almostwitty

Jacqui Smith, the British Home Secretary, has today stated that "I regularly have people coming up to me and saying they don't want to wait that long" (for ID cards to be issued to every British citizen).

I'd love to get a list of these people. After all, if they're perfectly happy for the British government - run by civil servants with a nasty habit of mailing CDs with details of 25 million people in the post that disappear, losing over 100 memory sticks and portable hard drives - to have their personal details on file at any time, I'm sure they won't mind the rest of us having at least their name.

Seriously, what kind of deranged fool would say "Hello Home Secretary. I want a way to prove my identity. It's not enough for me to use my bank card, driving licence or passport to prove my identity, and I keep opening so many bank accounts all the time it's tiresome for me to keep dragging these documents around with me at all times. Instead, I'd love all my details to be stored on a small credit card which I could easily lose - and which I'd pay £30 for myself".

And never mind stealth - ID cards are already mandatory for foreigners who want to live in the UK - which isn't exactly good news.

Fortunately, Labour seem to be the only advocated of an ID card - the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats say they'd scrap the scheme. and I really hope they don't change their minds. But just to make sure, I'd suggest joining No2ID...