[Anonymouse]

Originally Posted by Florence

Brown seems to either not understand civilian liberties or chooses to not understand.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/06...n_ippr_speech/

Oh, good grief. Public support for the ID card scheme does not "remain strong" - there is no bloody support for that absurdity except in his fevered imagination. Terrorism is not as much of a threat as he's making out; it's just an excuse. None of this crap was necessary in the IRA days. The real threat is this blinkered government which is deliberately ignoring its own people - not realising that it's gonna cost 'em next year. The way things are going, I might actually vote for the first time since 1997, and if I do I will not be voting Labour!

"Citizens are not alarmed by the government's demands for biometric data"? The hell we aren't! The fact that people use such data to secure their laptops is irrelevant, because that is an example of the citizen using his/her own biometric data for his/her own, private purposes, with the data remaining firmly under its owner's control. That has nothing whatsoever to do with bloody ID cards! And he's further shot himself in the foot by using the word "demand". I don't take kindly to being told what to do at the best of times; having demands, especially unreasonable ones, imposed on me totally gets on my tits!

CCTV does not "reassure" people - it scares them to death. There is now CCTV in Manchester Victoria station - well, that's standard and even justifiable, you might say. But in the toilets?! I kid you not. Apparently there's been an increase in "indecent acts", whatever that's supposed to mean; I was tempted to find the station master and ask, but I wasn't in the mood to be branded as a subversive rebel because it would have interefered with my purpose for being in Manchester: to do a bit of book shopping.

I'm so reassured that I would like to emigrate and leave what's left of this sorry place to its own devices. If only I could afford it.