Saturday 8 March 2008

Night of the Zombie ID Cards


The Government does seem entirely obsessed with ID cards. What annoys me is not the idea of the cards, nor even the fact that they may become compulsory, but the specious justification adduced by the Government. The idea that these things will in some way protect us against terrorism is quite absurd. In all of the trials of terrorist suspects that I have seen, the accused made no attempt to conceal their identity, only their motives and actions, which cannot yet anyway be fitted on to a card. Nothing has prevented a terrorist suspect obtaining a passport or a driving licence. What they may assist in doing, and why I think they may have some value, is cracking down on multiple identities which are used for frauds of various sorts. However I have not seen any figures so far leading to the conclusion that the savings outweigh the costs. It's time we had them.

In the meantime, this is another sure-fire vote loser and suggests that perhaps a significant number of Labour MPs are actually really members of the Conservative Party. The picture reminds us that ID cards are not a new idea.

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