So, ID cards are back in the news again....

[Lateralus]

That is to say, I'm sure there are reasonable people from all political persuasions. Just maybe not on the internet.

Fix'd for accuracy. We don't count.

Edit: The BBC comments boxes are not about a reasonable and balanced debate, they're about ranting and often serve little purpose beyond people stating their own prejudices.

[mrbobbins]

I'd like to think that should be ever talk about them we could either agree to disagree or come to a satisfactory conclusion

Agreed, because (I think!) we are reasonably intelligent people with a rational outlook. Whatever your opinion if you have time to listen to and consider what someone else has to say then you:

A: Are worth listening to in the first place
B: Probably don't post on 'Have your say'

Something.. Profit

[Dog Pants]

Fix'd for accuracy. We don't count.

Edit: The BBC comments boxes are not about a reasonable and balanced debate, they're about ranting and often serve little purpose beyond people stating their own prejudices.

Indeed. To use what I've been reading today as an example again, I'm amazed by how many people are blaming this 'spat on uniform' thing as an excuse for thinly veiled racism. Every other comment is about people's rights to wear burkhas, or 'if they don't like our servicemen they should go back to their own country'. This is why I think politicians shouldn't (and often don't) let their policies pander to the public at large.

[Dog Pants]

Whatever your opinion if you have time to listen to and consider what someone else has to say then you:

A: Are worth listening to in the first place

That's a very good outlook. I like to think I can empathise with the opinions of most people, even if I don't agree with them. The people who give me the rage are the ones who are so convinced of their own righteousness that they won't even listen to anyone else's opinion.

[FatherJack]

. . . . . . . .Everybody SHUT UP and listen to me.
. . . . . . . . .\


Not me, it just reminded me of that.

[HereComesPete]

How on Earth can you say that?, is it because you don't know any?!

If you mis-read my intent there then my mistake for not being clear enough. In the BBC have your say articles I've not read many liberal viewpoints and those that I have seemed to be as reactionary as the right wing xenophobes who make up the bulk of the argument. As for actual liberals I know quite a few, I did a degree that attracted a lot, including some foaming at the mouth we are a totalitarian police state freedom fighter types. Needless to say my talks on the virtues of anton laveys satanism as a method of existence didn't go down too well.

[spoodie]

That was quick

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=TbNIU2KEz4g :D

Just to show that most people in a political system can be idiots, benign or well-meaning but it takes just one person to coerce and twist the governing system to do evil.

/edit
My avatar is not helping.

[cheeseandham]

I'm late to the table, most things have been covered but I want to stick my oar in

The first letter I wrote to my MP on "Entitlement Cards" and was categorically assured that "they will never be compulsory"
Later they were re-branded as "ID Cards" became compulsory and we were going to pay for them. Unfortunately my MP became Conservative, so my next letter was simply agreed with whatever points I made against them

The more valuable an identity document is, the greater the motive to create forgeries, along with Government data being sent in the post and getting lost in ways that you simply couldn't make up - I have no confidence in this being done sensibly.

I'd rather have the funds to hire the 10,000 more policemen or however many it is that the country could afford with the vast sum of money the national ID card and database will cost.