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27 April

National Identity Cards? One word: no. Another word: never. And some more words: absolutely no way at all. It's not often I find myself agreeing with that spluttering old bore Peter Hitchens but on this one he's spot on: forcing citizens to carry ID cards fundamentally changes the relationship between people and the state. It moves us from a situation in which They have to identify themselves to The People, to one in which we have to account to Them for our movements. It's the end of liberty as we know it and I for one am never having my eyeball scanned onto a piece of plastic and put into a government database. Consider me a conscientious objector from this moment onwards.

All the arguments for ID cards are spurious. They'll counter terrorism? Didn't work in Madrid. They'll stop illegal immigration? Only if you can find the immigrants who don't have them. And since when did placating the Daily Mail become a good reason for a Big Brother State? Everyone else in Europe has them? So what? They have high taxes and proper public transport as well, and we don't seem in any hurry to import those, more's the pity. The best and most spurious argument popped up on BBC news yesterday: after all, said some tosser, there's more information on supermarket loyalty cards about your personal habits than there will be on an ID card. Yes, there probably is. The solution: THROW AWAY THE FUCKING LOYALTY CARDS AS WELL! Jesus. Since when did shopping become more important than liberty?

About 1986, I'd say. Sigh.

Posted by paul at April 27, 2004 10:31 AM

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