Too much security makes us less secure

Ray

Absolutely spot on. If ever David Cameron needs a cri-de-coeur for the next election it should be "getting government and all its intrusiveness - political and economic - off our backs".

Kevyn Bodman

The government is in a real mess. Now, this morning there is a reported split between Harman and Brown over these hidden donations. This article explains clearly that these 'security' measures won't make us safer. Yet today on SKYNEWS Jacqui Smith has given a major interview, and SKY have packaged it with film clips,warning us of terrorist threats over Christmas and New Year. Of course there is a threat, we know that, but what the government is doing will not make us safer and will reduce our freedom of movement. But neither Ms. Smith not SKY want us to analyse that. This interview with Ms. Smith is news management, an attempt to cut the legs off all the 'government in real trouble' stories. Don't fall for this mis-direction. I didn't relise, until reading this article, that ID will be needed for the ferry from scotland to Northern Ireland. For heavens sake! That's an internal passport!

Alec in France

Low poll ratings? Need to cover up something embarrassing? Let's have a quick terror scare! A ruse that worked many times for Bush... until the rat began to be smelt.

Robert Heming

Ross, I agree with you. I call it the "DEATH OF THINKING' syndrome. When I pass through security at an airport in the USA I see people carefully following a procedure. They are not looking for terrorist threats. Instead they are making sure that a procedure is followed. What happened when the Metroploitan police shot the Brazilian electrician. They didn't think. They followed a procedure and consequently murdered an innocent man. Then in Leeds a few weeks ago, the police use a stun device on a man who was in some sort of hypoglycemic shock. It was never clear why they thought the man was a terrorist threat. They did not think. Now we are to be faced with the same set of expensive, irritating and mostly useless procedures at railway stations. Why, because in the event of an attack the Government can say" but we did institute new procedures and they were not folowed", or " we need to put another set of procedures in place". Terrorists will always find a way around the procedures and they need to be found using more thoughtful techniques including careful surveilance of potentially threatening people. All that folderol at the airport is of limited value.

John Walter

Welcome to Stasiland UK. Those old Commies must be weeping with envy, wherever it is that old dictators go for their eternal lie down. The mantra 'you have nothing to fear if you have nothing to hide' was efficiently used by one Adolf to persuade the Jewish community there was nothing sinister behind his wish to have a large J on their passports. Indeed the Jewish Council agreed with him, said fine, let's do it as German Jews had nothing to hide, they were model citizens. Liberty and freedom should not be made dependent on fear or the lack of it. It's a huge red herring to talk about having nothing to fear, it is not the point.

Richard Earls

Bees got into our house last week, stung my wife and frightened my children. They kept coming back so we were very vigilant and, if we saw one, we killed it.

Even so, they kept coming back to sting us. We were so scared that we hired a man to come and save us from the bees. He looked very tough and we felt safe and secure; him in his uniform and all.

But they kept coming and coming to sting us and hurt us so, one evening, I decided to follow one back to where it came from. And what do you think I found?

Our uniformed protector - throwing stones at the hive.

So much for home (land) security.