drone UK
Ms Snuff's speech can be heard on the MP3, with a transcript below.
Good Morning Everyone.

I'm Liberty Snuff, the new Minister for Housing, with responsibility for housing policy generally, but more specifically making sure that you do all stay in your houses at this time. As part of my role, I need to just check up on you all to make sure you're adhering to the policy and to give you all a few housekeeping rules โ€” if you'll pardon the pun.

Firstly, I just wanted to say a big thank you to all those who have adapted so well to the new circumstances, just hunkering quietly down and getting on with your lives. You can feel very proud of yourselves for being so compliant and uncomplaining. It really is because of the likes of you that my job is made much easier, and I can get on with the much needed task of making sure that everyone obeys the rules. Do keep it up, and remember that if you ever do get an urge to go out more than your allotted "one-a-day", or to do something the Government considers non-essential, just remember, "We're all in this together". In fact, I would strongly advise that you stop what you're doing a few times a day to repeat those words over to yourself a few times, perhaps in front of the mirror or over a cup of coffee. That will make it much easier if you ever do get that urge to go out more than your one-a-day. That and the threat of a ยฃ1,000 fine, of course.

But as you know, there's always a few who are determined to spoil it for the rest, and sadly we've had to deal with a number of serious breaches already. Some of you will have seen a number of totally irresponsible people in the Peak District, out in the open countryside, taking pictures, or walking their dogs, if you can believe that. Such people just seem completely oblivious to the dangers they are putting others in by being out in the countryside, instead of a short distance from their house. And let me say this: whilst we never wanted to have to take these measures in the first place, if we do keep on getting such levels of irresponsible behaviour, there might come a time when we just have to scrap the trips we allow you altogether. That's not a decision we want to have to take, but do be warned. All it takes is one or two to spoil it for the rest, and we'll have to end up banning everyone.

Now, I'm sure you realised from the video of the Derbyshire rule breakers, that the footage was taken by a drone. And I'm sure you will all realise what a huge benefit it is to our society to have the kind of technology that can be used to monitor people walking in such a careless and dangerous fashion in the countryside during a crisis such as this. Because the police can't be everywhere, you know. They can only do so much monitoring. That's why we're announcing today an investment of ยฃ500m to provide more drones to our police forces across the country, so that they can monitor more areas and hopefully spot more irresponsible walkers. So to those who might be inclined to break the rules, do be warned. Even walking in the open countryside is no guarantee that you will escape detection.

But of course we can't just rely on our police, or their drones to watch over you. We really need you, the public to be extra vigilant at this time. This is why we're bringing in a number of guidelines to help you report anyone in your neighbourhood who you think might be violating, or even inclined to violate the rules, such as our new online portal, which you can find at www.shop-a-neighbour.com.

And we've also introduced a new five point plan for you to make sure that people in your community aren't sneaking out more times than we've mandated for them. To help you remember it, we've made it very simple to remember:
S is for Stop them by stretching out your arm and holding your hand up in front of you to indicate Stop.

T is for Tell them "We're all in this together. In accordance with Government regulations, I need to ask you a few things.

A is for Ask them "Can you tell me where you live, how long you've been out, and how far you've walked?"

S is for Shame them if they refuse to stop by photographing them and threatening to post it on social media with #VirusShame.

I is for Intimidate them by telling them you will be reporting them to the police if they won't answer.
Hopefully those simple guidelines should go a long way towards fostering the kind of neighbourly love and community spirit that we all need at this time.

But I have to say that even though we're doing all we can to make sure that everyone complies with the new rules, there are always those who complain and who say things like "why can't we go out of our house and how dare you take our liberties away and such like." Frankly, I'm at a loss to understand such things. The idea that we are taking away liberties, when our guidelines clearly grant the freedom to leave your house once a day โ€” except for dog-walking, park-walking, countryside-walking, plus all other non-essential forms of walking and taking pictures too far from your house โ€” is the reverse of the truth. All we're telling you to do is to obey our orders not to leave your house, for your own good. And yet despite all this, we do actually let you leave your house. See? We. Are. Letting. You. Leave. Your. House. If that's not liberty I don't know what is, and the level of ingratitude among some is just not ... I repeat not ... in the spirit of solidarity that we all need to show now. Remember: We're in this together. And if you're not for us, you're against us.

There's also some people raising questions over whether the measures are proportionate. They point to interviews with what they call "world-renowned scientists," for instance, who've been questioning our measures, as evidence that the measures we are taking might be wildly over the top. Look, I'm sorry to have to be blunt, but I can't see how these sorts of questions are in anyway helpful to making sure the lockdown runs smoothly, or to foster the kind of community cohesion and solidarity we need right now. Of course we need to protect free speech, but if these questions keep being asked, we might have to bring in measures to make sure they don't get the kind of airtime and exposure that could so damage public morale at this time. Again, these are not decisions we want to take, but if people do keep posting comments and articles that are deemed to be threats to national security, there might come a time when - in the interests of protecting our freedoms and values - we might have to use some of the software our intelligence agencies have been testing for use against our enemies to take down these posts and delete these accounts.

But I don't want to end on a negative note, but rather in what is a much happier note. I want to read you a heart-warming story I received from Zoe, who is 6-years-old and who comes from Harrogate. She wrote to tell me all about some of the wonderful things she is doing, and perhaps they are things that some of you might also consider doing, during this time. Zoe writes:
Dear Ms Snuff,

I want to thank you for all you are doing right now. It's so good that you allowed us out of our house. Mummy said I should write and tell you about something I have been doing to try to be a good neighbour because we're all in this together. Our house is next to a road and so we can see people coming and going. I have set up a chair next to the window in my bedroom and I have been making sure that the people who live near us are not leaving their house more than their one-a-day. I have a camera as well so if I see anyone on the street twice I take a picture of them and post it on mummy's Instagram account to show everyone how bad they are being. I hope that by doing this I can do my bit as a good Samaritan and that people will think twice about going out more than they should.

Lots of love,

Zoe
Bless her. I think we can all learn a lot from little Zoe about what it means to be a good citizen, even a good Samaritan at this time. Let us hope that everyone learns the lesson quickly, so we don't have to raise our level of lockdown from amber to red, which would mean that everyone has to stay in their bedrooms for the whole day. And we wouldn't want that, now, would we?