SIR – First James Elsdon-Baker of ‘no2id’ then Jason Smith of UKIP accuse the Government of plotting to impose Big Brother using CCTV, databases and 42-day detention orders.

They present a doom-laden image of the future but so far neither has ever given an example as to how longer detention and increased surveillance has actually harmed our civil liberties in any meaningful way.

Until they do, I fear their tirades must be treated as so much paranoid hot air, but if they want to see what it is like to live in a country without civil rights and where the rule of law is ignored, they need look no further than Burma, China or Zimbabwe.

Brian Holmans, Langley Road, Bingley