"Are the neighbors watching me...(Who's watching)...Well, is the mailman watching me..."

An often-expressed disquiet on blogs is the ease with which it seems England is slipping into the 'Government is watching me for my own good' default mode.

Among others, Leg-Iron and Devil's Kitchen have recently posted on the ease with which the government is turning us all into unpaid informers by small, imperceptible increments.

Well, now the gloves are finally off, and they feel emboldened to come straight out with it:

Tradesmen working for local authorities are to be asked to report signs of child abuse and neglect as they visit the homes of council tenants.

The plumbers, electricians and carpenters will be issued with a checklist of signs to look out for, including ‘unexplained bruising’ and ‘scalds’. Training will last just half a day.

Of course it will - the object isn't to pick up instances of child abuse (because let's face it, how good are social workers at dealing with that anyway, and why would they just worry about council homes, after telling us for years it happens everywhere?), it's to ensure that we all know that someone could be watching.

Any time, anywhere.