Anthem for Doomed I.D. Cards

For years, British P.M. Tony Blair has hyped National I.D. cards as the solution to terrorism, illegal immigration, crime, bad weather, Marmite, the hoodie epidemic, etc. In public, Blair's officials are all on board. But leaked e-mails, written by Whitehall officials and printed in The Sunday Times, reveal that the entire project is massively screwed. The I.D. card project director doubts that the plan "is even remotely feasible." Of a face-saving plan for scaled-down cards, the acting director at the Identity and Passport Service says, "It was a Mr Blair apparently who wanted the 'early variant' card. Not my idea." And an unnamed official involved with the project tells the Times, "No one expects this program to work."

Via Samizdata.

Comments

Mark VIII | July 10, 2006, 10:38am | #

Aaaahh man...I wanted ID cards!

How else am I supposed to tell if the chick I'm talking to in a bar and plying with Rum and cokes is over sixteen?

Male intuition?

Forget it.

Lilburne | July 10, 2006, 10:58am | #

Just because a policy won't work is no reason not to adopt it! I mean, by that sort of reasoning, many existing laws and regulations would have to be repealed, and we wouldn't want that, would we?

Gene Berkman | July 10, 2006, 4:12pm | #

Tony Blair has been pushing a national ID card for the last couple of years, as part of his own "war on terror." His Labour Party is split on the issue.

The UK Liberal Democrats are opposed, and the UK Independence Party is also opposed, along with the Freedom Association and the Libertarian Alliance.

The Conservative Party has attacked the ID to gain popularity, and then backed it to show they are not weak in the War on Terror.

flibber | July 11, 2006, 12:37am | #

Marmite is fucking Australian

Isaac Bartram | July 11, 2006, 9:08am | #

Marmite is fucking Australian

No, Vegemite is Australian. Marmite is English.

TrickyVic | July 11, 2006, 10:53am | #

Are your papers in order?

Hitler would have had a field day if he had today's technology.