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FOR anyone who read George Orwell's 1984 when it was first published, the thought of a world where we were spied upon and monitored constantly and where Big Brother was always watching you must have seemed in the realms of science fiction and never likely to happen.

Then of course, Big Brother came true in the guise of the TV reality show. We were able to view the trials and tribulations of some of life's misfits in what has been laughingly described as a social experiment!

But the law passed by Parliament to give local authorities the powers of surveillance over you have never been as well publicised as the Orwell novel, but yet have far more wide reaching and sinister implications.

Only this week, letters have been sent to Town Halls by the Local Government Association urging local councils to stop using these powers for more trivial' issues such as dog fouling and littering.

Or as was the case recently, spying on a family in the south to make sure they were living in the right catchment area for a school.

Now I am the first to say we should not condone throwing crisp packets out of car windows or letting our dogs leave their calling cards but I am in total agreement that these powers are just being abused by petty civil servants in local councils who are nothing more than state funded bullies!

Apparently, local councils run the risk of alienating the public or losing these powers altogether if they continue with this stance!

Well, that's a surprise, isn't it?! Did they think we would all be delighted with our lives being monitored and dissected?

These powers, by the way, can range from physical observation to checking of phone and Internet records!

Now there are many, myself included, who will say that unless you are doing something wrong in society, then you have nothing to fear from such monitoring and surveillance.

It's very much the same argument as to the validity of identity cards. And while there is an element of truth to the argument, it seems very much the case that more and more in this country, the good old general public are being treated as guilty until proven innocent!

n Catch Steve Power at Breakfast, Monday to Friday 5.30-9am on Wave 105.

10:55am Tuesday 24th June 2008

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