Keeping quiet.

For those of you outside the UK, the news you hear coming out of this country must sound completely unbelievable. The truth is more bizarre than any news you might have heard.

We have almost total CCTV coverage and a spy-state Stalin would have sold his own mother for.

Dawn raids are commonplace, for crimes such as 'swearing at a council official' or 'fighting in the playground'. Rapists get told off and sent home. That is not a joke.

People are fined for feeding ducks in the park. That's unbelievable, yes? This report has a picture of the actual crime recorded on the penalty notice.

We have a national health service that is the envy of the world's governments. Nowhere else could the State dispose of inconvenient old people so efficiently. I hear the American government has a similar system in mind.

That's just a sample. It is now dangerous to take photographs in public. It is not illegal to do so but we have all-encompassing 'anti-terrorist' laws that means anyone with a camera can be stopped and searched and if they don't like the look of you, well...

Hanging around derelict buildings at night has become a very dangerous occupation. Not because of falling masonry or holes or even the risk of demonic possession.

Because this country's government has lost all reason and the petty officials never had any. Orwell's 1984 reads like a world we'd all love to live in. This is much worse. Nobody even knows what the laws are any more. Any official can make them up on the spot and hand out a fine.

I'm still working, but much more carefully than before. If you send me Email, be aware that my government will keep a copy so watch what you say.

I might move to North Korea. It sounds much more relaxed there.