Last week it emerged that the London paper, The Evening Standard, had been sold to an ex-KGB spy for the princely sum of £1. The Russian, Alexander Lebedev plans to invest tens of millions of pounds into the paper over the next two years. It appears that espionage is a far more lucrative market than I had considered, with Mr Lebedev's personal fortune topping £2.1 billion. Mr Lebedev would have us believe that his days as a spy are over and that the Cold War ended some time ago.
Espionage, however, is alive and kicking. The U.S government spent a rumoured $47 billion last year on spying, if you included military 'intelligence' into the equation then the figure becomes nearer to $60 billion.
The paranoia is not exclusive to nations either, corporate spying is on the up and according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers survey, a quarter of Australia's largest companies have admitted to 'competitive intelligence gathering'.
Formula 1 motor racing has suffered much bad press in recent seasons with allegations of teams spying on each other.
From governments to big business, right down to the man on the street, spying is a part of our modern culture. It appears that Orwellian nightmare is already with us, with the UK leading the way. According to the latest studies there are 4.2 million CCTV cameras in operation in Britain, that's one for every fourteen people! It has been calculated that the average Brit is caught on camera three hundred times each day.
Common technology in the average household allows the lay person to take on the role of agent saboteur, with mobile phones, Facebook, emails and Friends-Reunited all being used as evidence in many a modern divorce hearing.
Even my parents are at it! On a recent visit home I discovered that my Mother has been using Google Earth to identify the location of Ebay buyers. My Dad concerned that one poor Aussie had paid over the odds for one of his decorative glass pieces, was placated by Mum's cunning discovery that the buyer had a swimming pool in their back garden and so could afford to pay a premium!
£1? Surely he only needed to pay 99p?
Well to be honest mate, without bragging, I get my Evening Standard from a bloke with one leg down the Old Kent Road.50p. This 'intelligence' lot aren't half as bright as they think they are!