Promise of things to come 2

Item:

The Times, July 3.

An off duty taxi driver was fined for flouting Scotland's smoking ban. The offender was his daughter, whose car had broken down, and whom he was collecting. The point is that this 'offense' was seen by council health officials in an unmarked car. This took place in that haven of tolerance and democracy, Tayport in Fife.

Item:

Mail on Sunday, July 2.

Pilotless aircraft will be used to tackle the country's crime wave. Scottish Enterprise has given half a million pounds to develop the project.

Item:

Chips will be off the menu of school meals in Glasgow schools except on a Friday to ensure a healthy diet for our children.

Item:

Our MSPs are now on vacation for nine weeks.

It's no secret that Scotland is among the most over-governed countries in the world, and regardless of the protestations of comfortably off officials that crime is going down, is increasingly a lawless one. Ask any old lady who ventures out after eight o'clock. Legisation for the benefit of citizens and application of such laws is commendable, but when power and access to seemingly unlimited money go together, as in the Scottish Executive, aberrations tumble on in. The various cultural and political residues that have washed up on the floor of the Holyrood House of Horrors - Calvinism, marxism, nationalism, socialism, puritanism, environmentalism - form one big amalgam that is instinctually totalitarian in its expectations and inclinations. Smoking, mink farming, tail docking, sex education - if you have a bee in your bonnet the Executive will pass a law endorsing it to buzz in Scotland's ears. Perhaps that is why our rulers are moving to the kind of measures so beloved of wannabe Big Brother societies.

Unmarked council cars? Ever heard of it before? Being pulled over by an unmarked council car? Paying £200 a month council tax to have a council car you are paying for, driven by people whose wages you are paying, pull you over because you are pulling on a cigarette? Is there a legal position here that I don't know about?

Drones. Let your imagination float alongside them. Flying at 200 feet they report that a group of youths are preparing to place cigarettes in their mouths. Umarked council cars speed off to warn these young people of the dangers of smoking. Or, drones drop markers on fish and chip shops to ensure that council workers in unmarked cars will be on hand to dissuade young people nearby from eating unhealthy food. Or, drones equipped with heat emission detectors report that on the 13th floor of a multi story flat, a cigarette and a chip pan have been activated. The inevitable consequence of a supervision policy - a supervision and deterrence policy - comes into play. Unmarked Apache helicopters using Hellfire missiles are called up to deal with this situation.

Thankfully, school's out and its MSPs have gone away to play for nine weeks. It gives us time to reflect on how much our lives are controlled and manipulated by minority interests working hand in hand with our local councils. Remember that these latter will be elected next year, with large salaries attached. The clock has not yet struck thirteen yet, but the signs are clear that sometime or other, our controllers will try to alter its mechanism.