Smile, You're On CCTV

One Nation Under CCTV - Banksy
Originally uploaded by unusualimage

You know that feeling you get when you're being watched? Well, I get it a lot here. But that probably has to do with the fact that, in England, you're practically always on TV. And by TV I mean CCTV--closed circuit televisions.

It all started when the Bulger case, a story of the murder of a little boy by two 10-year-olds caught on CCTV. The footage helped lead to a quick arrest After that, the British Home Office made grants available to any local council that wanted to install cameras. Four years later, the numbers have swelled and London is the biggest customer. After the IRA detonated a bomb that killed one person and did an estimated £1 billion worth of damage, after which the police put a "ring of steel" around Bishopsgate to prevent any more attacks, including hundreds of CCTV cameras.

Now, years later, CCTV is everywhere. The numbers are actually staggering. One fifth of the world's CCTV cameras are in the British Isles, which represent less than one five hundredth of the world's habitable land mass. No one knows exactly how many there are, because so many different agencies, private and public, have installed them. Here's one estimation:

"Clive Norris, Professor of Sociology at Sheffield University, calculated four years ago that there were "at least" 4,285,000 – one for every 14 citizens. Norris claimed in his 1999 book that a person could be caught on CCTV cameras 300 times in a day. This figure is on the high side; Prof Norris has described it as "a piece of rhetoric" intended to "make a point" – but a few hours' spent travelling around central London could take you past 300 cameras."

You see them walking down the street or waiting for the bus. Near shopping areas, tube stations and even around school. And I'm not sure how much safer I feel or am. There's a lot of debate about that too. While they may may sound like a great idea, but at what cost? Just consider this.

"A website run by the charity Privacy International publishes a world map, updated annually, in which countries are colour coded according to the level of surveillance to which their citizens are subjected – white for the countries where there is the greatest respect for individual privacy, black for the countries such as Russia, China and various Middle Eastern states, where surveillance is "endemic". Most years, there is only one European country coloured black – the UK. This is because the UK could be almost be called the home of the CCTV camera." [Source]

And now comes another development. There's a rumour that the Met (London police) want to install CCTV in pubs around London. Just imagine what will happen then.

"Yummy British Food" is Not an Oxymoron

When I came home for Christmas my family and friends all commented on the fact that I didn’t have a British accent. Undeterred, they remained on the lookout for subtle signs—words, expressions, interests or opinions—that would reveal my increasing Britishness. Aside from the occasional use of Tube,” “splendid,” and “pence” I think for now I’ve resisted the assimilation and managed to stay Canadian, eh?

But there are a few ways that I’ll admit to forsaking my country: my diet. I’ve never heard of British food being particularly good (haggis, though Scottish, springs alarmingly to my mind). But I’ve got to say, as a result of my residence cafeteria, I’ve developed a love of certain foods. Here are some:

1. Yorkshire pudding. In the British tradition of naming meals after deserts, comes Yorkshire pudding a food that is not pudding in fact but bread and quite lovely indeed! It’s shaped like a butter tart but hollow. What makes it amazing is the sweet sauce, topping or spread that they coat it with. It is divine. I raved about it for a week straight before my British friends knew what I was talking about.


2. Banoffee pie is unlike Yorkshire pudding, actually a pie and actually a desert. It’s made of pie crust with, bear with me here, bananas and toffee. And it’s exquisite. Originally, bananas and toffee were along the lines of peanut butter and oranges, and I wasn’t wild about the idea of mixing the two. But by God it’s not half bad. In fact it’s quite delicious. And for all you Love Actually buffs, it’s banoffee pie that Keira Knightley’s character offers to Mark when she comes to see the wedding video in his apartment.


3. Tea. This is not a secret nor really a new development as I've been drinking tea as an alternative to coffee since university. But here, no surprise, my intake and appreciation of tea has doubled or even tripled. I have at least one cup a day, usually two. And that's just at dinner. On particularly cold days I brew my own before school and maybe at night to keep me up and focusing on that next chapter. So far I've only had Earl Grey and English Breakfast Tea but I see myself venturing into more adventurous territory soon. Note to readers, Orange Pekoe, the variety that is common in North America is unknown here in Britain. I think it exists, just not under the same name.

4. Rice pudding. I tried to find the most appealing picture I could find. Not an easy task for this particularly dish. Those of you sensitive to texture, may need to take a pass on this one. They serve it in our canteen (what the Brit's call a cafeteria) but I'd never tried it. My friend once got a bowl full and by the end of the meal, his spoon was trapped had to be levered out. It was not appealing imagining that in my stomach. But last week, picking up a lunch I'd ordered after a late class, I was given rice pudding in a yogurt style container. And I was converted. It is amazing. It's made out of rice kernels and is a sort of paste-like dessert. It's sweet and the little rice kernels are a little surprise that I quite enjoy. I had the vanilla flavour but apparently there's others like strawberry and blueberry. I'll let you know if they're as good. It may look like something a baby eats, but trust me.

Image: The World Wide Gourmet and Dessert Comes First

This Can’t Be Good for Your Reputation

In my months in Europe, I’ve heard a lot of smack talking about the EU. It wasn’t so bad in Brussels. But now that I live in London, it has quadrupled. When one of my friends said, “Yeah, I think Europe is a great idea. I’d love to be European” I almost fell down and died from shock. The EU gets such a bad rap in Britain, especially, as a wasteful and bureaucratic organization.

But stories like this aren’t going to help rehabilitate that image. Calabria, a province in Italy’s poorer southern region, is looking to use EU development funds to help promote its soccer team citing, “it can help raise the profile of their area, both within Italy and overseas.” According to one website promoting Italian tourism, Calabria is currently "little-respected by other Italians and little-known to tourists." They expect it’ll cost €1.8 million over three years. I’ve heard of soccer doing a lot of things, but developing a nation isn’t one of them.

Oh and by the way, Calarbia just happens to be home to “the N'Drangheta, one of Italy's most powerful and violent mafia organizations.” Coincidence?

What the World Thinks of Canada

Being a Canadian in Britain is, for the most part, awesome. You’re not European so the Brits don’t dismiss you as lazy and wasteful (like the French) or drunk (Irish) or corrupt (Italians). But there is the odd time where I’m mistaken for an American. The conversation usually goes like this:

Them: Where in America are you from?

Me: Actually, I’m Canadian. (sympathetic smile)

Them: Oh! (look of horror). I’m so sorry, I know that’s a huge insult.

Me: No, that’s OK, don’t worry. It happens a lot.

With Obama in the White House, I anticipate there will be less apologies, more “Do you guys really have polar bears?” questions (I’ve gotten a few of those). But I genuinely imagined the perception of Canadians by Brits was pretty favourable.

This article was a rude awakening. It's about Obama’s visit to Canada yesterday.

Canada is an interesting testing ground for the theory.

On the one hand, Canadians appear to like Mr Obama rather more than they like their own politicians - he has scored approval ratings here of nearly 90%.

On the other, reasonable, multilateralist, compromise-loving Canada doesn't really seem to do mania. You imagine the arrival of the Beatles here would have provoked civilised curiosity, and performances by the early Elvis might have prompted polite applause.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is a Conservative who leads a minority government, and it would be fair to say that he has avoided the temptations of charisma in doing so.

Now, I’ll forgive the Harper comment because God knows he’s not the most awe-inspiring figure to ever grace Canadian politics, but really? Canada “doesn’t really seem to do mania.” Ever heard of a little thing called Trudeau-mania? The word is built in the title!

Boring, they think we're boring. They may not have said it in so many words. But that first sentence is the journalistic equivalent of "You're a big fat fuddy duddy!" This is the only time that I’ve ever actually wanted to comment on a news story. Wisely, the BBC doesn’t have that feature available. Otherwise I would have made severe use of it!


DISCLAIMER: No offense is meant by the cultural references above.