Bumbling Burnham

Andy Burnam responds today to the Henry Porter article in the Observer last week.

I find it hard to believe that Henry Porter has read the Identity Cards Bill. (‘This ID project is even more sinister than we first thought’, Comment, last week). If he had, he would be aware of the safeguards built in to the scheme to protect personal information.

Given Burnham’s strange claims for this bill, it often appears that he is the one who has not read it. He goes on to point out that:

The scheme will not track your life’s activities. ID cards will be used when it is important to verify identity. That is not an everyday occurrence for the majority, while the use of credit cards and mobile phones, logged in itemised bills and statements, occurs daily.

Uh… now who hasn’t been reading the bill? It specifically states that every time the card is used, that checks of the stasi database National Identity Register will be recorded. Not to mention the sweaty baboon home secretary on the third reading of the bill having this to say:

Moreover, we all now face many occasions on which we need to prove our identity, whether to open a bank account, to take out a mortgage, to claim a benefit, to pass through a border control, to get a Criminal Records Bureau clearance or many other basic transactions of our day-to-day lives. I believe that an up-to-date identity cards system will make all those transactions easier for the individual and will also be beneficial for the state.

One of the bastards is lying – which one is it?

I note that, like other opponents of the scheme, Henry Porter fails to offer his readers any alternative means of safeguarding their identities.

That’s right, Andy, you scurrilous little nincompoop – that’s because you and your rancorous thug of a boss are not prepared to discuss anything other than the insidious bill currently before parliament. There is no point proposing alternatives while the egregious home office is not prepared to listen, let alone discuss them.

Identity fraud is a growing threat and we know that it enables other crime, including terrorism.

So? And? Are you trying to tell us that your scheme will have any effect on this? It won’t. We know it and you know it. If anything, the inevitably insecure stasi database National Identity Register will provide a honey-pot for identity thieves.  If there was any evidence that you are a mendacious little rapscallion, this is it.