Let the Bejing Olympics of Global Re-branding and Marketing begin!

Now, as China prepares to showcase its economic advances during the upcoming Olympics in Beijing, Shenzhen is once again serving as a laboratory, a testing ground for the next phase of this vast social experiment. Over the past two years, some 200,000 surveillance cameras have been installed throughout the city. Many are in public spaces, disguised as lampposts. The closed-circuit TV cameras will soon be connected to a single, nationwide network, an all-seeing system that will be capable of tracking and identifying anyone who comes within its range — a project driven in part by U.S. technology and investment. Over the next three years, Chinese security executives predict they will install as many as 2 million CCTVs in Shenzhen, which would make it the most watched city in the world. (Security-crazy London boasts only half a million surveillance cameras.)

Britain may not win many gold medals in the Olympics but we can be sure of one top place on the podium, in surveillance. For some time Britain has been outperforming other nations in the number of surveillance cameras that are trained on its own citizens. The 2012 Olympics will provide an excellent opportunity to further advance our claims as the all time best performer in this field.

A new report predicts that the value of the UK CCTV market will increase by 10 per cent by 2012, with the London Olympics leading the growth. And equipment sales are anticipated to reach over £450m in the same period.

Royal Air Force sources have confirmed it will deploy armed "Reaper" unmanned aerial vehicles during the 2012 Olympics.

Using the machine above a huge city such as London is not without risk but according to RAF sources. British authorities regard the terrorist threat to the 2012 Olympic Games an even greater risk. "Armed Reapers will fly over London," a source said.

The Reaper, which is the latest version of the General Atomics Predator hunter-killer UAV, can carry an array of laser-guided bombs and missiles

A new nerve centre combining police, fire, ambulance and intelligence services is to be built for the 2012 Olympics.

Watch the BBC video'New Command centre revealed'

The ODA continues to live down to its reputation for Media censorship and control. Visiting the Clays Lane area another Games Monitor person and I wandered down the road past the Travellers’ Site as the Travellers were moving their goods. The entrance to the road was open and no security guards were present. After walking round for a while I found my colleague making some drawings near the entrance to the Park Village estate where she had been sitting for some time without any interference.

Last weekend I decided to pay a short visit to Clays Lane to see what was happening to the old homestead in Crabtree Courtyard as the Travellers have reported that demolition has started on the housing. From the roadway outside the estate looked untouched apart from some windows being knocked in. The Travellers have been complaining about dust and noise from the site and the flow of heavy vehicles along the service road.

Extract from the transcript of : File on 4: The building boom's true cost: Broadcast on BBC Radio 4; Tuesday 10 July, 2007.

With Britain in the middle of a construction boom, Julian O'Halloran investigates claims of cartels and price rigging and assesses how much such practices are adding to the final bills paid by UK plc.

Olympics 2012 organisers have been forced to spell out their policy for treating photographers at the east London construction site after an amateur claimed security guards tried to stop him taking pictures there. Dr Patrick Green told us two security guards tried to prevent him taking pictures at the northern end of the 2012 Olympic site on Sunday 10 June.