better results,and as for Whackie Jacqui the sooner she goes the better.

[Anonymous Coward]

HO HO HO @ AC

@ AC (13:02)

By Anonymous Coward Posted Tuesday 10th February 2009 13:28 GMT

While I agree with the general thrust of your comment, I am moved to ask;

"is still full of teenage chav's getting drunk "

Full of teenage chav's what?

You pedantic fucker!

Had he written Chavs' then your penance would be well placed, although he doesn't strictly need the apostrophe to pluralise a colloquialism, it is accepted, had he tried to pluralise an acronym, it would also be wrong.

STOP THIS NEEDLESS ABUSE.

[Robin]

More weasle words in Jacco's letter

"The DNA database has revolutionised police investigations. Each year, literally hundreds of homicides and rapes are resolved with the use of DNA matches"

Did those literal hundreds of DNA matches come from the DNA DB or is that a little bait and switch?

The alien because perhaps she is.

[Anonymous Coward]

Dear Editor,

My nation sucks - I've got all those brilliant ideas and the people keep disagreeing! Is there anything I can do to make them like them, like pass a law to tell them to or something? My friend Paris said that maybe I should rethink those ideas but I am positive there is no need for that - after all they ARE brilliant.

XXX

J the Heartbroken

[Martin]

And the police didn't even check the tapes

There usually aren't any tapes - in fact the cameras are often not even being monitored.

You get a nice government grant to install the things but operating them comes out of the councils budget every year. If you are a local council given the choice of cutting; nursery schools, your fact finding trips to the Bahamas or CCTV monitoring contracts - which goes first?

[Anonymous Coward]

If CCTV is so unpopular...

...why is it still operational? If the citizens of the UK are vastly opposed to CCTV systems, why haven't they gone about dismantling them? A few thousand citizens wielding baseball bats and ski masks is all it would take. Sure, some of them are too high to reach with baseball bats but I'm sure you could think of a way to break em. I know if they started implementing CCTV systems like this here in the US that's what I would be doing.

[Anonymous Coward]

yeah, yeah

She's probably quite correct, not lying that is, (as we all know thanks to Mr. Bliar, politicians are not allowed to lie..technically speaking..) she probably does not know of any community that is against CCTV, but then she almost certainly willingly has her head in the sand. She only wants to hear what she want's to hear, a selective filtering process designed to support her objectives.

[Anonymous Coward]

Tories vs. CCTV?

My oh my, it seems the world has turned upside down in the last 10 years. Wasn't it Thatcher who started the CCTV craze to begin with? It seems like so many idiots have swelled NuLabour's ranks that the Tories now seem to be more to the left than the current NuLabour administration!

But the funniest thing is that it is now the Tories themselves who support reducing CCTV in the UK, given that it was *them* who installed them in the first place.

[Anonymous Coward]

@AC Chav's

Apostrophes are used to indicate possession or missing letters.

Chav is not an abreviated form of another word. And there is no possession here either. Possession would be indicated by possible substition of the preposition "of". And in this context the word of can not be used.

So the correct form would be: "is still full of teenage chavs getting drunk".

One does not apply apostrophes to indicate plurals. For example, it is tigers, not tiger's.

[Claire Rand]

walk a mile...

the day shes prepared to walk through central London, or any other major city or large town, at night, alone and I mean alone. protected only by CCTV, no extra plod on standby etc. then and only then can she claim that CCTV makes town centres safer.

given street crime seems more or less unchanged its not doing a huge amount of good is it?

apart from possibly directing traffic wardens (and I doubt they even do that with it properly) and fro crowd observation at events does it actually _do_ anything?

[Anonymous Coward]

@ac - caught the scum on CCTV

So that FOI you filed got you the footage to make things right?

[Paul Gomme]

Facebook groups

I’d like to thank everyone who has signed up to the Facebook group so far. I have seen a couple of less-than-supportive comments from people, so I’d just like to mention a couple of things:

This group is for an expression of public feeling regarding the curtailment of civil liberties by the current UK government, and one minister in particular.

Time and time again, writing to your MP simply doesn’t achieve results; it merely results a polite letter thanking for your time (and if you’re lucky, a couple of prints of existing departmental webpages restating their position).

Calling on people to march and protest in person is all very well, but it negates to mention:

1) People may not have the time to join a formal organised protest, due to family commitments, work, etc

2) People are actually scared of protesting in public, because of EXACT REMOVAL OF THOSE LIBERTIES that this group has been established to discuss.

The “Comments” pages of The Register are not the place to get into a discussion about how to protest about a situation you don’t like. Please have a look at the Facebook group, read it and if you wish to be part of the debate, either positively or negatively, then please contribute.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=46271966027

[ElFatbob]

@AC: Tories vs CCTV

'But the funniest thing is that it is now the Tories themselves who support reducing CCTV in the UK, given that it was *them* who installed them in the first place.'

There is an irony to this, no doubt.

But when a government commisioned report - set up to evaluate CCTV 10 years on - concludes that it doesn't cut crime, doesn't reduce the fear of crime and only marginally increases detection / conviction AND the government still insists on going down this road, you have to ask questions.

[Anonymous Coward]

@ Martin

Sadly in this area the choices would be retain the fact finding trips to china and the CCTV and not bother funding schools, then go "OH NOEZ TEH BABEEZ R KOMITTIN TEH KRIMEZ" (yes my council is run by morons who probably idolise jacqui

yeah the council suck, Angus Alliance - Tories in disguise, lets order a royalist flag with taxpayers money despite their being hundreds of letters (rural area) written to the council and the payers telling them they want the Saltire retained and their stupid "Angus Flag" cancelled

ugh bloody morons

[Anonymous Coward]

CCTV and Jackie Smith

First, I have no problem with CCTV but a problem with the operators - I work in a local council and on one work drinking do; I was told in detail what my collegues got up to that days, I put a complaint in but didn't go for a harsh lesson to their supervisor (he got in a bit of shit about it - the operator that is not the supervisor).

The problem is if people know they are watched they will just make sure they don't get caught on camera especially if it can be used as evidence in court - so what happens is someone will mug the little old lady on the small road rather than on the high street!

Second, as MPs get their mortgage payments made on their second "Work based" home - does this mean the government own this house? I mean why should the MP get it?? I've never found a answer to this question. Any one know an answer to this?

Anon because I don't want to get in shit about this.

Black copter as I know I'm being watched, I just don't want to worry about it.

[Anonymous Coward]

@Tories vs. CCTV?

"My oh my, it seems the world has turned upside down in the last 10 years. Wasn't it Thatcher who started the CCTV craze to begin with?"

No, actually 99.99% of CCTV camera came in beginning with Blunket, ironic that a blind person should insist that everyone be closely monitored.

"It seems like so many idiots have swelled NuLabour's ranks that the Tories now seem to be more to the left than the current NuLabour administration!"

I'm pretty sure the widespread hatred of prison UK are Labour and Conservative voters and genuinely hate what Britain has become. If you are a NuLabour turfer, you must understand that this is a vote loser (you're portraying this as 'this is bad so blame it on opposition party'), so why get instead do a U turn and stop this surveillance state?

It's bad, but why pretend it's the other guys fault when you could stop doing this?

[Dave]

Of Course They're Not Marching...

People are too busy rushing up to Wacky Jacqui telling her they can't wait for ID cards, they don't have time to march on Parliament.

[Magani]

@AC Apostrophe Fail

"You pedantic fucker!

Had he written Chavs' then your penance would be well placed, although he doesn't strictly need the apostrophe to pluralise a colloquialism, it is accepted, had he tried to pluralise an acronym, it would also be wrong.

STOP THIS NEEDLESS ABUSE."

=====================================================

What a load of rancid dingo's kidneys (or dingos' if you want the rancid kidneys from more than one dingo).

While the original post of "Full of teenage chav's what?" may have been pedantic, it was also correct. Chav's indicates the possessive and it needs something to possess!.

Don't they teach the correct use of apostrophes in the schools of Her Maj's Sceptred Isles any more?

Mine's the one with Fowler's Modern English Usage in the pocket.

[Anthony Mark]

I'm particularly concerned...

...that I have not yet seen an El Reg story regarding the Second-Home Secretary's expense claims...

[Anonymous Coward]

Funny you should say that.

"Sure, some of them are too high to reach with baseball bats but I'm sure you could think of a way to break em. I know if they started implementing CCTV systems like this here in the US that's what I would be doing."

They have put CCTV in crime ridden areas in the US They get broken with in a day. people throw rocks at them. Some have even gone so far as to clip the wires at the base of the pole .

[Steve Roper]

Re: Funny you should say that

It's not just the US that won't put up with CCTV...

Some enterprising vandals in my city (Adelaide, Australia) attacked the CCTV cameras around my local shopping centre carpark (which is a popular meeting place for those wishing to obtain samples of a certain proscribed herb), by spraying their lens covers with black spray-paint. Since the lens covers already look black the damage is effectively invisible - unless you look closely with the light at the right angle, and see that the surface is blobby matt, not shiny like a clean lens cover is. That was 8 months ago as of this writing. So far, the cameras haven't been fixed, and all anyone would see at the other end is a black screen - which, if they were to try to trace the fault, could be caused by any kind of electrical or software problem besides the spray-paint!

[Anonymous Coward]

@RotaCyclic

So you're in favour of spelling reform, as well as correct grammar?

BTW, anyone got an apostrophe algorithm to hand?

[Karl]

@wayne tavitt

You owe me a new monitor and a fresh coffee.

[Anonymous Coward]

CCTV cameras have been enormously succesful

for local authorities monitoring bus lanes and box junctions to tax the motorists.

They don't work against crime 'cos most crimes are committed on the spur of the moment and the crim is concentrating more on his/her victim than what is stuck 20ft up in the air on a pole.

[Anonymous Coward]

Chavs.

Never mind old Pie-Face's recommendations: If you want to get rid of chavs just play classical music at them. They will disperse like a fart in a wind-tunnel.

[Anonymous Coward]

She needs to go...

http://ge2009.co.uk/preciousliberty.jpg