Sunday, 22 February 2009

Big Brother's little England


Perhaps Big brother is not just a reality TV show, littered with forgotten celebrities and star struck wannabe’s. Perhaps the show that is scrutinised and dismissed as simply ‘tack,’ holds more substance. Is it in fact, offering an eye opener of a future society or the society that we are already unconsciously living in?

The UK government are developing increasingly sophisticated gadgets to keep individuals under their surveillance. Big Brother techniques such as CCTV and recording equipment, our creeping into every aspect of our lives and Britain is in danger of sleepwalking into a surveillance society.

Civil liberties are fading as e-mail monitoring and computer tracking furthers the surveillance knot that we are trapping ourselves into. High Tech listening devices are also becoming a concern, as they continue to be placed in lamp posts, street furniture and offices.

There are more than four million CCTV Cameras in England, one for every 14 people. Big Brother is watching us and is not simply a channel four TV show. The cameras are not only pointing at the Big Brother house in Hertfordshire, it is not a unique experience for the chosen housemates. The cameras are pointing at everyone. Channel four is merely offering a slice of what England continues to become.

When you order a Chinese Takeaway, the immediate demand is a name and address. These details are not quickly disposed of after you have placed your order; they are innocently installed on a computer database. The next minute you receive a phone call from a kitchen installation company who announce your details before a word has even left your lips. Does this sound familiar? Your identity as you may like to think of it, is unique. It is the one thing that can separate you from the crowd. However, in a society that is slowly becoming suppressed under the force of an eye, perhaps this is a fading truth.

Information Commissioner, Richard Thomas predicts a “world in 2016 where technology is extensively used to track and record people’s movements and activities. He predicts shoppers will wear unique tags embedded in their clothes, which will be scanned as they enter any store and aerial “friendly flying eyes in the sky”. Privacy will become an unrecognised privilege and as George Orwell writes in his novel ‘nineteen eighty four’ “ all pleasures will be destroyed.”

Chemical Reactions


Four residents from Poole have been killed as a result of an explosion, which blasted chemical drums into the sky and sent them raining down on cars and homes.

An explosion at a chemical plant, has seen chemical drums travelling for miles in the sky and are causing concern across Poole.
Factory owner, Terry Verdon has described the incident as a “huge tragedy.” The fire has caused a lifetime of work to be destroyed within hours.

Founded in 1974, the factory has developed high standards of treatments for many life threatening illnesses and had just been given consent by the government, to produce a new life saving drug for children suffering with Leukaemia.

Having spent years perfecting the chemical concentrations, it was said that this drug would “cut victims of the illness by half.” Now it seems that this discovery will have to be put on hold, as Tony and his team attempt to put the pieces back together; something that could take up to five years.

This means that cancer patients will continue to suffer with the disease that kills 22,000 children a year in the UK alone.
Phil Dring, an emergency planning officer has called for 10,000 people to be evacuated from the surrounding area and Alder Road remains closed.

Residents who believed the fire was at Nelson Stanley’s scrap yard raised the alarm and after confusion, the emergency services located the Sigma at British Drug Houses.
Fire crew have been at the scene since 9.25am and there are now increasing health risks as the explosions have produced harmful acrid smoke. A Chief Fire Officer admitted that more crew are needed at the scene, as the blaze remains “out of control”.

Factory owner, Terry Verdon has described the incident as a “huge tragedy.” The fire has caused a lifetime of work to be destroyed within hours.

Founded in 1974, the factory has developed high standards of treatments for many life threatening illnesses and had just been given consent by the government, to produce a new life saving drug for children suffering with Leukaemia.

Having spent years perfecting the chemical concentrations, it was said that this drug would “cut victims of the illness by half.” Now it seems that this discovery will have to be put on hold, as Tony and his team attempt to put the pieces back together; something that could take up to five years.

This means that cancer patients will continue to suffer with the disease that kills 22,000 children a year in the UK alone