It’s no surprise that the government is turning to pseudoscience to assist with its harrassment of benefit claimants: mind-reading, divination and magical control of others are inherently appealing to authoritarians, hence the long-standing association between New Age ideas and fascism (there are quite a few New Age-y types in the BNP). As with the old-fashioned polygraph, however, the real purpose of the technology is intimidation. And how do you like this for a non sequitur?

In the first three months of using the technology Harrow saved ?300,000, suggesting that levels of benefit fraud may be higher than government estimates.

Or suggesting that the adoption of innovative ways of being pricks to people who are trying to get money out of them effectively discourages even legitimate claims?