Synchronicity perhaps led me to pick up Stephen Alford’s book The Watchers: the secret history of the reign of Elizabeth I last week. This Guardian review gives a good synopsis, detailing a country on the edge of paranoia, and suggesting parallels with the modern ‘war on terror’.
Now a few days later Edward Snowden’s revelations have made America’s National Security Agency PRISM surveillance system headline news worldwide. It may be a cliché but truly the more things change the more they stay the same….