A decade ago a political campaign group could set up a stall in a British town or city centre and hand out leaflets, sell magazines or obtain signatures. Now, the chances are that they would be approached in a matter of minutes and asked to move on. The justification would vary. They may be told that they require council approval for their leaflets or a charity collections licence. They may be told that stalls and structures are prohibited, or that these structures require a risk assessment or that it is prohibited to sell (or even give away) unauthorised publications. The specific form of paperwork demanded has a relatively arbitrary quality. What matters is that independent action is seen as illegitimate.
In Anglo-Saxon countries there is now a new and distinctive form of state. This is not any longer a welfare state, nor is it a nanny state (as some on the right would have it). It’s a busybody state. A state that is pushing and poking into social life, disrupting the things that people are trying to do, surveying and spying upon them.
