Choose your own religion

Apparently the only difference between Christians, Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses is their awareness of how annoying they are....

Merry Christmas

It's that season again...  the impending appearence of the relatives, way too much food/drink and snow.

OK, maybe not the snow....

Merry christmas!

Normal service will be resumed...

The blog may look odd at the moment, but we're tweaking a few doodahs and flanging a few sprockets.

Normal service will be resumed as soon as the hypergrobbit goes 'ding'. In other words, we're spring blog-cleaning.

Technical blog talk, y'know.

Say "Civil Rights"

Once again, the happy snapper may find themselves happily snapped, holding a board with their name and prison number.

Regular readers will know that I occasionally rant about people being stopped and searched or having equipment confiscated by police and (more usually) PCSOs for taking snapshots in the street. Things seem to be getting strange, with cases of people being sttopped and searched for taking photos of St Paul's Cathedral, Christmas lights and a street party in Liverpool.

The reason is Section 44 of the Terrorism Act, which allows police to stop anyone they want in a pre-designated area. These areas are chosen based on their perceived likelihood of being a target for terrorists, and include every railway station in the country. However, the exact list is considered sensitive, and is therefore secret. Brilliant.

Even with these draconian powers, there are still things that police cannot do, although it seems several still try: they cannot confiscate cameras, films, or memory cards, and they cannot require anybody to delete images from their cameras. And, of course, PCSOs do not have any power of arrest, search, or anything else that you or I can't do.

Stay vigilant, and keep taking photos.