78% of Brits under surveillance?

Griff • Aug 10, 2009 3:14 pm
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1205419/March-state-spies-One-78-adults-came-state-sanctioned-surveillance-year.html

Is this not a little extreme? I wonder what our number would be?
Clodfobble • Aug 10, 2009 4:04 pm
No no, not 78%, 1 in 78 people; i.e. 1.3%.

Still, I bet that's more than here. Or maybe not. ;)
Griff • Aug 10, 2009 4:08 pm
WOW! I just had a serious case of the stupit!
Clodfobble • Aug 10, 2009 4:13 pm
It's okay, Dana and Sundae Girl say that's a typical side effect of reading the Daily Mail. :)
Flint • Aug 10, 2009 4:14 pm
somebody on NPR this morning wrote:
George Orwell's 1984 was a warning--not a blueprint!
Sundae • Aug 10, 2009 4:42 pm
Clodfobble;587082 wrote:
It's okay, Dana and Sundae Girl say that's a typical side effect of reading the Daily Mail. :)

Quite correct. According to Hate Mail headlines, 350 Britons ARE going to die every day from swine flu. Hasn't happened yet. And despite the handcarts I see in the street all the time, my arrival in hell has been greatly exaggerated.

BTW, Griff - I get that you read the statistics wrong, but way to load a poll! Tell me again, why do you hate Britain?
Griff • Aug 10, 2009 4:51 pm
Sundae Girl;587086 wrote:
Tell me again, why do you hate Britain?


Oh, the usual Irish stuff. :)
Sundae • Aug 10, 2009 4:53 pm
By Merkin standards, I'm half Irish. So ppppft :p
Griff • Aug 10, 2009 8:06 pm
merkin = unkind :sniff:
TheMercenary • Aug 11, 2009 12:08 am
Griff;587114 wrote:
merkin = evil :sniff:
why of course.
Aliantha • Aug 11, 2009 12:19 am
Now we all know you're not all evil, and not all of you are evil either. ;) In fact, I'm inclined to think the worst thing about some Americans is their single mindedness, which is not always a bad thing. Far from evil though.
Sundae • Aug 11, 2009 2:59 pm
I don't mean "merkin" as an insult! It's a comical abbreviation. However, if you view it like Chink or Spic I may have to desist...

My comment was simply because in England, we expect to be mongrel. Very few of us claim to be half this, half that, a quarter the other. (There are some of course, but we snicker about them.) We know we have a mixed heritage, and unless someone has a different language, or an insistent parent, it's just accepted that you're here because you're here because etc etc. What's the point of tracing your family back? You'd only end up finding your female ancestors were rogered by some sort of invader (Viking, Roman, French etc).

So my Irish heritage is of no use to me - so what if Grandad came from Ireland? Three Grandparents were Londoners.

I know this is a light-hearted thread and I really didn't mean this divisively. Just I wan't quite sure what the comments meant and trying to cover all bases :)
TheMercenary • Aug 11, 2009 3:27 pm
Sundae Girl;587220 wrote:
I don't mean "merkin" as an insult!

[yanking] We know. [/yourchain]:)
Sundae • Aug 11, 2009 5:38 pm
I sorta thought so.
Just feel I have to be super-careful these days.
I'm scared the Anti-Merk Death Squad have my address...
TheMercenary • Aug 11, 2009 6:12 pm
:D
Sundae Girl;587265 wrote:
I sorta thought so.
Just feel I have to be super-careful these days.
I'm scared the Anti-Merk Death Squad have my address...


I ain't scered of those guys...
Sundae • Aug 11, 2009 6:19 pm
You available for sniper duty?
TheMercenary • Aug 11, 2009 6:34 pm
Yep. Already loaded and ready to travel.
Aliantha • Aug 11, 2009 6:37 pm
They're not scarey anyway SG. Mostly full of piss and wind with the odd stinky fart thrown in for good measure. ;)
Griff • Aug 12, 2009 8:59 pm
I know the merkin thing is an inadvertent contraction to a cod piece. Just being a wise acre. All my ancestors were from Ireland but of course they were from who knows where before that. And you know they left for a reason. ;) hmmm... genome project might shed some light on the prehistory stuff... Anywho, I love the Brits even if I have no idea what you're talking about 1/2 the time.
Sundae • Aug 13, 2009 1:16 am
Don't worry - neither do I...
Scriveyn • Aug 13, 2009 8:20 am
Sundae Girl wrote:
I don't mean "merkin" as an insult!

TheMercenary;587240 wrote:
[yanking] We know. [/yourchain]:)


Aaaah, the pictures* of yore: "Can Hieronymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?"
:p

_____
*movies
xoxoxoBruce • Aug 13, 2009 11:50 am
I saw that at a drive-in. ;)
Cicero • Aug 13, 2009 5:19 pm
I'm still trying to figure out what the article is talking about. I better get my ration today or I am going to be upset.....:)
Sundae • Aug 15, 2009 4:10 pm
From the article, thankfully, not from a Dwellar.
The Government forgets that George Orwell's 1984 was a warning, not a blueprint.

Do they? Really?
Shit, best tell them that chopping up brooms doesn't really mean they all come to life carrying water.

Honestly.