In an attempt to stop the hijacking of the blunkett thread what are your views on

*ID scheme
*the legality of the war
*the next five years with labour
*the prime minister and his party

and in fact anything else you would like to discuss.

In an attempt to continue the non-hijacking of the Blunkett thread here are my comments........

ID? Won't stop terrorism and will cost an awful lot of money and I'm yet to be convinced that it's necessary

Legality of the war? It wasn't legal

The next five years of Labour? They're here, there wasn't (and isn't) a viable opposition party and at least Mr Blair will be gone for Christmas (hopefully) and 'old Labour' now have more say

The PM and his party? You mean his cronies? They'll be shaken up and maybe stirred...............

as a labour defector where did you defect to?

As I've said with regards to ID it does have certain qualities about it, the only negative I see is peoples right to anonymity, which we hardly have anyway.

And you've got to back yourself up with something more than that statement.

As for the PM and such like who do you think will replace him and do you think they'll be any better?

Originally posted by Carl_Malibu
In an attempt to stop the hijacking of the blunkett thread what are your views on...

*ID scheme
Fine by me, overall I'm for the idea.

*the legality of the war
Didn't want us to go, but now we're there I'm behind the troops "on the ground".

*the next five years with labour
Best of a bad bunch, and a parliament without such a clear majority is generally better for democracy too.

*the prime minister and his party
Tonys days are numbered (thankfully), who next, well we could do worse than a certain Mr Brown, we'll have to wait and see.

That'll do for now. :)

In my ward it was Meg Munn. Who voted very strongly (apparently) for a number of issues that I feel strongly against. Had she been more to my liking, I'd have been pleased to vote for her. As it was, I went for the LibDem MP, who was more to my way of thinking - PR being amongst the issues (anti-war etc being one of them, as you might guess). It was a protest vote, I didn't expect (rightly) that my vote was going to get the Lib Dems into power.

My main objection to the ID card issue is that it's being sold as being an anti-terrorist solution, and I don't believe that it is. It, incidentally, will cost an amount to implement. Not just to the government (via our taxes) but also to the individual, I believe.

If it's sold to us as a way of proving age for getting into pubs, then so be it. Let us discuss and debate on that point! But it isn't. So I can't, in truth, see the point of it. As I said previously, most of us have driving licences or NUS cards or passports which will do the job. And if one isn't a terrorist, (lol) how often do people without passports, driving licences, RU18 or NUS cards have to prove their identity? And, even if we all had one, when exactly would we be asked to use them?

Re the PM - I don't have inside info!

When the older population are asked (ie, not for getting into pubs) to prove their identity, council tax bill, bank statements, utlility bills etc have always done the trick.

ID Cards. Most people these days have credit cards or bank cards. The credit card companies have been able to put photos on these for years but it never caught on. This would have put a stop to most credit card fraud overnight but it would have cost them too much. Of course, now we have additional fraud which is electronic but there are also ways that they could combat this type of fraud that they don't take because of the cost. The national ID scheme will, for the most part, be a way that we identify ourselves for commercial transactions and will have nothing to do with terrorism. I have never been asked for proof of my identity by a police officer but have regularly been asked by a bank teller or even a shop keeper. Personally I already have a driving licence (with a photo) and a passport and I am happy to carry any other ID but would prefer it if it replaced one or both of these existing items of ID.

The War. It seems possible that the war was illegal. It seems possible that the war was legal. When there are issues as unique as this to discuss then it is simply a matter of opinion until it happens the second time when the law is based on what was decided the first time. I think it is likely that the majority of people in this country were against the war although I wasn't. Had they not made such a mess of things afterwards I wonder how many people would still be banging on about whether it was legal or not. Was it legal to go to war with Germany in 1939? Was it legal to attack French colonies in North Africa in 1941 when the French Government was not then at war with us or the Germans? The fact is that someone has to take a stand against regimes like these and we should have more intervention against opressive regimes.

Five more years. I just thank the Lord for every day that we don't have another Thatcher Government. Lib Dem is Fine by me, Labour is fine and even some changed "New Tory" may even be fine provided we don't get more Thatcherism.

The PM. I like Tony Blair ( I like Prescott even more!). The real issue should be whether Brown should replace Blair Brown is one of the truly great finance ministers of the Century. If he leaves the post then who would take his place? If someone is that good in a job then they should stay and not just be promoted because there is a slot.

Originally posted by SHsheff
When the older population are asked (ie, not for getting into pubs) to prove their identity, council tax bill, bank statements, utlility bills etc have always done the trick.

Ha! Have you tried to open a bank account recently? It took me nine months a year ago beacuse council tax bill, bank statements, utlility bills etc were not acceptable. The only thing they would take was a passport (haven't got one) or a driving license (haven't got one).

Why should I have to pay £48 for a passport just to be able to participate in the monetary 'food chain'?

The only ID card the country needs is a single card that those asking for proof of identity must accept, and should be illegal to refuse to accept, and is voluntarily available to all residents at no cost.

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JGH