the general public seems to be continually suffering new 'anti-terror' schemes which surely cause more damage than good : i mean, every time some new piece of legislation or propaganda is released telling me that we're overrun with terrorists and the government needs to change our laws to deal with it, i see is another excuse for the government to increase it's powers of surveillance and intrusion into our lives, eroding our individual sense of security, our national stature and turning us into an international laughing stock because of our heightened xenophobia.

take this latest scheme for instance : [link]

of course as a photographer this really winds me up : why should i be made to feel like a terrorist suspect whilst out taking photographs of buildings or public spaces? but recently this is exactly how i've felt as i take out my camera and line up the shots, as a result i am distracted from my photographs and never feel that i can take the shots i want. the other part of me can't help but think that surely someone who actually is taking surveillance photos for an act of violence would be slightly more subtle than having a large semi-professional dslr and making themselves obvious? or am i being stupidly naive and not recognizing 'amature photographer' camouflage?

what concerns me is that what will result is a growing number of disillusioned individuals in the uk joining forces and actually reacting to what the government is doing in exactly the way that they expect : with retributive violence : thus pouring gasoline onto the funeral pire that is fast becoming the british nation. when will the government realise how much distrust and aggression it's building at home? let alone overseas through it's foreign policies and international trade agreements... (let's come back to that subject another day perhaps...)