In June 2002 former
Tory Minister Peter Lilley, Secretary
for Social Security, 1992-97, wrote an article for the Observer.
He gave his reasons for why, as a minister, he had rejected the idea of ID
cards when in office.
The words that he
wrote 5 years ago sound almost prophetic now, but the reasoning he used then,
and from most of the thinking civilised population of the UK now, has not changed. His thoughts then about ID
cards being akin to quack medicines claiming to cure ailments before they are
diagnosed ring even true, as the present lame duck government tries to find new and
novel reasons for having such a card, whilst at the same time creating the
environment into which their argument neatly fits.
It bears more than a striking
similarity to the debate in the run up to the congestion charge being
implemented in London. From Ken Livingston’s perspective, the argument was about cutting out
the congestion, but his real agenda was about raising money.
In order to
create that reality, although denied by so many, traffic lights were being
phased differently, creating the congestion, and road schemes for which
Livingston borrowed £700 million to complete, were taking road space away from
the motorists, creating even further congestion, with new junctions and road
narrowing, cutting down from 2 lanes to 1 lane along many miles of London’s
road network.
A joint RAC/AA report at the time said that the
number of physical vehicles in London had increased very little over the
previous 5 years, but the amount of road to put them on along the primary
routes had been reduced by nearly 20 pct.
Government and Local
Authorities have often in the past and are doing now, engineering events and
situations to suit their political agendas, and the ID card agenda is no
different.
Peter Lilley
explained that on critical inspection, claims that smart ID cards would solve
all our woes evaporated. The police explained that they almost never had
problems identifying suspects, only in catching and convicting them. The
security services explained that (as the 11 September terrorists showed)
terrorists rarely conceal their identity.
The immigration
service explained that all illegal immigrants can, and most do, claim asylum,
at which point their fingerprints are stored on a central computer and they were
given an identity document without which they cannot legally obtain benefits or
jobs.
But by reducing the
efficiency of the Immigration service, and scrapping the identity document they
allow more and more illegal immigrants to enter the country, fail to keep track
of them, and allow them unfettered access to our vital national services, such as
health and benefits.
Allowing
the Police forces across England and Wales to degenerate into little more than
statistics takers at the public facing end, they have allowed the worst elements of low level crime to increase. However, behind the scenes, the bit the public doesn't always see, they are becoming the most efficient intelligence gathering agency.
By letting the Prison Service deteriorate, closing down prisons like Mayhill and Low Moss, creating a prison space shortage and at the same time building 'camps', like RAF Colitshall and importing Chinese made portable container prisons.
By allowing our
NHS hospitals and services to be run by Management Trusts rather than Clinicians they have let the service degenerate to a point where no matter how much money is
pumped into the system failure is assured.
By consistently
fiddling and meddling with the Education system, the curriculum, the University’s,
reshaping 6th form colleges
and continually changing the exam results system and certificates that the
Education system is now a laughing stock around the world.
These have been
deliberate policies to allow the infrastructure of the nation to decline, whilst
smiling and telling the public that they have invested record amounts of money.
There will come a point where the only resort that this government will give
you to redress the balance is controlled citizenship, and that will all centre
around an ID card.
As a nation we
have been fooled, we have been hoodwinked, and we should have listened to the
prophetic words of Peter Lilley back in 2002, it is getting dangerously
close to being too late to do anything about it.
Many years ago I
recall, the words of a senior Russian businessman. In London with a trade mission, when asked about
his ability to travel freely, stated that “Communism was only for the masses, for
the peasants”.
To put that into
a modern perspective, it is interesting to note that under the current NIR, ID
card and ePassport plans, none of the members of our present government, senior
members of the opposition and senior civil servants will be required to have
their DNA taken, IRIS scans or being subjected to
fingerprinting in order to obtain their government level ID cards. That
indignity will only be for the rest of us, the masses, the peasants of this
land.
Welcome to the
proletariat ruled by the European and NuLab Politburo.
IanPJ on Politics 