Watching and Waiting

I've been busy writing another novel so that's why I haven't blogged. Besides, I think the slow motion apocalypse in which we find ourselves these days is proceeding along smoothly without my on-going commentary.But if you're curious what demonic idea has inspired another round of feverish novel-writing now that I've conquered cycling hermaphrodism, check out this story from our pals across the pond. It seems Britain, which is currently sleepwalking into a surveillance society, has decided to outfit some of its myriad surveillance cameras with loud-speakers so a cop can yell at you as you're peeing in the street rather than using the footage to arrest you later. According to some estimates, Britain already has one surveillance camera for every 14 of its citizens, which is great because it means we in American can study them as a test case for the pluses and minuses of surveillance.I have a rather complicated relationship with surveillance. On the one hand, I loathe the idea of a Big Brother state as much as any self-respecting privacy advocate. On the other hand, I lived in London around the corner from one of the few streets without surveillance cameras and I can tell you first hand that this street had more broken car windows than the surveilled streets. This piece of information often ran through my head as I walked home from the park wishing there were more--not fewer--surveillance cameras keeping me safe from muggers, etc.So how does one respond to this turn of events?Finish one's novel on teen surveillance and watch our society morph into something very different from what it used to be.