Big Nanny Is Watching

"Talking" CCTV cameras that tell off people dropping litter or committing anti-social behaviour are to be extended to 20 areas across England.

They are already used in Middlesbrough where people seen misbehaving can be told to stop via a loudspeaker, controlled by control centre staff.

Local councillor Barry Coppinger says the scheme has prevented fights and criminal damage and cut litter levels.

But opponent and campaigner Steve Hills said: "Apart from being absurd, I think it's rather sad that we should have faceless cameras barking at us on orders from who? Who sets these cameras up?"

A recent study by the government's privacy watchdog, the Information Commissioner, warned that Britain was becoming a "surveillance society".