Friday, April 17, 2009
The Wire - UK style
I'm having a surreal parallel universe experience. I'm addicted to US TV series the Wire, which really is as good as everyone says. The heroes use surveillance and phone-tapping to battle drug-dealing, corruption and murder, battling not only the crooks but the bureacracy of their own police system. But it seems my local council is probably using similar powers to clamp down on people who, er... drop litter, pretend they live near a good school, or let their dog foul a pavement.
This is probably good news in a small way, suggesting that, unlike Baltimore, Tooting is not plagued with heroin, gun crime, deprived semi-ghetto public housing or a dying container port (yes, I'm on season two). But, like the pre-emptive arrest of a hundred-odd misguided anti-electricians this week, it's not a good thing for a democratic society.
It's a bit rich for Home Secretary Jacqui Smith to complain that councils are abusing their powers - whose government gave them those powers in the first place? And as for taking away 114 people who were planning a protest at a nearby coal-fired power station, that seems to be using the precautionary principle in a whole new way.
I agree with Rob Lyons of Spiked that the planned protest was anti-civilised, more of a tantrum against the modern world than an inspiring action. But I also agree with him that the freedom to demonstrate, even for wrong causes, is vital.
Besides, letting them shut down a power station that keeps the washing machines spinning, the fridges cold and the television on in millions of homes, would show pretty clearly where they stand. Coal may not be the ideal way to keep the lights on, but until we get a lot more nuclear, wind, solar and whatever else those clever engineers invent, we need it.
For one thing, without those lovely watts coming out of the wall, how am I going to watch the last episode of season two?
This is probably good news in a small way, suggesting that, unlike Baltimore, Tooting is not plagued with heroin, gun crime, deprived semi-ghetto public housing or a dying container port (yes, I'm on season two). But, like the pre-emptive arrest of a hundred-odd misguided anti-electricians this week, it's not a good thing for a democratic society.
It's a bit rich for Home Secretary Jacqui Smith to complain that councils are abusing their powers - whose government gave them those powers in the first place? And as for taking away 114 people who were planning a protest at a nearby coal-fired power station, that seems to be using the precautionary principle in a whole new way.
I agree with Rob Lyons of Spiked that the planned protest was anti-civilised, more of a tantrum against the modern world than an inspiring action. But I also agree with him that the freedom to demonstrate, even for wrong causes, is vital.
Besides, letting them shut down a power station that keeps the washing machines spinning, the fridges cold and the television on in millions of homes, would show pretty clearly where they stand. Coal may not be the ideal way to keep the lights on, but until we get a lot more nuclear, wind, solar and whatever else those clever engineers invent, we need it.
For one thing, without those lovely watts coming out of the wall, how am I going to watch the last episode of season two?
Labels: The Wire
