Where the foxes caper unmolested, the government packs your school lunch, and Mary Poppins, we hardly knew ye;
Councils are using the Act to tackle dog fouling, the unauthorised sale of pizzas and the abuse of the blue badge scheme for disabled drivers.
Among 115 councils that responded to a Freedom of Information request, 89 admitted that they had instigated investigations under the Act. The 82 councils that provided figures said that they authorised or carried out a total of 867 RIPA investigations during the year to August
Durham county council emerged as the biggest user, with just over 100 surveillance operations launched during the period. Newcastle city council used the powers 82 times, and Middlesbrough council 70 times.
Derby council made sound recordings of a property after a complaint about noisy children.
Many folks don’t realize or consider that local government provides the greatest potential for a citizen to be affected by an abusive elected official. In Canada,the opportunities for an abusive municipal official to take direct action against a neighbour are far greater than for an MP or MLA.
These councils show up in every Nanny State story as the fascist left’s busybody enforcers. I’m fascinated as to the history and gender/age make-up of them.
Elected, appointed? Google isn’t finding it for me.
Do these people ever get prosecuted and go to jail for these egregious privacy violations and frivolous persecutions of fellow citizens? The Brits need to get some class-action suits going.
In other breaking news, I’ve just been informed that “Lucky Charms” cereal is banned in the UK, because the leprachaun imagery may be offensive to Irish people (and little people too, I guess).
I am not making this up…my sister had to bring a box from Canada for a niece in the UK.
Reminds me of the piece from the 1st Austin Powers movie, with the Irish assassin, Paddy O’Brien….”they’re always after me lucky charms”
“unauthorized sale of pizzas?!?” Cripes,
Although using anti-terrorism laws to bust those able-bodied creeps with the handicap tags sounds fine by me. Use the anti mob laws, intercept their phone calls, read their mail, bug their bedrooms, nothing is to much for those scum.
Briton is dead as a Democracy. If this is not a police state , I don’t know what is. Local busybodies like in China becoming local tyrants. With the full weight of law & the State behind them. How the mighty fall to the whispers of the deluded Utopians. Where watching the suicide of Europe, but in England there jumping off the cliff in hordes. Why did we ever bother to fight www2, just to see them become soft fascists themselves voluntarily? They are a dead & dying people with no vigor or vision left but dawdling dissipation. Only the slow drip of self induced social erosion with political decay. Islam has already won there. The people who still have not been suborned know this by now. Expect a migration from the British Isles comparable to the Irish famine. The rich have already, as in Canada. Moved all their valuables & taxed income to more safer enclaves, serving as future bolt holes as well. As for the rest; when in dawns on them they have no Nation left, it will be bloody.
Glasnost, what you say may be true about city councillors wiekding power.
There is a piece in The Toronto Sun where city councils are playing God denying taxpayer’s requests such as banning murals that cover up graffitti.
http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Levy_Sue-Ann/2008/09/07/6688686-sun.php
Briton may be done for but don’t get to snooty about how they never fought against it. As far as I have seen the British petro haulers are shutting the place down. Oh and if in Calgary any time soon watch for the cameras on every street corner. There are hundreds of them popping up. For your protection down’t ya know.
I now see in england they are now going to take obeise kids away from their parents and send them to fat farms to be slimed down TRULY BIG BROTHER HAS TAKEN OVER GREAT BRITIAN IT LOOKS LIKE LIBERALS HAVE DONE WHAT HITLER AND NAPOLIAN FAILED AT