Is it just me that gets slightly depressed to see Blunkett's alleged-perk-slipping intricacies generating numerous more front-page headlines than the steamrolling progress of our new identification system?
Maybe getting more politicians into the Big Brother house would be a good idea after all... ;)
4 comments:
Remember that line from a certain popular song (Going Underground) "And the public gets what the public wants". Salacious details and inane gossip about equally inane celebrities shift newspapers, but I am more than aware that your question was rhetorical. What particularly worries me about the ID card system is that it will be rigorously enforced (it could prove an even more lucrative "nice little earner" for the police as speed cameras). At least here and in other Member States (for example Germany, which does not exactly have a reputation for leniency) you will be let off if you forget to carry the card. Indeed, the police mostly don't bother to check them. I foresee, however, that the situation in the UK will be quite different. Much as though I would like to move back home I honestly believe that I am better off here (no CCTV cameras on every street corner, no NHS waiting lists). Belonging to the generation that defined itself in opposition to Thatcher (I would rather amputate my arm than put a tick next to a Tory candidate's name on a ballot paper - a sentiment Blair is staking everything on) I find it depressing beyond measure to witness the slow, but inexorable transformation of Britain into a police state.
I may be muddled, but doesn't the song also follow up with the line "And the public wants what the public gets"...? That one always struck me as the flipside of the same coin.
Probably it is just the onset of senility in my case - I foolishly didn't bother to check the lyrics in my CD booklet :))) Still, you take my point :P
I have Going Underground booming out of my speakers (it is 8 am, so I'm glad I don't have any immediate neighbours). We are both right. Immediately prior to the first chorus he sings it the way I remembered, and immediately before the second the way you remember. Of course the inversion of the cliché makes the message more sinister - the public being so conditioned in its desires that it wants what it gets - sounds uncannily like the ID cards, don't you think? Anyway, I won't "labour" the point any longer - I am about to depart for the corner of Blunkettland traditionally known as Wales to attend a conference. Look forward to reading your analysis of the Bill.
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