The Judge RANTS!
Date: 25/03/06
It's Still On The Cards
Some of my friends pull my leg about my obsession with this, but I
don't care because this is bloody important.
The Blair régime is still intent on getting its odious ID card
scheme passed into law. So much so that it is willing to make itself
look completely stupid by throwing it back to the House of Lords to toe
the line every time the upper house amends it to remove the element of
compulsion which the Government claims isn't there anyway.
As to the effect the Bill, if passed in its present state, will
have on the lives of everyone in the UK, I can't improve on the latest
front page from the campaigning group NO2ID:
New Labour's ID card scheme will change YOUR life!
The government claims that 73% of people asked were in
favour of ID cards, but two thirds of those same people were not aware
of what the introduction of the cards actually involved. Here is a
glimpse...
YOU WILL:
ATTEND an appointment to be photographed, have
your fingerprints taken and iris scanned, or be fined up to
£2500. Additional fines of up to £2500 may be levied each
time you fail to comply until you submit to these procedures.
PROMPTLY INFORM the police or Home Office if you
lose your card or it becomes defective, or face a fine of up to
£1000. If you find someone else's card and do not immediately
hand it in, you may have committed a criminal offence punishable by
imprisonment for up to two years or a fine, or both.
PROMPTLY INFORM the National Identity Register of
any change of address or face a fine of up to £1000 (you will
supply evidence of your previous addresses, not just your current
address).
PROMPTLY INFORM the National Identity Register of
significant changes to your personal life or any errors they
have made or face a fine of up to £1000. You may also be obliged
to submit to being re-interviewed, re-photographed, re-fingerprinted
and re-scanned, or face a fine.
PAY between £30 and £93 (or more) to
be registered, with further charges possible to change your details and
to replace a lost or stolen card.
When ID cards were introduced in this country during World War II,
they had three functions. By the time they were abolished in 1952 they
had 39 administrative uses. So what won't we be able to do without an
ID card, according to Government plans? We'll be prevented from renting
or selling a home or staying in a hotel. We won't be able to buy a car
or a mobile phone; open or use a bank account; travel abroad; register
with a doctor; get education; work or run a business; (officially) live
or (officially) die...
**********
Additional!
I knew I had an appropriate quote somewhere. This comes from
Richard Bos, a fellow-habitué of the newsgroup alt.fan.pratchett:
"In fact, if people really want to claim that honest people have
nothing to hide, and nothing to fear, I would entreat these people to
display, on a publicly accessible, permanent web page, the following:
- full name
- address, including postal code and city
- phone numbers, landline and mobile
- social security number
- one representative, clear, passport photograph
- one ditto full-length photograph
- place and date of birth
- employer, work address, and job title
- all bank account numbers
- blood type
- medical history
And ditto for their children. And ditto for their children's
children.
And then publish the web address here, for all to see.
If one of them is not willing to do that, and yet would claim
not to be
a criminal, and maintain the above statement, I'm calling him a
schoolbook example of a hypocrite."
