UK Government Introduces Mass Vetting - 9 Million Must Prove They Are Not Paedophiles

OK. It's official.The British Labour government has become collectively barking mad.

Gripped by hysterical paranoia, they've announced plans to vet 9 million citizens - 1 in 5 British adults - whose work or voluntary activities may bring them into contact with children at any point. All 9 million will need to prove their innocence before being granted a licence. Even those who have never been charged with any crime may be refused a licence if someone casts suspicion on them.

The list of suspects includes driving instructors, opera singers, home helps, cleaners, prison officers, dads acting as children's football referees, weight loss instructors, speech therapists, builders, volunteer ambulance men and women, Sunday school teachers, council members, teachers, probation officers and government IT workers. The Government's own appointed Children's Commissioner will be subject to vetting for paedophile activity.

Once licensed to be around children - something seen as inherently suspect by UK authorities these days - those who are proved innocent will be labelled "regulated activity providers". Organisations of all types which cater for children - scout groups, dance schools, football teams - will be fined £5,000 if they inadvertently use an unlicensed volunteer.

The Vetting and Barring Scheme will be run by a body called the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) and will cost £200 million to set up.

Initially the government planned to vet 11million British adults but decided that children's authors visiting schools and mums and dads who occasionally help look after the children of friends and relatives will be spared for now.

The Conservative Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling attacked the scheme saying: "You just have to ask where all of this is going to stop. Of course we should check those who work closely with children and vulnerable adults, but the scale of what the Government is doing seems to be abandoning all common sense."

A spokesman for anti-surveillance lobby group Big Brother Watch said: "This database of nine million people is an intrusive and absurd initiative which will do irreparable damage to scouting, disability care, sports activities and a range of other charitable and volunteer organisations."

That won't stop the government though. It has a bizarre and zealous approach to the British population, treating people as criminals to be filmed, vetted and controlled at every turn and fined wherever possible. They are turning Britain into a society riddled with fear and suspicion. A lack of political confidence accompanied by an unpleasantly officious attitude means the authorities in effect let criminals set the national agenda. Serious criminals may be in the minority but society is becoming organised around their existence.

Oddly, while law-abiding people are harrassed as they go about their daily lives, the only people who seem to get under the authorities' radar are the villains. They often escape justice altogether, or have money and resources lavished on them for legal appeals and privileges while in jail and further privileges on release.

Britain has become a very - very - peculiar society.