If it was not so ridiculous, it would be risible.
Austrian tourists, Klaus Matzka and his son Loris came to visit London - as millions of tourists do every year. The country depends heavily on welcoming visitors and we are blessed with some of the most interesting architecture in the world.
Klaus, a 69 year old ex TV cameraman, has an interest in transport and both he and his son took many pictures of red double decker buses. They also photographed the architecture around transport termini like Vauxhall and others.
It was while taking similar pictures in the borough of Haringey, they were apprehended by two police officers and told that photographing anything to do with transport, was "strictly forbidden". Their treatment by the police was either another misuse of anti-terrorism powers or the police officers involved were deliberately abusing their position - either way, it was totally untrue. They were then forced to delete every picture featuring transport before eventually being allowed to continue on their way.
Klaus said in a telephone interview:
I've never had these experiences anywhere, never in the world, not even in Communist countries."
It is within his words that the worrying truth is to be found. Years ago, we in Britain would have been severely critical of situations like this happening in countries behind the Iron Curtain. However, in the last few years, we have been sleepwalking into a modern form of communism with all its related restrictions on freedom. We have the highest rate of surveillance in the world and a massive amount of our personal information is being harvested and stored by the government and its various departments.
It is high time we all wake ourselves up, before incidents like this one become the accepted normality to us all!
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