Smile! You’re on my bodycam
THE CITY’S traffic wardens are to get a new weapon in the war on illegal Square Mile parking. From next month the wardens – civil enforcement officers in the jargon – are to be armed with the latest in body-worn camera surveillance (Bodycams).
The move follows a rise in the number and ferocity of abuse being metered out to the ticketing patrols. Last March, a man was jailed for nine months at the Old Bailey for head butting a parking attendant trying to issue a ticket.
The Robocop move is designed to help reduce crime and anti-social behaviour and improve the delivery of parking tickets. The new video technology will also make it harder to challenge fines.
A City of London spokesman said: ¨We will judge the success of this trial at the end of the six-month period before deciding if they become a permanent feature.¨
■ Timing is everything. As former Ritz and Ivy Restaurant head chef Des McDonald announced a new outdoor terrace extension to his posh nosh Liverpool Street chippy Fish & Chips, comes a warning from Exeter University researchers that Britain’s battered favourites could soon be off everyone’s menu – making way for the more exotic species favoured by McDonald.
While London basked in a heatwave and McDonald dispensed drinks and canapés, the boffins were busy pouring cold water on the future of a British tradition. Researchers forecast that global warming has lifted the temperature of the North Sea driving cod, haddock and plaice to the cooler waters of the north and off the UK platter. The good news is that this will make room for the exotic species typically found around the Mediterranean coast, such as sardines, squid, cuttlefish and red mullet, perhaps more to the liking of the McDonald clientele who favour his oysters, sea bass a la plancha, shrimp burgers and fish finger butties. The Capitalist wonders what fishy business will be dished up for discussion this summer on the terrace in between the sipping of cocktails and shellfish vol-au-vents..