Even spies are afraid of Big Brother now: Orwell was right--The Big Brother State has arrived, even if it has come 20 years late, Current affairs

Current affairs

Even spies are afraid of Big Brother now: Orwell was right--The Big Brother State has arrived, even if it has come 20 years late

BY WILLIAM REES-MOGG

No doubt, as most politicians thought, Davis's decision to resign his seat and fight an election on the issue of liberty was a quixotic gesture. I had never thought of him as a political Don Quixote — he has both the face and the reputation of a political tough. But his action has proved a service to what almost seemed a forsaken cause. He has helped promote recognition that we have already lost too many liberties, and we'll have to fight to regain them.

In the past seven years, the events of 9/11 have led our rather enfeebled Parliament to allow State agencies to develop a new authoritarianism. Of course, the British want to be protected against terrorism, but that did not mean every local authority should be given the right to spy on us for breaches of the most trivial bylaws.

The powers Parliament gave to protect us against terrorists have also been used against parents suspected of using a false address to get their child into a popular school, or citizens who fail to scoop up their Fidos' mess in the park.

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