CCTV and Tory intolerance

Alan Duncan has hit out at Brian Haw and the anti-war protest: 'The anti-war protest outside Parliament is a "vulgar and pointless display" which should be permanently moved' as reported in politics.co.uk. The legitimacy of rightful protest has taken a battering this month with Kingsnorth and now this outburst by this senior Tory. Perhaps he could get the antiwar protest to disperse if the Tories win the next general election, by getting his new government to withdraw troups from Iraq, Afganistan etc. and to ensure that we don't get involved in any more illegal wars.

Elsewhere CCTV has hit the news again. 10% of schools have CCTV in the toliets according to teachers. I seem to recall that two schools in Maidstone have done this. This surely is one of the most appalling uses of CCTV possible - we already have the highest ratio of cameras to people in the world (1 to 13). We are filmed and monitored almost constantly as we move around outside, especially in towns. They have replaced our duty to look out for each other, replaced the community cohesion that used to give a feeling of security. We have to reverse the trend.

On a similar vein, the NO2ID campaign kicks off in Maidstone on Thursday. If you are free, join us at The Muggleton at 6.30.