It’s difficult to convey to non Brits just how strong and deep the urge to place all citizens under total surveillance runs in the political classes. Its beyond party politics - all parties want it and have for decades. We have (I think) the largest CCTV system in Europe, possibly the world and the police use facial recognition as a matter of course and encourage private businesses to use facial recognition too.

This is an interesting blog post although I don’t understand the tone - it’s written as if the recent run-in with Apple over encryption was some kind of great victory for common sense and a triumph of the individual over the insidious forces of authoritarianism. But I don’t think it was, unless I missed some news? The government hasn’t learnt its lesson or anything. Is it just wishful thinking on the author’s part?