It was a cold day in April, and the clocks were striking 13. Does the introduction have a familiar ring? It came to mind when I read that National Criminal Intelligence Service deputy Roger Gaspar had proposed to the Home Office that everyone's telephone calls, emails and Internet hits be logged and stored for seven years! Horror, of horrors, an idea so monstrous, that it could have come straight out of George Orwell's frighteningly prophetic novel: 1984.

The proposal was made on behalf of the police, Customs and Excise, MI5, MI6 and top-secret Government listening Centre GCHQ. The Home Office has said that it would consider the move in a bid to tackle terrorism, drug trafficking and paedophile rings.

Naturally, civil liberties campaigners condemned the proposal, and John Wadham, the director of campaign group Liberty, said: "The Government should reject it now." And so they should. CCTV cameras in shops and on the streets, the stopping and searching of suspected criminals, and even the compulsory carrying of identity cards by everyone, may be justified if it helps reduce crime. But, without good cause, reading personal emails, recording private phone calls, and monitoring Internet surfing amounts to a flagrant infringement of civil liberties. And think of all the damage that would be done to love affairs, and the opportunities it could provide for blackmailers, if such information were available to anyone with the ability to retrieve it.

Whatever next? I wonder when we'll have to start looking for telltale pinholes in our internal walls, which could betray concealed cameras - as is done in the homes of embassy staffs - to ensure that our private activities are not being filmed for future viewing?

If this outrageous suggestion is taken up, where will all the data be held, and by whom? The past poor record of governments and their security services for the safe retention of classified documents does not bear close scrutiny, and too often we hear of legal, medical and military classified papers being found on rubbish tips, and in taxis and trains.

It is doubtful that our communications would be any safer if they were held in official computer files, which have been hacked into by schoolboy computer whiz-kids.

So, should the proposal be accepted by the Home Office and become standard practice, whenever you are operating your PC, or using your private telephone be mindful of what you write or say, for if 'Big Brother' is not watching or listening, he will certainly be recording your every word for posterity - perish the thought!

It has been suggested to me that when the York Millennium Bridge is eventually opens, it might present a unique opportunity to help raise the approximately £500,000 still needed to fund the building of a new wing for St Leonard's Hospice.

The proposal is that an auction be held to bid for the privilege of being the first York citizen to cross the bridge, in company with the Duke of York, or other VIP, invited to open the bridge.

Might sound like an odd idea, but I'm sure there are people who would be willing to pay to have their name added to a plaque commemorating such a rare event. Any bidders?

Yanks at Oxford are nothing new. Hollywood heartthrob Robert Taylor quickened the pulses of female under-graduates in his 1937 film. In 1958, country singing Rhodes Scholar Kris Kristofferson completed his education in the city of dreaming spires. Then, in 1968, came Bill Clinton. Now it's been mooted that he may be offered the Chancellorship of Oxford University. Good for him, but he should remember that the office of Chancellor is 'square'.