'THE CASE FOR ID? (EXCUSE no.187)' Commons Hansard (6.7.09, column 772) recorded an amazing excuse for ID cards - "It will curb Big Brother". This was from no less a person than the new Home Secretary, Alan Johnson. Does he have a practical joker advising him in the Home Office or the Identity and Passport Service? Or maybe he actually believes this rubbish? :) "Identity cards do not create or extend the Big Brother society; they are an attempt to control it— [Laughter.] They are also an attempt to give every individual a greater right to determine the use of their own identity, where so many wish to abuse it. I presumed that that was the reason why the hon. Member for Epsom and Ewell supported the concept in 2002. I do not know why he is laughing now." |