I believe that 10% of British citizens now live abroad. Here's a reason why more will.

Everyone should read this article from today's Daily Telegraph:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...2/24/nid24.xml

One more reason to get US citizenship and ditch Blighty for good.

I think that what happened with the introduction of the poll tax will repeat itself with the ID card fiasco. I think that the British people have a proud and long-standing history of civil disobedience, and I for one expect it to carry on throughout the century!

Merry Christmas and/or happy holidays to everyone on that note!

Got yours yet Terry?

RealID

They cannot even get the Driver's License uniform across the 50 states. I'll be surprised if this one flies by the time 2008 gets here with the obvious cost overruns.

If this had been properly debated on the House Floor it would never have got this far.

Which seems to be the same story with the UK one where its implementation has been put back past the fall of the House of Tony so it can be kicked out before it starts.

If you have nothing to hide then whats the problem with an identity card ? Its common practice in quite a few European countries to have to carry ID at all times ....

I suppose if your a scum sucking thieving low life then it may be an inconvenience ...

Or believe in civil liberties, perhaps?

We have the drivers' licence and passport - why not use those instead.
Of course, if the powers that be can't even check people for the correct identification at poe what difference is it going to make if you introduce a new form of id which presumably they will still fail to enforce correctly.

That was one of the nice things about the UK which made it a better place than those European countries you mention.

Perhaps you don't remember England before the "Suss Law" when you were free to walk the streets without Police harassment.

Less so than for the rest of us who would need a real one, I imagine. Perhaps they should just tattoo our ID numbers on our foreheads in the name of convenience and keeping us safe from the boogie monster.

Why not a scanable barcode on your forehead? Talking about convenience......

nah RFID Tag inserted just under the skin

Total bullshit ...in what way does having a form of verifiable id infringe any civil liberties ?

I lived in the UK for over 38 years and never once suffered police harassmant ....unless them phoning to say that they had arrested some arsehole who had burgled an elerly relatives house counts

When I lived and played rugby in the south of France I was required to carry ID at all times ....that was such a big chore as well ...

Like I said before ... if you have nothing to hide then it won't matter one jot

The government have talked about requiring an ID card to work, to access bank accounts, to travel, to use the NHS, to buy items from shops, and all kinds of other things. That means that anyone can be denied the right to do such things at any time by cancelling their ID card. You don't think that might, just maybe, 'infringe on civil liberties'?

Even if you don't believe that the government want ID cards as another step towards creating a police state in the UK, they will inevitably create a whole host of new 'crimes' such as failing to carry a card, failing to report a change of address, and so forth. Our grand-parents rebelled against ID cards in the post-war era precisely because they were being absused by jobsworths to harass people who were behaving in a perfectly reasonable manner.

The only good news is that they're so utterly incompetent that they have little hope of making such a system work. It will be just another multi-billion pound boondoggle that funnels money to Tony's cronies in the business world.

The German Jews had 'nothing to hide', until Hitler took power and being Jewish became a capital offence. Just imagine the implications if a party like the BNP gain power in the UK with Blair's police state all ready for them to abuse.