Phillip K. Dick’s seminal sci-fi novel ‘Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?’ has likely influenced many of your favourite works of art. One could argue that the idea of a future in which police officers chase after androids on a crumbling, radioactive Earth isn’t really that far away; with generative AI wreaking havoc on social media and all-out nuclear war constantly being tiptoed around. However, Dick, or Ridley Scott, or even Villeneuve never predicted that their language would manifest almost fifty years later, into a strange phenomenon miles away from San Francisco; all the way over in London. The introduction of Ultra Low Emission Zones as a bid to reduce air pollution in the UK by current Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, is the easiest point to begin this timeline. Since 2023, driving a vehicle not meeting emissions standards within Greater London will result in a charge of £12.50 per day; on top of pre-existing congestion charges. ULEZ remains a contentious point: many back-and-forths, typically consisting of two lines — “air pollution kills children!” and “but I can’t afford to drive to work to support my children!” — continue to take place all over Reddit and Facebook; and while it is easy to empathise with personal anecdotes on either side of the argument, there is something to be said about the tactics of resistance.

Entering the streets of Bexley are the London Bladerunners: a team of masked men who vow to destroy every ULEZ surveillance camera, mobile or fixed, until Khan ends this tax on the poor. Of course, these bladerunners don’t share much common ground with any of Deckard’s incarnations over the last few decades as their methods become increasingly ostentatious. Fixed cameras are spray painted on, foamed over; if TfL cleans it up: cut down the pole; if they try to replace the pole: pour concrete over the control boxes; or even just sit there and block construction, etc. ULEZ vans are simply parked next to and blocked; or again, just sat in front of. It is a very impressive undertaking; if maybe for a few Facebook brownie points. Counter-surveillance protests, even after the likes of Snowden, or the 2019 revelation that HMRC stored biometric ID databases, do not usually contain such energy; edge; and confidence. It should also be said that flights to Europe and back are often cheaper than a one-way train to Manchester.

But at this point, I do feel the need to point out that one of the admins of one of these Facebook groups does have a very nice Porsche 911 Carrera 4S as his profile picture; and that one of the major online newsletters has a large yellow countdown to the next London mayoral election; boldly proclaiming “We now have 890 days to get Khan out” in capital letters. Perhaps there is room to look at the core of the issue with ULEZ cameras; and question if the timeline I proposed earlier should begin decades previous to emission taxes. Why does the usage of surveillance to oppress people not trigger such anger as a law that moves us away from fossil fuels? Are we paranoid of Khan, or a mass surveillance culture that long precedes him?