NEIL Mackay's excellent analysis of the storm of fake news and psychological warfare that engulfs us ("Fake news and hate: how we brought it all on ourselves", The Herald, August 15) draws strong parallels with Orwell's dystopian 1984.

Orwell foretold a future where a totalitarian regime used technology to spy on all its citizens at all times and dealt harshly with any whose behaviour did not meet the criteria set by Big Brother. His rule was supported by lies and continual conflict with conveniently changeable enemies. Reading the novel as a teenager in the 1950s was chilling, but seemed at the time to be largely a warning against the totalitarianism of the USSR. Orwell did not specifically paint the regime as being of the extreme right or left; maybe he felt that at these extremes, they were indistinguishable.

At the time, there seemed to be several comforting reasons why such a scenario would not occur in the UK. These included the technology needed for such detailed surveillance, its cost and practicality and the perception that our governments were generally benign. The technology of what became known as CCTV was, in the 1950s, suitcase-sized and likely to cost thousands of pounds per unit in today's money.

While the Tory governments of the 1950s had their failings (the Suez crisis, for example) by the time of Macmillan's famous “Never had it so good” speech, it seemed that their actions were broadly beneficial to the majority. They appeared to practice a type of patrician, but generally benign, one-nation Toryism.

Fast forward to the actual year 1984, and it still seemed that Orwell's dystopia had not come to pass. The technology of video cameras had advanced and become cheaper, but dealing with the mass of images still needed human intervention on an unrealistic scale. The Tories had become much less benign, but even they could not implement the nightmare.

Is Orwell's nightmare still unachievable? The answer is now much less clear, with the development of digital technology. Cameras have become much cheaper, and computing power means that facial recognition technology can be deployed to check on individuals. A decade ago, the cost of ubiquitous surveillance equipment was still prohibitive, but now, there are three million CCTV cameras on our streets. Worse, we the general public have also willingly paid to install surveillance equipment in our homes and pockets. Our mobile phones and now smart domestic appliances are all capable of monitoring our actions and posting details to the internet. Combine these technologies with our nacissistic love affair with the selfie, and blanket surveillance suddenly becomes a reality, meaning that our protection from totalitarianism now rests only with our governments.

The current Tory Government gives little cause to believe they have the interests of the general public at heart. Calling the EU referendum to try to unify the party, the naked racism and lies of the actual campaign and now the Gadarene rush to use the narrow result to drag the UK out of the EU all make no sense for the majority. The sole beneficiaries are tax avoiders, polluters and exploiters of working people. Once Boris Johnson's hard right has fully consolidated its hold on power, the world of Big Brother can easily be enacted, ready to control the actions of any who try to counter their influence. You have been warned. Y

Dr RM Morris, Ellon.

Not so special

OUR politicians are too young to remember.... before congratulating themselves on being first in line for a special deal, the Brexiters should pause and consider the actual facts about the "special relationship".

America came late into the war against fascism and didn't do so until its own interests were threatened. It certainly didn't take part to "save"Great Britain. And consider the deal which Britain was forced into by the US while we fought alone: at the end of the Second World War the Americans made sure that Britain paid back every debt incurred by the purchase of the war materials necessary to defeat fascism. While America boomed during those war years, Britain was impoverished.

In the immediate aftermath of the Second World War America's Marshall Plan helped to rebuild the economy of war-torn Europe. But, while German factories were equipped with new machinery and that economy put on a strong footing, British businesses had to make do and mend. There is no special relationship with America, other than a shared language. And even that may soon be a thing of the past.

Ian HC Stein, Dunblane.