What is behind this rash of dispersal orders?

THERE are always plenty of people around who are very quick to scoff at anyone who points to the frightening theft of individual freedom in current society.

They refuse to see that we are anywhere near a police state and regard any warnings of increasing similarities with totalitarian regimes as not only absurd but offensive to their precious sensibilities.

Perhaps the reason why the head-in-the-sand brigade cannot see what is happening is that they have not being paying attention to an unrelenting erosion of liberties which has deliberately been carried out gradually, so as not to draw it to the attention of the distracted majority.

Worthing folk who read The Porkbolter newsletter will, like us, have seen a constant stream of examples over recent years.

And these measures are often introduced first in areas where little controversy or opposition is likely to be sparked.

For instance, those who remember the introduction of CCTV to the streets of  Sussex in the 1990s may recall that it was first rolled out in smaller towns where there is virtually no crime.

Likewise, the list of places on the receiving end of dispersal orders is looking suspiciously like a collection of soft targets.

As well as Bangor, mentioned in our last post, others towns affected include Andover, Swindon and Borehamwood - none of which, as far as we can recall, were involved in the 2011 riots.

But who exactly are the forces behind the scenes pushing for the dispersal orders to be inflicted on towns with no real crime probleem?

A clue perhaps comes from Kent, where retail giant Tesco was reported to have been pushing for the draconian measure.

It wanted the order in Hawkinge "to stop yobs from clambering on the store roof and kicking footballs at the walls".

Yobs? Funny how all local newspapers seem to assume that anyone threatened with a dispersal order must be a "yob", even if they're only playing football.

Is that what these orders are for? Protecting business interests from the public? It is certainly noticeable that the Section 30 zone in Worthing is pretty much the shopping area (plus a couple of parks).

With the real reasons behind the Section 30 hidden behind a wall of meaningless official verbiage, can anyone tell us what all this is actually about?