U.K. Government Snoops Enter Family Homes

It's for the children, it's for the safety ...

It's very difficult to believe that this was once a country that told its king what to do (Magna Carta for King John) and not the other way around, and even got rid of the rulers whom they deemed unfit for their kingdom (Charles I, for one, whose levying of taxes without Parliament's consent, caused widespread opposition).

United Kingdom of today is planning to allow government inspectors to enter private homes to make sure the homes are child-proof. "Nanny state" is an understatement; it should be a disgrace for the country.

Health and safety snoops to enter family homes
(Robert Watts, 11/15/09 Times Online UK)

"Health and safety inspectors are to be given unprecedented access to family homes to ensure that parents are protecting their children from household accidents.

"New guidance drawn up at the request of the Department of Health urges councils and other public sector bodies to “collect data” on properties where children are thought to be at “greatest risk of unintentional injury”.

"Council staff will then be tasked with overseeing the installation of safety devices in homes, including smoke alarms, stair gates, hot water temperature restrictors, oven guards and window and door locks.

"The draft guidance by a committee at the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) has been criticised as intrusive and further evidence of the “creeping nanny state”."

Creeping?? Don't they see it's not even creeping at all but outright staring straight in their faces?

Alas, this is also a country where people, walking on a busy street, lounging in a cafe, don't even see the surveillance cameras staring at them from every conceivable angle. And they say "Surveillance camera? What surveillance camera?" When someone points them out to them, they say "Oh I didn't even notice." And these cameras are not even deterring the crimes or solving the crimes (read the article from BBC, on 8/29/09: 1000 cameras solve one crime).

Now, since the new administration in the U.S. seems to like anything European (never mind that Europeans don't usually consider Brits European), maybe it will follow U.K. on the issue after it takes over the state and local transit system. Who can argue against "It's for the kids..." ?

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