What a shit evening

What a shit evening. The bus home was stopped by the police so they could arrest some kid (of about 12) on the back seat. Then the bus was stoned in Harehills (which quite often happens) and the windscreen broken so we had to get off the bus.

I walked home to find the goldfish had died. It was always a bad idea and I don't believe in pets. It was forced on us, we bought medicine and equipment and it wasn't enough.

Then there’s the news of the military crackdown in Burma. For some reason the media are allowed to call oppression by the military oppression by the military in this case. In most cases they don’t call it that – it depends entirely on who’s doing it it seems.

Meanwhile in the free West all our phone call details are being kept for at least a year by the phone companies so the government and ‘other agencies’ can spy on us for the purposes of ‘combating terrorism and serious crime’. My phone call details can be demanded by Leeds City Council apparently, among all the other agencies. You couldn't make that up could you, come on now, be honest.

I suppose it’s a good thing that people are questioning why an innocent man was lured into a trap, pinned to the ground and executed by several pumped up young men none of whom have been sacked let alone prosecuted. Someone also allowed the story to get out that their victim was a) a terrorist suspect - a lie b) running – a lie c) wearing a padded jacket – a lie d) that he jumped over the ticket barrier – another lie.

Tht was the next news story. The investigation is under health and safety legislation. You really couldn't make that up either could you. We’re supposed to have forgotten all this by now and gone shopping. We're supposed to let it go because the police are trying to protect us. If the aim is to preserve life every member of the 'security services' should be re-deployed as lolly pop men, road safety advisors and traffic police. This would save lives. Loads more than the most successful anti-terrorist operation. A more civilised foreign policy and most of the terrorism would melt away too.

In some ways all you can do is look on with contempt and horror. There’s simply nothing much you can do. However, when they want me to do something like signing up to be spied on at my own expense I draw the line. Yup, its back to the ol' ID database again.

The last set of freaks that tried taking away basic freedoms were hung or committed suicide after a massive war. We'll see...

Goodnight everybody!