Jacqui Smith: ID Cards Are Safe And Well, Ha! Ha! Ha!
In the wonderful and wacky world of surreal politics which is the happy hunting ground of New Labour, there is never a dead horse which cannot stand yet more flogging.
Jacqui Smith is trotting out the usual stuff and nonsense to what must be a very bored or very credulous audience at the Demos think tank, although there is precious little to indicate actual thought happening, just the normal dirge-like repitition of a tired and discredited mantra as New Labour treads water before its forthcoming electoral defeat.
Read the full text of the snake-oil saleswoman’s patter over here.
New Labour: Taxpayers Are Scum, MPs Are VIPs
Remember when Tony Blair wanted to foist some hobbled-together, leaky old database on the public, which would contain all the details of the nation’s children? He knew that it would be accessible by all the paedophiles, weirdos and criminals under the sun, but he thought that was quite OK for the general public.
He just made sure that MPs and celebrities were excluded from the need to have their children’s details made viewable by all and sundry.
One law for the rich: one law for the poor who pay for the protection of the rich.
Now, after Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC - a grand title for a bunch of useless toerags) lost the details of half the people of New Britain, including all their financial data, because they were too thight-fisted and stupid to send the data securely, we learn that this will never happen if you are rich and famous.
MPs and VIPs are exempt from having to put their information on a system which loses data faster than it can be collected.
So, how was this arrived at? Was it just on the basis that 29 million taxpayers (the ones who pay for MPs to sponge off the state) do not matter compared with politicians and the rich and famous?
TimesOnline has this:
Mark Wallace, campaigns director for the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: “Its shocking that HMRC and Treasury ministers have been going round encouraging the public to use a system that they know is not secure. Revenue and Customs have lost the confidence of British taxpayers and they are failing spectacularly to win it back.
“It is essential for democracy that MPs have to use the same systems as their voters. A double standard is unacceptable.”
Mike Warburton, of accountants Grant Thornton, said his firm had previously raised concerns about the security of online filing system. Those doubts had now resurfaced because of the disclosure that MPs were not permitted to use it.
“Either the Revenue have a system that can guarantee confidentiality for all or they should defer plans to force online filing. It is extraordinary that MPs and others enjoy higher security,” he said.
Gordon Brown’s New Labour government really cannot help itself from proving that it is simply a bunch of halfwits trying to turn Britain into a banana republic.
The Telegraph:
The security of the online computer system used by more than three million people to file tax returns is in doubt after HM Revenue and Customs admitted it was not secure enough to be used by MPs, celebrities and the Royal Family.
Thousands of “high profile” people have been secretly barred from using the online tax return system amid concerns that their confidential details would be put at risk.
This provoked anger from consumer groups and accountants who said the same levels of security should be offered to all taxpayers regardless of their perceived fame.
HMRC was responsible for losing 25 million child benefit records and the latest admission will concern millions of people entrusting the online system with their confidential financial records.
BBC News says:
Concerns about data security have been raised after it emerged celebrities, Royals and MPs are blocked from submitting income tax returns online.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) admitted “high profile” individuals must submit forms by post because they are judged to require extra protection.
But critics said equal treatment should apply to all 3m self-assessment users.
Mark Wallace of the Taxpayers’ Alliance said: “This is a completely unacceptable double standard.”
So, do you have to file your tax returns online? That means you are just expendable scum.
Do you have special tax arrangements? That means you are another variety of scum, probably a rich MP. For the moment, anyway.
Bottler Brown Drops UK ID Cards
Does anyone still remember “Capability” Brown? No, he was another incarnation of the slippery Brown personae, which includes “Prudence” Brown and “Gormless” Gordon.
Now, it seems, Gordon Brown knows that the introduction of compulsory ID cards would be the equivalent of writing his own political suicide note, so he his hoping to lose them down the back of the sofa, along with the data of every man, woman and child of New Britain.
The problem is that he cannot be seen to be abandoning the scheme, as that would make him look weak, vacillating, incompetent and not even possessing a loose grasp of events.
It would also be a bit of a problem telling all the companies which are banking on making a killing on the back of UK taxpayers and might mean that the revolving door for those who want to get sinecures in IT business when they are voted out of office could get jammed.
The Guardian has this:
A compulsory identity card system for British citizens looks as if it will be deferred beyond the next election, according to documents leaked to the Conservatives.
As recently as December the Home Office said the ID card system for UK citizens would be phased-in on a voluntary basis from 2009, but a national identity strategy paper, marked restricted, clearly shows the UK-citizens phase of the scheme will now not start until 2012. A voluntary scheme is due be introduced for those renewing passports from 2009.
Gordon Brown has appeared evasive in recent weeks as to whether he supports a compulsory identity card scheme for British citizens, saying it is a matter for parliament to decide in a future vote.
On BBC News:
Whatever ministers say about their support for the principle of ID cards, this is one idea whose time looks increasingly to have gone.
The leaked papers suggesting the crunch introduction of cards for Britons might be kicked into the post-election long grass may be the clearest indication of that, but it is certainly not the first.
There have been regular claims in parliament and the media that Gordon Brown is less than committed to the policy, and certainly less so than his predecessor, Tony Blair, whose brainchild it was. [...]
On the existing timetable, there was the real prospect that the issue would erupt just at general election time, with the possibility of a campaign of civil disobedience, with Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg already pledged to join such a move.
So, if the leaked documents are accurate - and there is every indication they are - the process of making the issue less of an election pressure point may have started.
Downing Street insists that “nothing has changed” but it seems Labour could be moving towards going into the next election saying they will see how ID cards work for foreign nationals, before deciding whether/when to extend them to Britons if all goes well.
As a thought on this, the idea of Tony Blair’s brain having a child is rightly repugnant. Fortunately, there has never been any evidence that he has a functioning brain, so the chances of it having a child are slim.
As for the “possibility of a campaign of civil disobedience” if ID cards are made compulsory, it would probably be safer to mark that one down as an absolute cast-iron, copper-bottomed certainty.
In The Independent:
The identity card scheme was said to be in “intensive care” as leaked Whitehall documents showed it faced a new delay of two years.
The cards were set to be issued to Britons from 2010, when they apply to renew their passports, but private Home Office documents show the introduction is set to be put off until 2012.
The likely postponement follows a series of fiascos over the security of personal data held by the Government. Gordon Brown is also widely believed not to share the enthusiasm of his predecessor for the scheme.
Nobody in government needs to carry an ID card in order to be identified as a mendacious, lickspittle, moneygrubbing buffoon.
However, maybe Tony Blair will still have the last laugh. When he becomes Emperor of Europe, perhaps he will force us all to have ID cards, even if Gordon Brown no longer wants them.
Of course, the fact that Gordon Brown is preventing a referendum on Europe means that the public cannot protect him from his old boss and possible future nemesis.
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