Ivan, dear boy,
You should take a look at Nanny Knows Best if you've never seen it. If even half of what they say is true, the Englishman's liberties are a shadow of what they once were.
-ccm
The fact that we complain as much as we do about an intrusive state is indicative of our basic liberties still being in place.
I should point out, it's apparent that both the Tories and Liberals are going to run the next election partially on a platform of rolling back some of the encroachments Labour has made.
Regards, Ivan