This posting is a blatant act of plagiarism.

It is also a paean to the French Big Brother awards 2006 and French politicians, whose mission seems to include bringing laughter to the world, or the francophone section of it in any event, surely with the best of intentions.

The awards, as the title suggests, goes to the persons promoting acts or policies generally familiar to the readers of Orwell’s “1984�.

Nicholas Sarkozy was disqualified from admission to the awards this year, having won too often in the past and generally showing a superior talent to his fellow politicians in the running. His innate sense of contempt for the privacy of his fellow citizens and his dedication to spying on them were traits hard to beat, and so he was excluded.

1. In the “State� category the winner had compiled police records on citizens on foot of suspicion. He then deprived them of jobs on the basis of the “police records�

2. Sony-BMG installed spy software in their CDs, to spy on the customer purchasers of the CDs.

3. The Mayor of Ploërmel won an award for introducing a system for citizens to denounce other citizens and for installing 50 video cameras to watch a locality with no public order or crime problems.

4. Frédéric Péchenard won for his work in promoting the genetic filing of the entire population, arguing that innocent persons would consequently be free of suspicion.

5. Minister of Justice Pascal Clément, (what a surprise) won for, inter alia, his “determination to imprison and control� (is this a French idea?).

Would the French laugh at our politicians if they received our reports? Appropriate reports in the comment section please.