Are we being watched or watched over?

When surveillance cameras were fitted in underground stations, major streets and busy areas, the idea was welcomed by many.
And promising more and more of these cameras was the key to win local council elections. In practice these cameras meant safety, and proved to be effective in deterring crime, drug-dealing and vandalism.

Earlier this year I had to do a one day training somewhere in east London. On my way back I asked for a receipt for my travel card to get a reimbursement from work. I had a quick look at the receipt and to my astonishment I found my name and all my movements throughout the day between buses and trains registered on it with the exact hours!

When the identification card bill was introduced to the parliament, one of the given reasons was of course protecting the nation from terrorism. (The UK is one of the few remaining countries in the world where carrying an ID card is not required).

These cards are not like any normal ones, they will be connected to a database, where everyone’s personal details would be stored. It will include your fingerprints, scan of your iris, and unlimited other details. They do say it will be voluntary, but everybody knows it will be compulsory.
Here they don’t jail or humiliate you, but I would assume one won’t be able to move without having one.

A new policy of “who you are” will be applied; the cards will be swiped in post offices, pharmacies, in banks, and definitely when buying cigarettes or alcohol.

Those cards will control peoples’ lives, their savings, their shopping, and practically every single thing they do. It will violate the privacy of a very private and free nation.

The irony is that the people themselves pay for these services under the rule of democracy.

I thought the above might be an ideal solution to the security crisis in Iraq, and then I imagined if all these information would fall in the wrong hands at these terrible times!
I thought no, getting that personal is dangerous under any circumstances war or peace.

Still, I did not take this news as badly as a lot of native citizens did.

The inside of hala_s is somehow still the same. For me the ID is only a proof of who I am, and that I have paid all my taxes and done nothing wrong.
For them the ID card is an insult! Just asking for it, means being accused of doing something illegal!

One of my colleagues was saying “We are paying the government to serve us, not to interfere in our lives. I think we are being punished for the mess they’ve caused in Iraq”.

Once and along time ago the system in here was built on trust, it is no more the same.


Some blame immigrants and asylum seekers for this distrust; yes, they might have contributed a bit, but are they the real culprit?

50% of the world crises to say the least were instigated by the super powers, sometimes by indirect provocation, sometimes by direct assaults.

Their reckless strategies and crazy attempts to discipline the world have only resulted in the loss of thousands of innocent lives, let alone the build up of hate and anger all over.

The ordinary person in here would think what is the gain? Is it the nearly £1 per litre petrol? Or the police state the country is gradually turning into?

But the big people are making money and a lot of it.

Greed is the real culprit.