Impressive yet creepy. Reminds me more of this!

ah, you've misread the context that is is in. this may seem a trick and extreme but 'coercion' is a major watering down of the original proposal to make them compulsory by law. and it wont come in until 2012 at the earliest (pushed back from this year). further, even if people were still 'coerced' into getting them - with a passport for example - they still wouldnt be in any way mandatory; all they'd have is a £90 tea coaster!

essentially, the UK government doesnt have the political will - the current prime minister is supposedly very much less keen on it than Tony Blair - or capital, after various lost data calamities, to push ID cards on. the change to coercion is essentially the first step in burying the scheme for years or killing it off quietly (without questions as to the needless millions spent on it already!)

no, they wouldnt feel anything. and both 110V and 240V are quite deadly enough!

they should be safe, provided they arn't grounded and dont touch the plug; the current will take the path of least resistance which will be straight back down the ground line (probably with a nice big fat spark) consequently tripping the breaker.

as is, even if they disabled the breaker they are insulated from ground by the pool (assuming it's some sort of continuous plastic, this is not the case with a bathtub given the metal plumbing); in this case if it was submerged it'd simply ground back through the plug. however if one of them were grounded - for example, reaching out of the pool to grab a beer, or resting with one arm out - then it is possible for the current to travel through them back to ground. which would be bad.

BUT they would still have to be the path of least resistance; if the whole plug is in the water, this should still be the ground pin (nb - assuming no faults) hence no shock. this is why if an underwater light in a proper pool shattered, everyone in the pool wouldnt be a gonner!

BUT if only the live pin was in the water (eg - the plug tipped over slightly or wasnt wired up correctly) or there was a fault on ground/neutral (ie - wasnt wired up properly to ground) this wouldnt be the case; if grounded, they'd be the path of least resistance, and would be shocked!
this is exactly the same result as if they touched a piece of metal equipment (eg - computer case) that was inadvertantly live and wasnt grounded properly.

they're safe as long as a) the plug is wired correctly b) the breaker is on c) if the breaker is removed, there are no ground faults d) they arn't grounded (ie - stay fully in the pool) e) the plug doesnt tip over. In other words, they either really know their stuff or are v stupid!

Think this has far more to do with health and safety checks to see if they've been tampered with - or at least discouraging all the Underground's fire extinguishers turning up being sold on street corners!

you Canadian-Americans see terrorism at every turn now!

Given this article is from the (notably alarmist!)Daily Mail I would say the building's impact might be somewhat exaggerated. Might be best to get some other opinion on it. The CGI picture isnt exactly the best, but as best I can imagine from the picture there are other far far uglier buildings in London.