A letter a day to number 10. No 1,109
Sunday 07 June 2015.
Dear Mr Cameron,
I am delighted to read that you are going to call for a global crackdown on the “cancer” of corruption in the wake of Fifa bribery allegations. The BBC reports – “He (you) will use the G7 summit in Germany to call for an international effort to clean up governments and business. And he (you again) will condemn the international “taboo” on pointing the finger at corrupt institutions.
However, it is now widely reported that you have ‘awarded a contract to five companies (cost?) who will monitor what people tweet, post to Facebook or blog about the Government and provide updates to Whitehall in real time for references to the Government’. A Cabinet Office spokeswoman said the contract was about getting better value for money. ‘We monitor digital, social and traditional media so we understand what people are saying, identify their concerns and shape policies accordingly, ensuring good value for money for the taxpayer’. How very sweet and benign of you.
I wasn’t aware that your government took any interest in public opinion in shaping policies. Even Iain Duncan Smith justified his welfare reforms based on Benefits Street and the reaction to a television programme that is nothing more than poverty porn. He said of Benefits Street, “Many people are shocked by what they see. The reality is that is why the public backs our welfare reform package, to get more people back to work, to end these abuses.” Thus demonstrating that he has a very curious, and entirely corrupt, grasp of reality. Sadly he is in good company as far too many people confuse television with reality and even become extremely angry and abusive when it is pointed out to them.
You are quite right that there is an international “taboo” on pointing the finger at corrupt institutions like government. Both Julian Assange and Edward Snowden are both still on the run for breaking that taboo and I do not for one minute believe that your intent at the G7 summit is to change that in any degree. The bill for Assange’s asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in London is now over £10 million and whilst Snowden’s revelations have forced NSA reform on Congress in the USA, they would still throw him in jail as a reward.
It is my personal view that your statement, “For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens ‘as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone’” is the most corrupt thing any British politician has said since Blair’s dodgy dossier and his false assertions on WMD to justify his illegal war of aggression in Iraq. However with a further five years to go, the floor is now all yours… and ours. Wink, wink.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-33025225?SThisFB&fb_ref=Default
Your Facebook, Twitter and blog are about to be monitored for references to the Government
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/benefits-street-iain-duncan-smith-3019449
Fear and Loathing in Great Britain 