Reality of watchers

The recent proceedings in the Celebrity Big Brother studios highlight not only the fragile nature of the relationships between humans, but also the experimental nature of such a concept. What a ridiculous furore has exploded around Jade Goody because she referred to Shilpa Shetty as "Shilpa Poppadom". This is absolutely not a racist but a class issue.

The fact was that Jade could not cope with a beautiful, self-assured, intelligent woman from a completely different background and it brought out the very worst in her. The outrage should be about her foul language and bad manners, and not about her comment.

How does a group of very mixed people behave when they are forced to live in a closed community, monitored by CCTV all day?

Government ministers are formulating proposals to offer 24-hour CCTV monitoring in a defined "safe room" in the private dwellings of those who are "vulnerable to abuse". There was a vague hint that this facility may be offered for the protection of newborn babies of couples who might present an "abuse risk".

Another scheme, under the guise of public protection, will allow chip implants to be placed in those who may present a risk of violence to the public.

It is not too difficult to envisage that the insidious creep of this kind of tracer implant, closed community living and CCTV monitoring could be imposed by statute.

The enormity of such a thought is beyond dread and, considering that George Orwell thought of it some 70 years ago, makes me wonder if the concerns of the general public have not slipped a rung or two in the interim.

W A Davis, Hall Street East, Wednesbury.