HM Prison London

A brilliant picture by Paperlilies shows a poster against the introduction of ID cards. It says:

HMP London

Open Prison
ID Must be carried
At all times

Rather like the hovercraft, ID cards are a classic case of a solution looking for a problem. They wouldn’t have prevented the 7/7 bombings or the pathetically amateurish attacks that have followed.

I’ve also got vivid memories of Paris in the mid 90s, when a small terrorist campaign was waged by French citizens whose parents came from Algeria. France has had ID cards for decades and… it didn’t prevent that or previous campaigns either.

For the vast majority of people ID cards will just be another thing to pay for, have to renew, occasionally lose, and sometimes forget.

I can’t think of better way of adding stress to everyone’s life, or a more unpopular measure. Except perhaps, getting us all to swear allegiance to the Queen!

The longer the Brown regime goes on, the more it seems that the PM and his team have been in the elite leadership bubble for so long they’ve completely lost touch with reality. It happens to every government that's been in power for several years, and it's strange that what is so obvious to us outsiders is so hidden to those within.