In the news this week...

CCTV has featured prominently in the news this week, starting with a troubling story about a football fan being taken down to Manchester by the police for violent conduct, after they mistook him for someone else on CCTV footage of the 2007 riots.

NHS hospitals in Wales are launching a new CCTV scheme to attempt to cut down on the number of violent attacks against staff. The cameras will be installed in ambulances and in the units, the hope being it will deter would-be attackers.

Witham West, a small market town, is bringing in a new £85000 CCTV system to recognise and store licence plates in an attempt to catch criminals, sparking concern about civil liberties from a local councellor.

And yet, even though the newspapers and news programmes are concerned about civil liberties or people being wrongly identified on grainy CCTV footage, it also provides them with light hearted stories. The escaped bull that walked into a supermarket would be one of those stories that no one would believe unless they were there, now, with CCTV cameras it becomes a YouTube sensation, with news networks lining up to post the video on their websites. Similarly, footage of a car rolling off a ferry slipway into the water was posted on the BBC news site. There seems to be a slightly schizophrenic attitude to CCTV, it's either an expensive breach of civil liberties or a means to capture "And finally" funny animal stories.