*

Mu-Sly

Digital Audio Science

"Dear John" volume two : articles

"Dear John" volume two

Posted Thursday 4th August 2005

ID cards have popped up in the news again today, and I decided it was time for another round of letter writing.

"Benefits were oversold and legislation is flawed", admits minister.

They've basically admitted the whole thing is a total crock ("oversold" == "lied about"), yet naturally, they're still going to go ahead with it without changing anything! They are making some noises about putting a limit on the cost to the individual, but we'll still end up paying for it indirectly through taxes in that case, and even if they made it "free" (taxes again), that does not alter opposition based on principle.

I never received a reply to my first letter, but that won't deter me, so without further ado, here's "Dear John" volume two:

John Heppell MP, The House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA

Thursday 4 August 2005

Dear John,

I wrote to you before in a personal capacity, however, I'm pleased to introduce the Nottingham branch of the NO2ID campaign. I'm sure you'll be hearing plenty from our rapidly expanding group in the near future.

You may have seen in the news today that Labour have finally admitted to completely overselling the ID scheme, and that it will do very little towards fighting terrorism, fraud, illegal immigration, illegal working and so on. These are facts that members of our organisation have been fully aware of since day one, but it's good to see them finally being admitted by the very proponents of the scheme.

Regardless of the amount of positive spin that can be put on such damning admissions, one must wonder what other possible reasons there could be left to still make ID cards desirable? An already highly unpopular scheme, with most of the major pro arguments left in tatters - yet for some reason, nothing has changed with the determination of your government to inflict this highly expensive, intrusive and undemocratic scheme on us! I think it's now safe to add "illogical" to the aforementioned list of adjectives!

Furthermore, I notice the government starting to acknowledge that cost is a major issue in this for most people. Now, while you can offer to limit the direct cost of the ID cards, the fact is that the money has got to come from somewhere. People do not want to pay for this, either directly, or indirectly through taxes. The cost of the scheme isn't going to change, so regardless of direct or indirect payment, even the pro-ID camp must concede that we are going to be spending a great deal of money on something that by the government's own admission today, offers little to no tangible benefit to our country.

Ultimately, cost makes no difference to a large majority of our members, since we oppose this scheme on the principle that it does not belong in a democratic country. Therefore, while cost is a minor annoyance, it does not feature too strongly in our objections to the scheme. We would still strongly object even if the scheme were somehow made completely free, because dehumanising and tagging people in this manner is vehemently repulsive, offensive to our core human nature, and just plain wrong under any circumstances.

I, and many other law-abiding, decent members of the public, find it increasingly hard to see any sense at all in the government's continued pursuance of the ID scheme. The scheme has finally gone from having little credibility, to having absolutely zero.

I draw on the assumption that, based on your previous votes and your status as a senior Whip, you will still tow the party line and be strongly in favour of this scheme. However, I would thoroughly welcome the news that you have now changed your mind, and will be actively opposing the scheme from this point onwards?

Yours sincerely,

David J. Silvester, Nottingham NO2ID Local Coordinator

Related links:

More Articles:

 
*