Simon Perry: Schemes, dreams & trivia

It’s surprising to see a US newspaper, in particular the LA Times, publishing a story asserting that the Palestinians are being robbed by Israel, as the value-added tax (I never did understand where the added value was in a tax) that the Israelis are collecting, supposedly on behalf of the Palestinian authorities, is being withheld.
You […]

The Labour MPs have embarrassed themselves by passing the rehashed ID card bill through the Commons.
What swayed them? That the government of the day has to pass/push though another law to make the carrying of ID cards compulsory.
To boot, they also made it compulsory that all new passport registrants are required to go on the […]

Fantastic - The LibDems and Conservatives have joined together to vote against the ID card scheme in the House of Lords. The vote - 237 against, 156 for.
They want the government to provide a detailed breakdown of the costs involved and clearly explain its benefits. While the government states the costs yearly costs will be […]

I have yet to write my long-planned piece on the proposed ID cards scheme and, more importantly, the need for protection of personal information. In summary, it’s suffice to say I’m against the ID card.
It was with some horror, but frankly not a great deal of surprise, that I read the governments reply to the […]

Using the ever-great TheyWorkForYou.com, which takes what is said in the UK parliament, and makes easily accessible to the countries citizens, I see that when Marc Harper asked how much it is expected to cost to run the proposed ID card scheme in the UK, Tony McNulty (Minister of State, Home Office)replied
The current best estimate […]

How convenient that David Blunket should resign on the day that the anti-terrorism is going through the house of commons.
Outcome - the law that this current government are trying force on the UK public, removing rights that have been fought for and upheld for decades, ends up being the last item on the news, covered […]

Move house, therefore need to change address - all pretty easy up to there.
Contact bank. Write in and send a utility bill they say. OK I say, I’ll send a copy. An original they say, for your security they say. No, a copy I say - I don’t trust the post I say. Any other […]

I read, with total disbelief, a story on the BBC news site today.
Last September, a 23 year old man, Subhaan Younis, showed a piece of video on his mobile phone to someone working in a shop in Glasgow.
He was found guilty of a breach of the peace just over a month ago. Today […]

You really couldn’t make this stuff up.
From Monday, smiling on UK passport photos will become prohibited.
What a total joke.
Applicants will have to keep a straight face (’neutral expression’ in their words) and their mouths closed.
This is totally indicative of the way people’s lives are been controlled to aid our ’security.’
The increasingly restrictive laws that […]

The confusion continues around the shooting of the innocent Brazilian man, Jean Charles de Menezes, in the London underground.
I’d heard about a week after the shooting that the information the police had initially given out about the event (he was try to escape, bulky jacket, etc) wasn’t correct. As we now know, the initial information […]