You are correct, just because I am correct on one issue doesn't make me correct on another.

My prediction, that they would ban laser and radar detectors but not GPS detectors, was based upon the premise that they would later want to use GPS based systems to track the position of your car and to enforce speed limits through ISA and road charging. Intelligent Speed Adaptation is going to happen, do a web search on it and go over to Leeds University and look at their trials or take a look at the "progress" documents on the DfT website which indicate that mapping the country for it will be complete by the end of September next year. Within a few years you will not be going for a play in the twisties because some green nut will have declared that the maximum speed for the "dangerous bends" on your favourite road is 20mph.

What may also frighten some, who have an interest in their liberty, is that the company who may organise automatic road charging and who currently run the tolls on the new M6 (Macquarie) have just bought bits of NTL.

The bits they have bought are the transmitter sites. The NTL transmitter sites are the old IBA (i.e. ITV, Channel 4 etc) sites and cover about 93% of the country. If you can watch ITV then there is one of them looking down on your house at the minute.

Now, there are two possible reasons why they have bought these sites. One reason is that they are going to start broadcasting "Road Toll TV" and the other is that they are going to use them to track the position of your car, or even your ID card. Just as these sites can transmit to 93% of the country so they can also receive from 93% of the country. The areas they can't see are, by and large, very remote and usually quite small on an individual basis so a system that can see 93% of your journey could probably fill in the blanks to charge you for the bits it didn't directly see. Your car can also upload speed data etc. when it can see the receiver so you will not be doing anything sneaky in the shaddow of a mountain and the GPS system will have its inbuilt speed limiting map anyhow.

Using the preexisting sites also means that it will not be necessary to install receivers at the road side as everyone thought that would be a long and expensive process that would delay the arrival of big brother in your car by quite a few years. My guess is that there may already be engineers at the top of your local TV mast installing big brother for you to enjoy.

Of course I might be wrong and it may be that the only reason a road toll company wants a nationwide network of antenna sites is indeed to send you "Road Toll TV" but, somehow, I don't see that as a viable business model when the government proposed road tolls as high as £1.45 per mile. Think of the number of miles of road those receivers will be able to see. In 5 years time I wonder how many of them you will be authorised to drive along? Or how many of them you can afford to drive along?

Of course I might be wrong, but what you have to consider are the implications if I'm right.

The real to**ers are the people on here that said it would never happen. And the ones that claim there is no point in voting because there is no difference in the policies between New Labour and the Conservatives.

There are none so blind as those that cannot see.

Enjoy your third term.

I agree that those who say it will not happen are living an illusion. Each time it does happen they kid themselves that the next step will never happen. I also suspect that those who claim it will never impact upon them might be in for a shock.

There were many who thought that nice Mr. Stalin was their friend, for example, until the knock came to their door. There is a very interesting motoring related story concering that nice Mr. Hitler who had a particular liking for a particular model of car, made by Tatra if I recall correctly. The nice Mr. Hitler even went to great lengths to arrange a meeting with the designer of the car, and his son, and was full of praise for the work being done. The nice Mr. Hitler also went to some lengths to send the wife of the designer, and his son, to a concentration camp. The son survived to tell the tale because his mother fed him her rations. She died in the camp. He later went on to visit his father, who was imprisioned for collaboration, and to write about his experiences.

We live in different times, the control will take a different format, but it will still come as a shock to many, who think it will not impact upon them, just how broad and intrusive its effects will be.

I also suspect that, as with Hitler and Stalin, both the left and the right can see the appeal of this control and both want it working for them. I personally can't see the Tories giving up on the ultimate control any more than I can see Labour giving up on it and, in fact, to do so might give the other party such an advantage in terms of control of society that it may lead to a one party state.

This is, of course, mere political speculation and is certainly wide open to debate, opinion and intrepretation and we might as well debate it while we are still allowed. What isn't speculation is ISA, NTL selling transmitter sites to Macquarie, GPS tracking systems and ID cards.

Did you consider that once you are carrying your ID card it is possible to aim a CCTV camera at you and, using RFID cards, get instant information on your name and other details? Some night the people "ID cards will not affect" will nip behind a hedge on the way home from the pub for a pee and will find themselves with a sex offence against their name before they get home. We all know what society thinks about people who are sex offenders, they need much harsher treatment.

Worth thinking about.

I cant understand why?:confused:
Radar detecters slow you down and thats what police want us to do anyway dont they?.
I mean, when will be the law coming out saying that your brain will be banned coz you can think that you should slow down.:D
Now its becoming clearer that police aint interested in people slowing down
but they are more interested in catching speeding drivers.
someone might say here that actually police want to use your brain/coomon sense, not radar detector.Well, think about it, if people use their common sense with full potential, there wont be any jobs for the cops.
I give up!

hedgehog is truly a prophet. In the great tradition of many SF writers. I am amazed at the blinkered approach of many.