“British Cabinet ministers and members of the national security council were told nothing about the existence and scale of the vast data-gathering programmes run by British and American intelligence agencies, a former member of the government has revealed.

Chris Huhne, who was in the cabinet for two years until 2012, said ministers were in ‘utter ignorance’ of the two biggest covert operations, Prism and Tempora. The former Liberal Democrat MP admitted he was shocked and mystified by the surveillance capabilities disclosed by the Guardian from files leaked by the whistleblower Edward Snowden. The revelations put a giant question mark into the middle of our surveillance state,’ he said. ‘The state should not feel itself entitled to know, see and memorise everything that the private citizen communicates. The state is our servant.'” (The Guardian Oct 7, 2013)

If this is true it is truly shocking. These secret services are out of control and should be put on the mat, big time. The politicians are so frightened of new 9/11s happening that they have not done their job of supervising the “services” that are supposed to protect us. There is a tsunami of reactionism – the Tea Party wants to undo the Roosevelt reforms that make living in the US a civilised experience; Secret Services on both sides of the Atlantic undermine democracy in the name of safety; the British National Health Service is being privatized without the public having a say in it. One could go on.

Epicureans like living in a community where everyone has a decent opportunity, is healthy and is reasonably educated. This takes money, which means taxes. I for one do not want to live in a sort of “Dark Ages with I-phone”, espoused by the Right, thank you. Would those who disagree please explain why they do so?