Jury Team

Government plans to spend a breathtaking £200m annually on intrusive internet snooping - whilst deeply worrying – are hardly surprising given the ludicrous misallocation of funds across the political spectrum.

The money (which equates to roughly £380 per minute) is due to be paid to internet service providers and phone companies to facilitate more a comprehensive surveillance of citizens’ online activity.

While the sum itself is enough to raise eyebrows (and hackles) amongst the increasingly pissed-off electorate, the method behind the madness is all too familiar. If the governing political elite wish to preserve the status quo, spying on voters is vital to their endeavours.

Far from being just another example of nanny-state interventionism, this appears to be a genuinely sinister attempt to monitor and weed out voices of dissent, all under the risible pretence of keeping us safe from crime.  Let’s face it, if you ask anyone in the street to list their major safety concerns, internet phishing scams and the fiscal fortitude of benevolent Nigerian dignitaries fall pretty far down the list of priorities.

The travesty is particularly pertinent in the Glasgow North-East constituency, where in the run-up to the up-coming by-election, Jury Team candidate John Smeaton - himself no stranger to (real-world) threats facing the country - has again registered his support for the implementation of community courts, a move that would make a tangible difference to the lives of constituents by providing local sentencing reform, and one that was shamefully dismissed by the political classes on the grounds of - you guessed it! - cost. 

Considering the relatively paltry sum projected (reported to be less than £4m to build the community court and a further £4.2m during the first five years of operation) are we really to believe that the government has our best interests at heart?

Where is the outrage? Why aren’t we taking to the streets in protest? Why - in a week that saw the Twitter crowd lauded for their supposed championing of civil liberties – is there not parity of discontent amongst mainstream journalists regarding the upsurge in internet surveillance?

Would it be cynical to think that the lapdog press exists in a state of sad symbiosis with the purveyors of putrid party politics? One thing is certain, a vote for any of the mainstream parties in the Glasgow North-East by-election will ensure more of the same – cynical career politicians implementing sinister draconian measures under false pretences.