Is funny how quickly the ground shifts. Not that long ago, discussions over this kind of stuff were generally the province of the institutionally paranoid and subjects such as echelon occasionally cropped up in sci-fi books and the manifestos of folk like David Icke, along with his rambling lizard bobbins.

These days, my gran might mention these subjects over a cup of tea after talking about the cricket, and she's a dyed in the wool establishment conservative.