Saturday, November 15, 2003
Most Labour backbenchers want further research on the benefits of ID cards before they are introduced, a poll for the BBC suggests. Or at least, they will do, right up to the point where David Blunkett tells them to shut up and agree with what he says.
"I know some people believe there is a sinister motive behind the cards; that they will be part of a Big Brother state.
"This is wrong - only basic information will be held on the ID card database - such as your name, address, birthday and sex.
"It will not have details of religion, political beliefs, marital status or your health records." [Blunkett said]
So, the other argument is, if the ID Card isn't going to have useful information as part of it, why are we going to have it. I'm not saying that there is ever a form of this that I would be happy with, but what are OAPs or Daily Mail readers going to think, they're paying for this but they can't access benefits (despite the fact that the card is going to be used to make sure they aren't receiving any fraudelently) or healthcare (despite the fact that the ID card is going to be used to stop health tourism). This does rather suggest that Mr. Blunkett has seen the answer, ID Cards, but has not yet found the problem.
"I know some people believe there is a sinister motive behind the cards; that they will be part of a Big Brother state.
"This is wrong - only basic information will be held on the ID card database - such as your name, address, birthday and sex.
"It will not have details of religion, political beliefs, marital status or your health records." [Blunkett said]
So, the other argument is, if the ID Card isn't going to have useful information as part of it, why are we going to have it. I'm not saying that there is ever a form of this that I would be happy with, but what are OAPs or Daily Mail readers going to think, they're paying for this but they can't access benefits (despite the fact that the card is going to be used to make sure they aren't receiving any fraudelently) or healthcare (despite the fact that the ID card is going to be used to stop health tourism). This does rather suggest that Mr. Blunkett has seen the answer, ID Cards, but has not yet found the problem.
