You’ve got to hand it to the police. They’re like buses. You wait for a long time to see an officer to deal with your problem…. then suddenly 600 of them (all in riot gear) turn up at once! Brilliant!

The BBC reported that many flights were cancelled on the first day of the public opening of Heathrow’s Terminal 5.

This was because of serious technical problems in the baggage handling system operated by British Airways meant that 34 flights were cancelled and several others were departing with hand luggage only.

How embarrassing for Britain. This major airport terminal costed around £4.3billion, and only got built after people living around Heathrow failed in a long-running campaign to stop it going up in the first place.

It’s yet another official cock-up…. a typical British cock-up.

UPDATE: The situation’s getting worse…..

When you connect to the internet, do you expect to maintain some privacy while you’re surfing? Not for longer if the government has its way.

Disturbing plans for the state to intercept your emails and access your favourite websites without letting you know are about to become true, according to this article by Zoe Margolis on Comment Is Free.

A controversial new technology, named as Phorm, is to be rolled out by the UK’s largest internet service providers (ISPs) allowing them to track surfers’ history while they are logged on…. and if we knew anything about it, we would not be able to ‘opt out’. Given the government’s record on information technology (IT), it simply cannot be relied upon to work properly anyway.

Another disturbing element to this, Margolis argues, is what is in the forthcoming, but rarely discussed (in parliament anyway), Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill. When it becomes law, it will, for example, be an offence for any person to have any downloaded extreme pornographic or relevant images in their possession. If found gulity, they could face a heavy fine, or in some cases, imprisonment. The government would be able, without any reason, to demand that ISPs hand over information about our surfing habits.

This is yet another example of the state interfering in our private lives. While there has been a lot of recent publicity over the human rights abuses in China, we also need to start paying closer attention to the human rights abuses here in Britain…. carried out by the Labour government.

The government this week plans to bring ‘radical’ constitutional changes according to this article in The Guardian. The plans they are hoped, will increase voter turnout and improve the legitimacy of Parliament.

Justice Secretary Jack Straw will unveil many of the plans, which include changes to the voting system for local and national government as well as moving the election day from Thursday to the weekend, introducing a British Bill of ‘rights and responsibilities’ and measures aimed at reforming the way election campaigns are funded. There may be separate proposals to replace the unelected upper chamber with a democratically-elected one, with fewer members.

Like many people who support any form of badly-needed constitutional reform in Britain, I should be pleased with what is on offer, but I’m not. The proposals put on the table are minor compared to what is desperately required. The government have pledged to consult widely, but judging on their record (look at the controversy over the expansion of Heathrow Airport), I wouldn’t be surprised if many people decide to reject them altogether. Major constitutional reforms will only succeed if the government is genuinely open and honest about wanting those changes. Unfortunately, when you look at the corrosive state of British politics over the last ten years, such reform is still a long way off.