London Indymedia

Big Brothers latest gadgetry now in use at a ‘Fat Cat’ demo near you.

Guido | 31.07.2008 18:23 | Globalisation | Repression | Social Struggles | London

This morning while reporting the antics of some trots outside the Goldman Sachs building in the City of London; I noticed a strange protrusion on the hat of a cycle cop.

At first glance it looked like a trendy new device for holding a spare lipstick. On closer inspection a wire was spotted coming from the back of it. The copper in question was friendly enough and explained that the device had completed its trials and would be rolled out for general use within a couple of months. As well as the head cam there was a second one on his chest in case anyone tried to grab the more obvious one. It was activated by a switch and also stored the 30 seconds of footage prior to its activation.

If all the Police are due to be trained and issued with this gear, does that mean that a certain unit (known for their blue shouldered jackets) will soon be surplus to requirements? Well, if in a couple of months time you spot some familiar faces working as security guards in your local Tescos, you now know why…..

A massive and violent insurection erupts in the City of London.
A massive and violent insurection erupts in the City of London.

Ello, ello, ello, watching the footie officer?
Ello, ello, ello, watching the footie officer?

Erm no, watching images being recorded by this head cam...
Erm no, watching images being recorded by this head cam...

...and this chest cam.
...and this chest cam.

Make sure you get a good close up of this one. Could be identified later?
Make sure you get a good close up of this one. Could be identified later?


The demo itself was over the totally obscene profits being announced this year by CENTRICA. A modest £992 million. That is after the MD (Mr Jake Ulrich) gets his £1million salary and lets not forget his £3.2million pension pot. And while we are one the subject lets not forget the 9 billion profit that the power suppliers made out of an EU scheme to cut carbon emissions.

CENTRICA is the also by a staggering coincidence the owner of British Gas which will be announcing a 20% increase in domestic fuel bills next week. By winter householders could be looking at a fuel bill that is 35-40% higher than last year.

Meanwhile the number of pensioner households in ‘fuel poverty’ has doubled since 2004 now a 2.25 million (figures from Age Concern). If the predicted 35-40% increase happens then that figure will go up by 800,000. The total 4.5 million households living in fuel poverty will go up to over 6million. Energy watch predicts that the average household fuel bill will go up from £1058 to £1,481.

Finally it should be pointed out that gas being produced in this country is being sold via the ‘free market’ to the French and then sold back to us at an inflated price. And anyone who objects to this state of affairs no matter how lawfully or politely will be filmed and added to some kind of database just for being there. Nobody bothered to record the details of the crooks entering the building. Who will be personally responsible for god knows how many pensioners freezing to death this winter.

Isn’t it great to live in a liberal democracy?

Guido
- e-mail: guidoreports@riseup.net

Comments

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The camera is a 'videovest'

31.07.2008 21:34

 http://www.videovest.co.uk/index.htm

www.cam-techsecurity.co.uk

Domain name:
videovest.co.uk

Registrant:
Paul Jarvis

Registrant type:
UK Individual

Registrant's address:
The registrant is a non-trading individual who has opted to have their
address omitted from the WHOIS service.

Registrar:
GX Networks Ltd t/a 123-Reg.co.uk [Tag = 123-REG]
URL:  http://www.123-reg.co.uk

Relevant dates:
Registered on: 05-May-2006
Renewal date: 05-May-2010
Last updated: 06-Mar-2008

Registration status:
Registered until renewal date.

Name servers:
ns.hosting-netexplorers.co.uk
ns2.hosting-netexplorers.co.uk

Bob


What relevance is the attack on the SWP?

04.08.2008 09:27

I'm not a member of the SWP, but the disparaging reference to "trots" is surely unnecessary here. I would guess that you'd agree with the main principles of People Before Profit Charter - and you are definitely opposed to the surveillance, which I guess you would recognise as an attempt at police repression. Can't you lend these folks some friendly support?

Jon


Since when...

05.08.2008 12:19

...was 'Trot' a term of abuse?

The SWPers I know (and they are many) describe themselves as Trotskyists with pride. I suppose I could have opened the article with: "This morning while covering the antic of members of the Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party..." but that would have been a mouthful as well as possibly falling foul of the IMC UK 'hierarchy' guideline. To their credit they were the only people outside Goldman Sachs and their demo made two national and one local papers the following day. Did I not give a proper account of the issues? I think the person posting above is being a tiny bit over sensitive...

Guido


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