Boaty qualifications and Citizen ID cards.

[Mizzenrabble]

If you drive down the M2, you'll see the other 190,000,000 starting to walk up the hard shoulder from Dover. They won't be registering for anything, just working for cash and using The NHS. There are one or two other issues around this....A fair smattering of them are decent people simply looking for a better life....However how do you control it?

My understanding of the proposed ID card is that it's little more than your photocard driving licence. I don't see the problem personally.

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[Evadne]

I don't mind being asked to prove who I am, especially when taking money out of my bank account but the problems start if someone else can prove that they are me as well.
Most countries in the western world have an ID card or its equivalent. In the US they don't have ID cards, they have a Driver's License with your picture on, just like over here. I believe that if you can't drive, you can get a non-driver Driver's License or you will never be able to cash a cheque, buy a gun or do any of the other normal things in life that you need an ID card in the US for.

A single, forgable card will only make it easier for people to move through society, as long as they have one. Remember that recent tale in the papers about the bloke who forged an aircraft boarding pass in the name of Osama Bin Laden? The Big Brother scenario of Joe Public being watched by the state would only work if, as in the old East Germany, half the population is employed by the state to do the watching. I can't see that happening here.

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[Guest]

Should the ID Card ever become a reality, then at some point the applicant will need to prove his or her identity in order to be issued with an ID card. If a person can prove their ID to the satisfaction of the card-issuing authorities by other means - then what justification is there for even more proof of ID ? Why not tattoo our NHS number as a bar-code across our foreheads, and have done with it ?

The novel 1984 starts off with the Big Brother system already installed - afaik, there's no mention of how it was introduced. I had assumed it was imposed. Unlikely. More likely the electorate was seduced into believing it was for their own benefit.

Colin
[looking for extended area single-handed insurance - any recommendations ?]

 

[jenku]

I second that. Having lived in two very paper and state control friendly countries all my life (Germany and Sweden) I also do encourage you Brits to resist as long as you can. They do not help to prevent crimes, they cost money and they make people think they are more safe than what they actually are.

Also regarding this foolish US thing about biometric passports and stuff, I think it horrible that they can force this on all other coutries (and that EU agrees to issue these new passports, which are much more expensive than the old ones).

Instead we should resist and force every american coming here to get a visa in advance and of course leave their fingerprints.

As far as compulsory licensing for boaters is concerned Sweden still does not have it either and here we will fight on your side as long as it's needed.

 

[jenku]

Exactly. I Sweden you get an ID card if you show up with two buddies who show their ID cards and say that you are you. Of course you also will need your personal number, which everyone here has.

 

[gandy]

"My understanding of the proposed ID card is that it's little more than your photocard driving licence. I don't see the problem personally."

I don't have a photo driving licence, and they're not mandatory anyway. Even when you're driving you needn't carry your licence. For an ID card to make any sense for security, it would have to be mandatory and carried at all times. That's what I object to - I hate the idea of being stopped and fined or imprisoned, just 'cos I don't have a piece of paper with me. It's almost enough to vote Tory.

Tony S

 

[TheBoatman]

Re: Bits of Paper

My God james your post bought back a similar memory for me. Same thing happened to me many years ago i.e ex-employee wanted proof etc and asked for an "official" stamp on the bit of paper. I couldn't for the life of me think what I could use so I reached into my pocket got out 2 pence piece rubbed it on the ink pad and pressed it onto the paper, found a second class postage stamp and stuck it next to inky mark, signed it and sent it. Got a call months later saying it had worked a charm!
Don't you just love officials<s>