ID Cards by 2010

The Tory party rolled over today. They are accepting a compromise proposal which means we won't be forced to have a card issued with a passport until 2010. Well the politicians are talking as though it were the idea of carrying a plastic card that is objectionable. If that were the case then ATMs would not be so popular!

The point is that the government wants to create a huge national database with information on every British citizen. This fundamentally alters the relationship between us and the state. We have only vague promises about how this information will be used. Will this national identity database and the Police national database be merged? Who knows the possibilities are endless.

Welcome to 1984.

Why have the British people been so passive, why are we not rioting in the streets against tyranny? I know of no-one who supports this proposal. What is most telling is that the rationale for the project keeps shifting just as the reasons for going to war changed over time. First to prevent terrorism, now to prevent benifit fraud, perhaps in the future they will admit there use for making stop and search powers easier to use. Please remember that these stop and search powers were greatly increased not long ago by David Blunkett.

Say NO to ID cards write to your MP today.

Find his or her address at http://politics.guardian.co.uk and then enter your post code in the ask aristotle box.

Commonwealth Games

Today the record breaking Scottish team returned home. What struck me as odd was that they flew in on Emirates. I must have missed the union with the United Arab Emirates. Has anyone told the SNP?

5th ID Card defeat

The government yesterday suffered its' 5th ID card defeat in the House of Lords. Peers have quite rightly been of the view that an ID card is not voluntary when it must be applied for with a passport. The Gov't seems to have a very odd view, when it comes to things not being compulsory. In this day and age it is almost impossible not to need a passport, especially since the UK has never joined the Schengen group.

The ID card will be issued along with the new bio-metric passports to be phased in during 2006 by the UK Passport Service. The UK has little choice in the matter, but for domestic ID there seems little point. I already carry a driving licence, with a picture on it and I have a passport. In our uniquely British culture where one is not even required to carry a driving licence whilst driving, an ID card just goes against the grain.

Many counter that several European countries already require citizens to carry ID card, this may well be true, but a German Ausweis does not contain the wealth of information which the government plans to have on ID cards here. The scheme is a giant red herring, an affront to civil liberties, stoked by fear of terrorism. I applaud the House of Lords' decision, and hope that our elected representatives in the commons will see sense on this matter before we sleep walk into an unfortunate situation.

Welcome to the newest blog on the block!

Hi Everyone,

I'm just getting the blog together just now.

Joe