Sir Tony Blair, together with ex-Tory leader William Hague, has called on the Government to introduce a digital ID that people can have on their phones that would hold details such as their passport, driving licence, tax records, qualifications and right to work status. Frighteningly, a poll by YouGov (who else?) showed that more than half of respondents supported such an invasive and high-risk surveillance project. The Mail has more.
Sir Tony – who attempted to introduce ID cards while in Downing Street – insisted that new biometric technology would overcome concerns about online dangers.
He and Lord Hague have insisted that a “fundamental reshaping of the state around technology” is needed amid a “radically” shaping world.
Critics hit back at the push for digital IDs, with ex-Tory chairman Sir Jake Berry branding it “a creepy state plan to track you from the cradle to the grave”.
Campaign group Big Brother Watch condemned Sir Tony for “reviving failed proposals for an intrusive mass digital identity system and a database state”.
But a snap poll by YouGov revealed more than half of Britons (54%) would support the introduction of a system of national ID cards in Britain.
According to the survey of more than 4,000 adults today, almost a quarter (23%) said they would strongly support national ID cards, with 31% saying they would tend to support such a plan.
This compared to 13% who said they would tend to oppose the introduction of national ID cards and 14% who said they would strongly oppose such a plan. Almost one in five (18%) replied “don’t know”. …
Outlining their proposals [in a joint article for the Times] for a shake-up of Whitehall – including digital IDs for every citizen – they also called for “a national health infrastructure that uses data to improve care and keep costs down, and sovereign AI systems backed by supercomputing capabilities”. …
In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning, Sir Tony highlighted how countries “as small as Estonia and as large as India’ are moving towards digital IDs. If you look at the biometric technology that allows you to do digital ID today, it can overcome many of these problems,” he added.
The Government appeared to rule out taking up Sir Tony and Lord Hague’s advice – for now. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “There are no plans to introduce digital ID. Our position on physical ID remains unchanged.”
“No plans” – we’ve heard that before.
Worth reading in full.
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Another candidate paper for Annals of the Bleeding Obvious!
Q1. Which is the largest city in the western hemishere?
Q2. Which is the largest city in the southern hemisphere?
Q3. Why do we not know more about this metropolis?
If I stare hard and long enough I can see the face of Jesus on the white board
Anyone else seeing that?
“How to reopen them safely”. Oh dear.
Incidentally, from what people locally tell me, lots of secondary school age kids still testing themselves, people positive, year groups sent home. So schools are not fully open.
Speaking personally, even though both myself and Mrs Dent were at home to “home school” or two primary school age chiildren, their education definitely suffered. And their behaviour suffered to. It’s been notable how much faster their learning has progressed since they’ve been back at proper school.
Our kids are young so COVID will be a minor blip in their learning history and in any case they fared much better than children stuck in a city flat with two working parents, but I feel very sad and angry about the impact the botched pandemic response has had on secondary school children, especially those sitting exams.
The evidence is immaterial. The threat of closing schools again will be used, because it is a powerful weapon, parents were in despair, to coerce the vaccination of children this autumn. It will be used along with “a new variant which is especiallydangerous to children”.
Interestingly my grandsons ‘learning’ increased during his enforced time at home and he has regressed since returning, we are now looking at home educating permanently.
Lesson no.35 for future pandemics:
Don’t let rich people destroy poor children’s lives
the destruction of the middle class means destruction of education and opporrunity too.. not only are small businesses ruined or close to being ruined but destroying the future of children is exactly what this regime wants… its all part of the same thing
Reassuring to learn that disdain and contempt for children is not just confined to the British Government