Police chief says CCTVs have not cut crime in UK

‘Billions of pounds spent on Britain’s 4.2 million closed-circuit television cameras has not had a significant impact on crime, according to the senior police officer piloting a new database.

Detective Chief Inspector Mick Neville said it was a “fiasco” that only 3 per cent of street robberies in London were solved using CCTV.’

This is taken from an article on the Times website, found here.

So a police chief admits CCTVs do not cut crime? Kudos to the chief for standing up and admitting cameras in our streets are not stopping crime. Footage taken from CCTV cameras in the UK, used in courts as evidence, are very poor. Britain has the most CCTV cameras than anywhere else in Europe. The total number of these cameras in the UK is 4,200,000 - one for every 14 people. And they’re not cheap. Billions of tax-payers money is going into a surveillence system that invades people’s privacy and, according to many, does not effectively a) prevent crime and b) provide accurate and clear evidence in courts.

So why are we still being closely monitored by our government? Why do they still spend so much money on these cameras if we still have high crime rates, which the cameras evidently aren’t solving? Every day we hear about another murder, and were the cameras able to prevent that? Were they even able to identify the killer? More often than not, the answer is no.

Cameras are another insidious erosion of our civil liberties - the Big Brother state. We’re practically living in Orwell’s 1984. Up to 90 percent of these cameras are illegal anyway, as they breach the Data Protection act.

I don’t want to appear some form of conspiracy nut, but it is becoming increasingly apparent that the purpose of cameras is not to prevent or solve crime cases, but to spy on us and remind us who’s in control.

Do they forget that the ones they are targeting are clever enough to wear a simple hoodie? In which case, the £15 hoodies are defeating the £500 cameras.

Although I’m sure the government will attempt to solve this problem by installing more cameras…

Advice needed - censorship in school

Hi, I am writing in bit of a panic. You see I have a problem - one that is political, social and moral. I shall explain…

A while ago, as you may remember, I posted an article and link to another a new blog on WordPress - an independent site for students at my school , dedicated to providing a platform those students to get their voices heard. It had references to the school’s name, something which they evidently do not like. On the blog we explained that the school was, in our opinion, dictatorial in the way it is run.

Today, I was called into a teachers office to be ‘talked to’ about the blog, which somehow, they found. And they weren’t happy. They described it, though it had no references to any teachers, as ’slanderous’ (although if it was defamatory it would be libel).

They made us, in that lesson, delete all references to the school. At first, they asked us to delete the entire blog, however I tried to reason and say we would delete the name of the school - despite it being a platform for students at that particular school.

I think this is a major free speech issue and I am in major need of advice, urgently. The head-teacher has ordered us to come to her office on Wednesday. I am unsure what to do. Should I say no, the school references will remain as it is part of our free speech, or just abide?

My moral self says I should stand up against it, but my less confident self says just obey. I’m in the UK, so laws are a little different on free speech as they are in America.

Please comment and help me out!

http://treviglasindependant.wordpress.com/

If you have a Digg account, please Digg the article up here .

Please note it is slightly different to as it was before today, as we had to delete all references of the school today, despite the URL remaining the same.

‘America’s Gulag Just Keeps Growing’

Interesting and informative article on the American prison system. As of December 31, 2006, American prisons held 2,258,983 inmates in prisons. In 2005, about 1 out of every 136 U.S. residents was incarcerated either in prison or jail. Much of this is because of the ‘war on drugs’.

The article is here

Sadr Sends Tens of Thousands into Streets to Protest

Tens of thousands of supporters of Shiite cleric Moqtada Al Sadr marched in Baghdad yesterday as a crackdown on his followers raged in southern Iraqi towns and rockets and mortars exploded across the capital.

read more | digg story

Allude to the problem.

Committing the atrocity of inevitable respect
Renegade and outcast made by focusing dissent
Pleasing the monsters of ignorance,
The machines of death and despair.

Selfish pleas to humanity
Motion and impulses
Memento and tragedy now pair.

The memories of nihilism
Etched into skin and bone,
The pessimism that merges hence,
Never walks alone.

Fighting pyramids of solipsism,
The towers of destruction
Spontaneous aggravation,
Alleviate my eruption.

Allude to the problem,
But don’t directly meet,
And never greet
Him who seats,
Upon heretic treachery.

Incognito gaze,
We masticate the maze,
And dire tropics flee,
To the videos archived in books on shelves
Illusion of history.

Compulsary voting?

From the Guardian:

‘A significant overhaul of electoral legislation to give voters a second vote, open polling stations at weekends and make it compulsory to participate is being proposed by the government to increase turnout and improve the legitimacy of the Commons.’

Let me paraphrase that. The most important and shocking section of that paragraph is the ‘ compulsory to participate’ . This means under the new voting system in the UK, people over 18 will be forced to vote.

This is ridiculous for many reasons. Voting is an essential part of a healthy democracy. Voting is a choice – a conscious, political, voluntary participation. If people don’t want to vote – that’s their decision. Choice is freedom. So forcing what should be a choice upon people contradicts the purpose of a democracy – freedom and choice.

This new voting system would be like the death penalty for attempted suicide – in essence, while they are supposedly trying to bring back democracy, they are actually destroying it. It is a political paradox.

Like fucking for virginity, these radical changes will be futile and stupid. That is what this new voting system is like. The traditional voting system works because people who want change choose to vote. Those who aren’t bothered don’t. And the people who don’t vote are usually not politically opinionated, so would be a bad electorate to be made to vote – people who aren’t interested with the government or don’t like any of the candidates simply don’t want to vote – and that’s obvious. Making people vote is insulting to democracy.

Perhaps they should put more effort in to what the people want rather than going ahead with frankly retarded ideas like this without asking for the People’s views on it. The People giving their views is democratic and is what should separate our country from dictatorships in which the government makes unwanted and unnecessary changes.

I oppose this new plan. It’s not realistic and it’s definitely not democratic. VOTING IS VOLUNTARY.

Unity and Compassion: Overcoming Intolerance.

Teaching intolerance
Under the pretext of care
Preaching love and compassion
When it’s hatred they wear.

Disgusting excuses and doctrines
That many people adopt,
Why can’t people’s differences
Be accepted for once?

Lost for words
At the vast hypocrisy
Saying their dogma is freedom,
And then they force you into their autocracy.

We should be equal
Not looking down at each other
There’s a paradox in some words.
We can’t let justice be smothered.

Tolerance,
And peace have got to lead the way
So we can live together
In harmony,
Let’s all be ourselves,
And still accept one another,
Work for a better future,
That the next generation
Will then gladly take over.

The right to have a religion,
Is crucial and just,
And their are a myriad of other liberties,
That also have our trust.

We can co-exist,
And thrive with one another,
Celebrating our diversity,
And loving each other.
But we can’t allow,
Intolerance and hatred to break apart this unity,
Which is why we struggle on together,
As a strongly bound community.

Peace.

—————————————————————

Note: This isn’t aimed particularly at religion, and definitely isn’t about hating religion, or any believers. It’s about accepting each other for who we are, and the right to diversity.

I have seen people be oppressed by religion, and I have seen hypocrisy. But I have also met amazing people of all faiths who want freedom, peace and justice in this world, and the majority of people do. It’s about everyone - regardless of religion, race, sexuality, gender or age - coming together and working for a better world.

Notebook

Telling my life
Through blue and white.
The pages and the lines
Of everything I strive to hide.

The workings of a fucked-up system,
Makes me into a monster
And shapes the mind.

I tell you everything.
There’s no lies.
Not living for the stereotypes that
I despise.

This culture hates our youth.
We’re not just another demographic,
We’re people who’ve had enough.

So open me up
Read my code,
The cryptic trails of
These troubled souls.
Always confusion,
Questions never answered

To make us into monsters,
You must shape the mind.

Allegiance won’t be pledged
To psychosis anymore.
My feelings are laid upon a map
But life’s directions remain obscure
We have fractured paradigms,
Of what is normal.
We stand and waste our time,
Just as messed up as before.

Paranoia becomes acceptable,
And fear becomes the truth,
It’s not the kind of world in which
I want to spend my youth.
It’s sectarian collectivism,
Taken to extremes,
They say we’re in it together,

But we’re alone as human-beings.

Arise

The alarm rings,

Everyone rises,

But they’re all still unconscious,

In a comatose slumber.

The music plays,

But the lyrics are paid no attention,

Picking out what we want to hear,

In reality, we’re just not listening.

Wake up,

Reasoning is refuge.

Critical thinking

For when the lights flash red.

Wake up,

You have to listen for once.

Analyzing the evidence,

Make up your own mind,

Challenge why things are missing.

The megaphone resounds

In the subway,

But the people are too busy

To turn their robotic heads.

To open up their unfit eyes,

And look upon their insidious misery.

The revolution is inchoate,

But it’s here in an alpha release,

Loopholes surround it,

Because it’s an unfinished piece.

The fundamentals are there,

You can find the rest,

The conscious pivot towards freedom

Is real democracy,

So let’s get moving for the best.

Stand up!

And speak for what you believe.

Take heed,

And supersede; transcend the indoctrinating creed.

Cold War.

Dragged under water,

Crushed in the vice.

The files of Giles Corey

Has been brought back to life.

It’s the same these days,

With everyone.

The strings are tightened to the max

And we carry each other’s bombs.

It’s a cold war,

All the time.

Too many of us,

Wish to die.

The world has put it’s weight upon all our backs

And the pressures of modern life

Don’t allow us to relax.

The tyranny of the clock is seen,

When the flowers within in spite.

The train of vitality is moving too fast,

And for some, it’s endlessly night.

We long to ride the waves of serenity,

But the sirens of distraction

Won’t stop screaming.

Losing all sense of hope,

We’re losing all sense of feeling.

Fuel is coming in faster,

Than it can be used.

Pollution’s imperialism

Wrecks our atmosphere,

The worlds takes our abuse.

When the notes fly across the score,

Faster than can be played,

It seems the tunnel is never ending,

And we won’t see the light of day.

It’s a cold war, all the time.

It’s a cold war, all the time.