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Edinburgh City Council has begun sending staff on courses designed to train them to look out for anything that might resemble 'terrorist activity'.

According to the Edinburgh Evening News:

    Staff sources say that the sessions have included being told how to spot anything suspicious, and being asked to report anything – no matter how trivial – to police, such as quantities of empty bottles of bleach.

    Support workers who visit a range of clients in their own home including vulnerable groups, people with addictions and elderly people, have been among the first to get the training.

    Concierges, community safety teams and other front-line staff across the council are also to be sent on the sessions, which are hosted by police as part of the Home Office's counter-terrorism strategy.

This is disgraceful fearmongering that erodes trust in society and encourages spying, snooping and suspicion.

Perhaps most shocking of all is Edinburgh Council's decision to start the course with 'support workers working with the elderly and infirm, physically disabled, and those with mental health and learning disabilities, as well people with drug and alcohol addictions and the homeless'.

So, instead of prioritising the most disadvantaged in society, Edinburgh's hard-pressed social workers will now be searching for anything that looks vaguely 'terrorist', even something as benign as empty bottles of bleach.

A sad state of affairs.

By Dylan Sharpe for Big Brother