Blogging has been very light of late. Not because there hasn't been anything to moan on about, but others have been much more articulate than I at getting the points across; bloggers such as Dizzy,, Jackart, Guido, Devils Kitchen (who, I have to say, when I first started reading thought he was a little OTT but I have warmed to him) and of course, my old mucker Bag.

Also,working abroad does tend to soften the perspective in that the national news bulletins are not entitled "The Prime Minister Says". I haven't talked politics with my French and Dutch colleagues much, not because I think they are apathetic but rather they keep their political opinions to themselves.

On recent journeys to the Netherlands, France and Germany I have noted that airport security on the continent has relaxed somewhat. On our side of the channel however, the jobsworths seem to take great delight at inconveniencing travellers. I cite two examples:

1. Returning from France the other week via Eurotunnel I was waved through customs by the French officers. On stopping a British Passport Control I was given the third degree by one of Jackart's favourite people - a jobsworth in a hi-vis coat. "Where have you been? How long have you been there? What do you do for a living?" Since when did it become any of their fucking business? I answered politely and honestly whilst seething inside knowing full well that the slightest hint of facetiousness would probably result in a search involving rubber gloves. It wasn't so much the questions themselves, but the tone of the questioning.

2. On a recent return from Netherlands I was unable to get a direct flight back to Manchester and so had to trave via Gatwick. Being of the northern persuasion I'd never travelled through Gatwick before. The flight fom Amsterdam got in approx 25 mins before boarding for the Manchester flight. But Gatwick is designed so that passengers have to take a five mile walk from one end of the terminal to the other. Plus, there's no transit desk so yo have to exit via passport control and customs and then hike over to departures for the connecting flight. It was at departures I had to go through security all over again. However, this time as my passport was examined I was instructed to look into a camera mounted on the desk. WTF? Does this mean HMRC (for it is customs that operate the passport control) are recording the facial images of all travellers leaving the country now? If so, what are they doing with this data? Where is it being stored? Has it ever been transferred on a disk via TNT? Then after going through security - yeah unpack the laptop, take of coat and belt, retrieve belongings, get dressed, etc., there's a second scanning unit where you have to take off your shoes and put them through a scanner. Are these people insane? Why are we treated like fucking criminals in our own country? Is this sledgehammer to crack a nut security because some arsewipe put a few hundred grams of semtex in his trainers and then tried to set it off with a box of matches?

Seriously, the more time I spend abroad, the less I recognise Britain when I return. On the return from France I stopped at motorway services for a wee. I thought I'd walked into Fritz Lang's Metropolis - people were milling about like soulless drones, standing in queues for Costa Coffee or Burger King.

Is this what 11 years of Labour policies has done to us? It has browbeaten and sucked the enthusiasm out of the general populace so that we just operate on autopilot.

Don't know about you, but it fucking scares me to death.