The authorities have always liked using imagery that suggests constant and pitiless surveillance. I well remember those adverts showing ominous circles of light closing in around fraudulent benefits claimants, inadvertently giving the impression that the DHSS (as it was then) was run by the Mysterons from Mars.

I’m reminded of this every time I walk down a certain local street, and am confronted by a stark monochrome image of a pair of staring eyes: fierce, penetrating, accusing eyes. Below them, the accompanying text promises punishment for a crime, and urges good citizens everywhere to report those they see committing it. It is a bleakly Orwellian image, calculated to show the Awesome Power of the State. The State sees all, it says. The State sees your weaknesses, knows your failings, and does not forgive them. It’s positively chilling.

The crime in question? Failing to pick up your dog’s poo and place it in the receptacle provided.

There’s such a thing as a sense of proportion, you know.