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07 June 2005

The Antagonist Returns

The Antagonist has been away enjoying the joys of the countryside for a while and is full of the bliss that comes with avoiding news of the sort of reality that streams out of televisions, and which one doesn't find half way up most mountains.

So much has happened in the interim. Yet another interminable round of Endemol's UK version of Big Brother has started featuring an even bigger bunch of vacuous retards with fewer discernable skills than ever before, and a Tory speechwriter. Oh, wait, retards with no discernable skills... Tory speechwriters, much the same really.

Then it seems the European constitution is done for because it is being recognised everywhere for the worthless bit of junk it is, even by the Dutch who just booted it into touch. Despite all the negative connotations associated with their liberal drug policies, the Dutch people look like they're thinking straighter than a lot of others.

As if this wasn't enough, the UK government is now surpassing its own Big Brother ID card nonsense and also wants satellite tracking devices fitted to all cars to enable charging of road users for road use on a per mile basis. They announce this as if car drivers paying stupid amounts of tax on petrol isn't charging people on a per mile basis.

A minor by-product of making all cars uniquely identifiable by satellite tracking devices is that they'll also know the whereabouts of every car in the country while simultaneously making it too expensive for anyone to bother leaving home in the first place.

If you are physically free to get in a car and drive somewhere, but you can't actually afford to go anywhere, or do anything, can you still be described as being 'free'?

It's almost as if The Antagonist had never been away.

Word seems to have it that if we let this nonsense satellite tracking thing happen, then some roads could cost as much as £1.34 per mile. So, if all goes according to the government's barmy plans, it's going to be cheaper to jump on a low cost jet plane and leave the country than it is to go anywhere in the country.

Thinking about it, leaving the country isn't such a bad idea...

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