Had a pretty crap day today, families suck, but just wanted to get down some thoughts I'd had on ID cards over the past week or so. This hot potato has been around for ages now and it's starting burn everyone's hands, but the issue has been in the news again recently for a couple of reasons.

Firstly the bill fell at one of the many hurdles it must face as the Lords sent a big 'fuck you' down the hallowed corridors of power. Can't say I didn't smile a little when I heard that but I was quickly frowning again when another news item was dragged into the media eddy.

A whole bunch of public sector workers have had their identities stolen and used to fraudulently claim large amounts of tax credits. A big breaks story about ID theft breaking at just the same time as the government takes a beating on their ID card bill, hmmm...

Anyway Blair claimed that the rise in ID theft supported the argument for the introduction ID cards while giving off his best, 'if-only-these-people-would-let-me-get-on-with-saving-the-country-from-itself' vibes he produces with such practiced ease.

Of course the vital piece of information was omitted because, while the fringes of such a story could give the government a lift, the heart of the matter is a great leaden anvil. How, exactly, would ID cards have prevented the mass fraud recently exposed?

All the costly technical wizardry they try to blind you with isn't worth shit unless the person and the card are both presented to an official with the equipment to verify the card. The fraudsters in this case committed their crimes online while many other official procedures with the potential to be abused use phone and postal services.

A super spanky ID card, with no smiles but plenty of go faster stripes, serves absolutely no purpose under such circumstances. Now the most basic an obvious use for cards has been cited as enabling the police to identify people with greater certainty. If a copper stops you in the street and asks to see your card, how does he verify it?

If they're just going to look at it and decide by eye then all the 'biometrics' are rendered completely obsolete. If not then what? Maybe you'll have to go to the station where there'll be verification equipment, but wait, unless a copper is actually arresting you, you're not obliged to go anywhere with them. Will the introduction of ID cards subsequently require fundamental changes to powers of arrest in the UK?

Well maybe not, there is another option. Police officers could be equipped with and trained to use state of the art portable verification equipment, easy. How much will this cost? Nobody knows. With or without these new toys for the boys in blue, the government refuses to give even a ballpark figure for how much this whole thing is actually going to cost us taxpayers.(1)

Apparently there is a good reason for this. To announce a cost estimate would apparently undermine the bidding process among the private companies vying for this particular golden goose. As offensive as this seems at first, something far worse lays just below the surface.

Most people agree that without compulsion an ID card system is pointless, ie. for it to work it must be illegal not to have and carry an ID card. These cards will not, under any circumstances, be free, hell no, you want to live in a safer world you must pay the price, in cold hard cash, bitch.

Sorry, I think I was just briefly possessed by a raging capitalist for a moment there. Anyway, whatever they cost, every single one of us will be legally obliged to purchase one. The bidding process mentioned will, presumably, have a single victor, one large private firm.

We will be in position where, for the first time I think, please do correct me if I'm wrong, every citizen of the UK will be required by law to spend a minimum amount of money with a privately owned business. Somehow I feel like I'm on the verge of living in some bleak dystopian novel.

The whole thing is clearly a sack of pants and I for one will resist it for as long as I can, fuck the man! On a more pleasant note I must admit I really did enjoy watching my old friend, and Santa's retarded cousin of course, Home Secretary Charles Clarke announce his climb down on the governments cannabis 'policy'.

Ho, ho, ho, you silly fat wanker! :))

PS. I wanted to have a smoking smiley there but I've just noticed there isn't one, is that political correctness or something? Well fuck it, I'll make my own: :r

footnote

(1) that's right, I'm paying income tax again and have thereby earned the right to bitch about how badly it's spent, it's my god given right as a working mug,