Thursday, August 13, 2009

Gulag UK: Max Headroom Comes True?

Back in the late 80’s, I was a big fan of Max Headroom. I still consider it one of the more brilliant series ever made for television.

One of the fun, yet sinister, quirks of the plot was that, “twenty minutes into the future,” all households were monitored through their TVs, which they were required to keep on at all times.

I considered Max Headroom just a fun bit of good science fiction until I read this:

The British government will force thousands of the "worst" families in the country to live with 24-hour CCTV surveillance in a bid to cut back on child abuse and neglect, the Children's Ministry has said. In the next two years the government plans to expand an existing family monitoring program from 2000 families to 20,000 at a total estimated cost of £400million. 


Despite growing complaints that New Labour's new Britain has in the last ten years become the most spied upon nation in the world, ahead of even China, the Labour government announced late last month that 20,000 "problem families" who have run afoul of social services officials will be watched around the clock and subjected to surprise inspections by government agents.


Cranmer is among those who have noted that the UK is already the most spied upon nation in the world. When I studied there in 2007, it was remarkable how many of those little CCTV cameras were around. Heck, one report puts the current number at 4.3 million.

With elements of the Labour regime already marking down families and prospective families for not being politically correct and secular enough in their thought, one can only imagine how far this Max Headroom/Orwellian intrusion into homes can expand.

The sooner Britons cast off these totalitarians the better.

3 comments:

Mari said...

Note the young Brits run around wearing hoodies, obscuring their faces. I'm sure someone will make the CCTV useless with an "accidental" spray or obscuring or not facing the camera.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Thoughts in this country aren't that far behind.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-02-15-houston-cameras_x.htm