Quagmire

Forget Iraq, the real Viet Nam analogy is right here back home. Check this out. It's ICICLE WHITE all over again - the elctronic surveillance of the Ho Chi Minh trail, reborn in a Cheshire hedgerow.

Forget the civil liberties implications of vast tracts of the countryside being wired up. It's the sheer insanity of it all that's overwhelming.

I mean, really: imagine a bunch of farmers staking out a bank. Exactly. But a bunch of cops are going to penetrate deep into the countryside and establish electronic surveillance while the dopey locals fail utterly to notice that that bush wasn't there yesterday. In fact, considering the size of the areas involved, the locals will have to not notice several thousand bushes sprouting overnight.

Of course, there is one problem with this cunning plan:

Some senior police have voiced concern that the measure could be easily foiled by riders and foot followers donning balaclavas.

Doh!

Mr Blunkett, however, was said to be enthusiastic about the idea….

Blunkett enthusiastic about massive surveillance on the flimsiest of grounds ? That is a surprise. But don't ask about his personal life, that's private. Anyway, where was I ?

Mr Blunkett, however, was said to be enthusiastic about the idea, believing that cameras would be an affordable way of allowing police to identify where illegal hunts are taking place before moving in.

Does anyone else hear the distant echo of the chicken and the egg here ? But remember, none of you country folk go dressing up and riding round and round the same camera forty times just to persuade the Filth to push out a major effort for nothing. That just wouldn't be nice.