[jambutty]

According to the news recently 500,000 wheelie bins have been bugged so that the local authority can determine how much non recyclable rubbish each person is throwing away and also how much of that rubbish is actually recyclable with a view to charging them for the non recyclable rubbish.

I’ve just looked hard at my calendar and it is not the 1st April.

Apparently, a disk about the size of two penny piece and a bit thicker is secured under the lip of the bin in a recess that is already moulded into place. There is a potential £1,000 fine if it is removed. I’ve just looked at my wheelie bins and they all have the recess. I have had my black bin or dark grey as the council calls it, for more than five years and it wasn’t new when I took up residence in my present address. So the question is, is it just a coincidence that there is a place to put a bug that just happens to be exactly the right size?

Again, apparently, this ‘bugging’ has been done without the wheelie bin custodian’s knowledge or consent.

As far as I am aware before the government local or national or police or any other government department can place a surveillance bug in or around a person’s house, whether it is rented or owned by the occupier, a court order must be sought first.

I suppose it could be argued that as the wheelie bin actually belongs to the local authority and not the home occupier they don’t need a court order to bug their own equipment. But the wheelie bin has been issued to the house occupier complete with a surveillance bug and that has to be against the law.

Somebody please assure me that we are not galloping headlong into an Orwellion nightmare.