so alan johnson is now telling us that id cards are simply a practical aid in the fight against identity theft. i would have thought that more papers represented more opportunities for fraud, not less, but what do i know.
id cards are to be brought in on a voluntary basis he says. they are to be elective
more blairite third-way-ism here: no id cards, compulsory id cards, elective id cards.
so, it wasn’t about threats to national security and terrorists after all. it’s about the cost to the economy of identity theft, which according to johnson costs the uk economy £1.2 billion each year (and if ever there was a figure plucked out of the ether, this is it)
the fact they expect us to cough up thirty quid for these things adds insult to injury.
laugh? i almost voted tory.
