As our esteemed legislators consider ways in which to dictate business practices (including a bill that would put a minimum duration on coupons), warn Rhode Island students that the flattering and charming seamen whom they meet at weddings may deceive and murder them, and ensure healthier diets, I can’t help but wonder whether we oughtn’t cut to the chase and send emissaries over to London in order to get us up to speed with the United Kingdom’s methods:

In the UK there is approximately one surveillance camera for every 14 people and issues of invading civil liberties surround ever new development in our surveillance society.
… There is still some way to go before a “smart camera” can tell the difference between details such as a handshake and a punch, but Velastin believes they are not too far away.
“At the moment you can’t get a camera that can do that, not in a meaningful way, but this is something we are working towards. In three to five years we hope to have a program that would identify from your walk whether or not you are carrying a gun,” he told CNN.

Perhaps in five to seven years, these programs will be able to discern whether citizens have been consuming artificial trans fats by the way they lick their lips.