'Where New Labour has most cruelly disappointed is the speed and completeness with which it became "executive-minded". That especially marks Jack Straw and his Home Office colleagues. They slip too easily into the world view of security service directors-general and senior police officers. The state is under siege. Crime, disorder and libertinism are rife. Unless "the authorities" (a satisfying Home Office term, that) are given vast new powers to eavesdrop, discipline and investigate, chaos will ensue.' link