Random thoughts about ID Cards

On Monday 30th June, nine members of NO2ID were arrested for protesting outside a consultation about ID cards with Meg Hillier, Minister in Charge of Trying to Sell ID Cards to the Public (I don't think that's the official title). There's a good first-hand account about this at James Hammerton's blog, another on the NO2ID forum, and a nice write-up at Spyblog, which does a nice job of pointing out the genius of the NO2ID strategy here.

The government's been having a period of "public consultation" about ID cards, which has consisted largely of trying to avoid any actual cotact with the publc. As far as I've ben able to make out, this as been a process of telling interested businesses and local bureaucracies that ID cards will be a magic bullet for every single administrative problem they face at the moment or can imagine in the future, and trying to keep everyone else the hell out. Then, once the consulation process is over, the fact that there's been "public consulation" becomes a nice gotcha for anyone making further protests - "Don't like ID cards? Well, you should have mentioned it in the consultation process. Oh yes, we had one. All the serious people turned up - didn't see you there, though." Whereas, if the most widely publicised thing about the "public consultation" is that members of the public were arrested when they showed up to express their opinions, well...

Also worth pointing up either the both the blinding arrogance and duplicity/stupidity (can't tell which) of Meg Hillier's comments on the incident:

"I offered to meet NO2ID in Edinburgh but they declined. They are stuck in the past and need to realise that the majority of UK citizens are supportive of identity cards, which start being issued to foreign nationals later this year."

So they did show up, and she had them arrested! There's a woman interested in productive dialogue with all affected parties. Also, the "stuck in the past" comment is beyond satire. Is anyone still buying the idea that this is a fight where a bunch of Luddite engineers, privacy experts and IT professionals face off against technologically savvy government ministers?

As the Military Saying Goes: "Never Volunteer for Anything!"

Not much that anyone can really add to this opener:

The government is inviting communities around the UK to volunteer to host radioactive waste from the country's half-century of nuclear power.

*UPDATE*

The UK's most sane and responsible political party, the Green Party, comments thus:

GREENS SLAM BROWN'S NUCLEAR BUNG-AND-BRIBE STRATEGY

Caroline Lucas MEP has attacked Government plans, due for publication today, to create a system of subsidies for new nuclear stations and bribes to induce communities to accept radioactive waste.

The plan will see the government accept the indefinite responsibility for nuclear waste in exchange for a one-off fixed fee from the nuclear operator - a blank-cheque subsidy designed to encourage private investment in an otherwise economically unviable technology. Ministers will also offer bribe packages of extra health services and infrastructure to cajole communities into accepting nuclear waste dumps.

Dr Lucas, whose South-East constituency is home to two nuclear power plants at Dungeness, said: "Brown's bung-and-bribe strategy shows that he knows just how
unworkable his nuclear plans really are. But instead of supporting sustainable, job-creating renewables, he's handing out huge sums to whoever it takes to get his pet project through.

"His plan to hold health and infrastructure improvements to ransom in exchange for communities' silence over waste dumps is especially cynical. If a town needs a new school, or community centre, or cancer screening facilities, it should get them. End of story.

"As always, it will be the poorest communities who are given the least choice. Desperately in need of investment, they'll be forced into accepting radioactive waste on their doorstep just to avoid further Labour neglect.

"Brown's proposed nuclear waste subsidy is another example of his talent for funneling taxpayers' money into corporate pockets. His own experts predict that it could take up to 150 years even to find a storage solution, and the radioactive waste must then be guarded for hundreds of years. And our government has offered to handle all of this for an easy one-off payment.

"Building new nuclear power stations in this country has never been illegal, or even discouraged. But no company has ever tried, because the only way they can be made financially viable is with a huge government bung - that's what this plan is for."