On 3 June Simon Jenkins published a devastating critique of  the “security industry’s” promotion and exploitation of paranoia to expand its domain. It prompted the letter below, sadly not published. So I submitted it to my blog where it was accepted with alacrity.
Sir,
Simon Jenkins (Not every adult is a paedophile, a terrorist or a mass [...]

The above title advertises a Cambridge Science Festival event, (9 March 2009) in which I have been invited to participate.  My answer to the question in the title, will be spelt out in my first PowerPoint slide:
“No: because paranoia cannot be cured by CCTV, or DNA databases, or ID cards, or CRB checks, or number [...]