Surveillance Crazy.

Over the last two days Britain has become obsessed with the concept of covert surveillance or "spying" as it's more commonly known. Yesterday (7/11/11) a BBC Newsnight investigation alleged that the News of the World (NotW) hired a private investigator to monitor lawyers representing alleged victims of the phone hacking scandal. This morning (8/11/11) Marget Baroness Ford the head of the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) rather stroppily alleged that Tottenham Hotspur football had put the entire board of the OPLC under surveillance. Then this afternoon the same Newsnight investigation alleged that the NotW had put Prince William under covert surveillance ahead of his marriage to Catherine Middleton.

Now it would be nice to pretend that all of this was the British Establishment attempting to inform the Court of Protection (COP) that the three month harassment campaign that caused my grandmother to be mis-diagnosed was organised and run by the local authority (Croydon Council) in one of the most spectacular abuses of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) ever seen. Unfortunately though along with the Home Secretary's recent admission that she has no idea how many foreigners had been allowed into the country this has been a reference to the fact that a delegation from the International Criminal Court (ICC) are currently in Britain to discuss with the Ministry of Justice and the Judicary the issues surrounding seizing property from some of the junior Qaddafi's as the proceeds of crime.

I've been hesitant to mention this before unless it is mis-interpreted as an attempt to intimidate the COP. I'm not sure it could be though because it is just a simple statement of fact and I'm sure the two issues are in no way related. At least I hope they are not otherwise today's IAEA report into Iran is particularly damming.

Anyway it's now around 20:18 on Tuesday November 8th and I returned from dinner with my father at around 20:10. There are no problems other then the fact that dinner was nowhere near as dramatic as the assembled audience had hoped. That's hardly my fault because until the COP speaks I have nothing to say. Speaking of which I've still not heard anything from them. However my earlier injunction theory would fit perfectly with today's death of a Red Arrows airman. After all his flight was grounded but he decided to discharge his ejector seat anyway and it killed him. I guess the poor sod must have believed the manufacturers spiel about the seat being safe to use on the ground.