ASYLUM

* Articulate

I came across this link on del.icio.us, but I wanted to give it slightly more prominence than just gakking it for my own list, which most of you probably don't read anyway (foolish mortals).

It's a list of around about 50 articles worth reading on a wide variety of subjects. Seriously, you should be able to pick out at least a couple of articles that'll appeal to you, maybe a whole bunch more.

* TK421 why aren't you at your place?

So. ID Cards have been passed in the House of Commons, with the alledged Opposition Party voting in favour. The usual excuses were given, none of which hold water, and no clear benefit can be offered for these expensive privacy-invasions. It will be mandatory to register for such a card, provide the required personal details, pay the estimated £85 for it, and keep the government informed of any changes to the details stored therein — or else pay thousands of pounds in fines.

It won't (yet) be mandatory to carry it at all times:

[Newly-appointed Home Secretary Charles Clarke] was repeatedly pressed on how the scheme would help police if people did not always have to carry the cards. Mr Clarke said officers believed the cards would make their job easier. — BBC news

Clearly, it won't, otherwise this usually highly spin-conscious government would have had a neatly-prepared quote to support it.

Labour backbencher Neil Gerrard claimed it was "almost inevitable" people would eventually be forced to carry the cards. — same article

...yup, and it will probably happen after some kind of attack occurs and the government "needs to be seen to be doing more". Because ID cards will not prevent such an attack from taking place. Spain has ID cards, but Madrid still got bombed.

And it's mandatory to show government ID when flying on US airlines. The 9/11 hijackers — 9/11 was inevitably trotted out as a reason for getting these things — all had valid government-issued ID. So mandatory cards won't stop "another 9/11" from occuring either.

The hijackers had fraudulent ID. Note, not forged ID. They fraudlently obtained real ID from the government. As long as there is a corrupt person anywhere in the chain-of-evidence required to prove your identity.

Not that there would be any problems like that in our government, of course. *cough* *cough* Yes, the reason Mr. Clarke is newly-appointed is because the previous Home Secretary, David Blunkett, resigned rather than try to explain his way out of not one, but three interlocking scandals.

I'd add an irony category to my blog, but it'd just take over.