So Orwellian

Why does some aspects of British society seem, to American eyes at least, to be so Orwellian? Speed cameras and constant surveillance already give me the creeps, but now there is the knife crackdown.

From this Coventry article:

Another horrifying knife was found at a house police were searching in Fowler Road, Radford. Officers had gone to the house using a search warrant for drugs and found the hunting knife. The owner handed it over under the amnesty."

And here are pictures of the "horrifying knives", all of a few inches long:

Blade Detectors are being used to randomly stop people. It seems there is also a Knife Registry: They would also like to make law the Coventry-pioneered voluntary knife code, where people who buy knives sign a register.

I'm not sure if this is one town's crusade or a country-wide thing, but like speed cameras it seems to be a heavy-handed approach to a problem.