Clegg hits out at CCTV expansion after top officer’s warning
A BUSINESS top-up tax of 2p should be considered for Leeds and other cities to fund much-needed transport improvements, an influential thinktank said during this week of 2007.
The Connecting Cities report, suggested the 2p “top up” in Leeds would fund almost 40 per cent of the cost of the city’s planned “bus rapid transit” network.
Across the Leeds City Council area it would generate around £14m a year, which could then be used to secure a £107m loan.
The city had been working on the bus proposals since the Government pulled the plug on the Supertram project in November 2005, but it could be 2011 before the new scheme was in place.
The recommendations, made by the Institute for Public Policy Research’s Centre for Cities unit, echoed those proposed by Sir Michael Lyons in his review of local government which suggested a 4p supplement in Leeds to raise £26.4m a year.
A senior police officer warned that the proliferation of CCTV cameras risked creating an “Orwellian” society.
Ian Readhead, Deputy Chief Constable of Hampshire Police, said he did not want to live in a country with surveillance on every street corner.
He questioned whether it was justified, particularly in areas where there were relatively low crime levels.
The Hampshire force area includes the small town of Stockbridge, where parish councillors had spent £10,000 installing CCTV. “I’m really concerned about what happens to the product of these cameras, and what comes next,” said Mr Readhead.
“I really don’t think that’s the kind of country I want to live in.”
There were an estimated 4.2m CCTV cameras in the UK – one for every 14 people.
Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman and Sheffield Hallam MP Nick Clegg said: “As Home Secretary John Reid pushes for the deployment of talking CCTV cameras barking instruction at passers-by, it is significant that senior police officers are starting to speak out.
“Something is wrong when police officers, rather than Government ministers, seem more concerned about the protection of our customary British liberties.”
Confectionery giant Mars announced it was abandoning plans to use animal products in chocolate and apologised to vegetarians who had campaigned against the change.
The company had announced it was changing the whey used in some chocolate and ice cream from a vegetarian source to one with traces of the animal enzyme rennet.
The Vegetarian Society protested on behalf of three million vegetarians in Britain and asked people to express their concern to Masterfoods, which produced the Mars, Snickers,
Maltesers and Galaxy brands affected by the change.
Within a week more than 6,000 people had called or e-mailed Mars UK, who usually received around 500 comments a week. They were supported by 40 MPs.
Fiona Dawson, managing director of the Mars snack business in Britain, said: “It became very clear, very quickly that we had made a mistake, for which I am sorry. “
Writer, actress and comedian Victoria Wood was crowned Best TV Actress by Bafta for Second World War drama Housewife, 49 – triumphing over Samantha Morton for Longford, AnneMarie Duff for The Virgin Queen and Ruth Wilson in Jane Eyre.
The 54-year-old also picked up the Best Single Drama award for Housewife, 49, which she wrote and starred in.
May 21 - 27, 2007
I’m really concerned about what happens to the product of these cameras, and what comes next.