Non Footy Post. Scary!!........

Watched 'V for Vendetta' again last night having not seen it for years. Viewed from afar (I recently retired to Italy) It struck me how far Britain has moved to towards the 'Police State' depicted in the story since the pre-Thatcherite years. Even the heavily armed police depicted in the film wearing combat gear/army boots etc. are seen on the street with increasing frequency nowadays - a long way from the 'friendly bobby' image they used to be seen and becoming increasingly politiused as a political 'tool' e.g.miners strike 1979.

For example, can any legal experts on here explain to me how, (other than it being a politically motivated decision), the police tactic of 'kettling' could be defined as 'legal' when False imprisonment is defined in law as "..... (the) restraint of a person in a bounded area without justification or consent." ?False imprisonment is a common-law felony and a tort so how does holding people not involved in criminal activity e.g. leaving the office to go home from work for several hours without access to food water or toileting facilities not fit into that definition.

Also the riding roughshod over Habeas Corpus enshrined in law since 1679 and in our constitution (yes we do have one albeit in separate documents) going back to Magna Carta in the name of anti-terrorism seems to be on the increase.

We seem to be sleepwalking into a police state.

Finally a quote (paraphrased) from 'V' .... "People should not be afraid of their Government. It is the Government who should be afraid of the people"