Cash for Tots Scandal Rocks Britain

As an American citizen who currently resides in the United Kingdom, I am frankly appalled at the level of government intrusion that now runs rampant in this once great nation. That glorious Britain that P.G. Wodehouse immortalized with his lovable characters in Jeeves and Wooster has all but disappeared. No longer are there eccentric Lords in manors that sprinkle their sentences liberally with large doses of schoolboy slang such as, "Jolly good. I say, it's a rum go!" In its place instead is a country that could easily be mistaken for the fictional world created by Monty Python actor Terry Gilliam in his movie Brazil.

To begin with, there are now estimated to be around 4.2 million CCTV cameras in the UK which equate to roughly 1 camera for every 14 people.

Some cameras are merely used to watch citizens while others have people in control centers that have the ability to issue verbal warnings to citizens by shouting at them. A senior police officer has gone on record as saying that this is "an Orwellian situation," and further states, "I really don't think that's the kind of country I want to live in." Police state that the average Briton is filmed on around 300 cameras each day, usually unaware.

Beyond CCTV cameras there are around 6,000 speed cameras in the country. After the introduction of speed cameras the number of fines rose seven-fold from 260,000 in 2001 to 1.8 million in 2004. Speed cameras are bringing in an extra 20 million pounds of revenue each year to a very happy government.

Sadly, the number of speed cameras in the UK has done little to improve safety. The vast majority of people driving on motorways slam on their brakes for each camera and then speed up again once they are safely out of distance. Those campaigning for safer roads have universally condemned these speed cameras as merely another way for the government to acquire money.