I think the story has been twisted to make it news worthy. The police took knives, chisels and bolt cutters too. In any normal household the game would have been left behind, but as these people were probably likely to be the type that would wear (or have worn) the balaclava "for mischief", they would have needed to take it on the off-chance it was related evidence.

@44 Iburl: Again it's a twisted story: the couple were having really noisy sex next to a family with children. The children were asking the parents all sorts of unsuitable questions based on what they had heard. Most people would agree that having noisy sex when you know children can hear is slightly disturbing.

The method relies on whoever you are talking to being able to speak English. The Indian call centres used by my mobile phone, landline and broadband companies employ people who I really struggle to understand, and who can't understand me. I thought I had a nice clear English accent.

I wouldn't even try introducing anything complicated into the conversation as I know I would have to repeat it and rephrase it endlessly and pointlessly.

The Financial Times has a video about all of this, and even a Virgin Media sample letter.

The FT suggests that the whole idea is unworkable once it gets to the stage after the first written letter.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f929aa9e-5901-11dd-a093-000077b07658.html

@8 Takuan: The government was certainly elected, but from a choice of two pretty much identical parties, which isn't my idea of democracy.

If a gang of friends decided to democratically vote on what they were going to do that night, they would all have an equal say in the matter. It wouldn't just be agreed that only 2 members of the group could ever be allowed to make the decision, and that whichever of the two members were picked that night would control what the group did every night for the next 5 years.

The "Police Community Support Officers" are pretty much unskilled do-gooders who haven't had the desire to order people around shaken out of them by a proper policeman's training.

Generally if a PCSO says anything is illegal, ask them to get a real policeman to come along, as the real police have a much better understanding of the law, and much better training of dealing with the public.

If someone says taking a photograph is illegal then call their bluff and ask them to arrest you. "Photograph them all and let the courts decide" to paraphrase Marge Simpson's uncle.

Is "blackberry" actually a euphemism for "cherry" in this context?

Surely without magnifying lenses, the cards would still appear to be about 12 feet away to the observers, so unless they had really good eyesight it wouldn't be much use.

I thought Wanko slime was a different colour...

Has everyone seen this already? For what it's worth the bad guy is a PCSO, not a real policeman, but still it's a worrying sign of authority's slip into heavy handedness.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=RKl2sEN4yNM

The new sins are all very vague. Isn't drinking alcohol "drug abuse"? Don't they do that in Church? I'm about to have a cup of tea but I'm worried that that might be drug abuse too. Also isn't a person's very existence polluting the environment to some level?

Hell doesn't sound that bad if you can avoid all the preachiness of those who will go to Heaven.

Getting back to the topic... Piers Morgan was a tabloid newspaper editor, responsible for putting photographers outside celebrity's houses 24 hours a day, among many other intrusive things. If I had been Arnold I wouldn't even have told him my name.

If you adjust the brightness and contrast of the picture here,
http://www.joecunningham.com/20070922b.html
you can see the mugger's face well enough to help identify him.