The last Big Brother series starts this week.

Until reality TV took on this title to describe minute-by-minute surveillance of contestants, the term 'Big Brother' used to be more widely understood as a description of alleged state intrusion in the privacy of people's lives, from George Orwell's book 1984. By coincidence, last night I was meeting with some members of the community in Southampton and one of their concerns was about the purpose and use of CCTV in the City.

This followed a story from Birmingham about allegations that CCTV there was being used to spy on members of the Muslim community.

I was able to give reassurance that the city CCTV systems in Southampton are in place to prevent and detect crime and disorder on our streets.

They do not focus on any groups or communities. There are some mixed views about the benefits of the use of CCTV cameras.

Some people object to them but many others welcome them for the increased sense of safety and reassurance they offer. CCTV systems certainly do deter some criminal and anti-social behaviour and when crimes are committed in public areas then CCTV is often a good source of evidence.

However, the amount of footage of drunkenness and associated crime in the city centre at night shows that the deterrent effect has limits especially once alcohol takes over.

The new government is talking about minimum pricing on alcohol and if you have read many of my previous entries you will know that I would welcome that.

We have started the anti-social behaviour campaign which will run through the summer and on 12th June we have the start of an operation to deal with any problems linked to World Cup matches. Alcohol features as a risk in both these issues.

Sadly for some people the mix of alcohol and football support leads to behaviour like domestic violence or expressions of hatred including racism.

Let's hope the vast majority can just enjoy the spectacle, sporting excitement and pride in the performance of their chosen team without resorting to drunkenness and disorder.

If government cuts are as big as some are suggesting then I can say that the biggest way to save policing costs would be to reduce the amount of excessive use of alcohol.

If the end of Big Brother is partly because audiences have finally tired of seeing exhibitionist behaviour, encouraged every time the housemates get a ration of alcohol delivered, then that's fine by me.

There's more then enough similar drunken exhibitionism played out on our streets every weekend.