MSPs not keen on IDs

In an interesting twist, the Scottish Parliament has passed a motion against the goverment’s plan to introduce ID cards.

They refered to it as an unacceptable threat to civil liberties.

An MSP had the decency to bring P.K. Dick into the debate, alas, only refering to the appalling theatrical version of one of his tales.

Speaking in the debate, Carolyn Leckie MSP said: “When I watched ‘Minority Report’, like many others, I thought that I was watching a sci-fi fantasy set in a totalitarian state. I thought that it could not possibly transfer to my reality, but how wrong I was. Let us be clear that this is about the power of the state and about control over individuals.”

Alas the Conservatives are still a bit wobbly on the matter. They voted for the motion but expressed their support for ID cards.

There is still work to do in winning the principled argument - the Conservatives voted in support of the motion but stated that they are in favour of ID cards in principle.

It is a shame to see the Conservative Party handing yet another issue to the Lib-Dems. It sometimes seems that they actually want the Lib-Dems to beat them into 3rd place. I wonder if the Tories will ever think to the “Conserve” part of their name and assign it in front of the liberty. Of course with the likes of arch-authoritarians like Anne Wittecombe (and her army of blue-rinsed nannying-thugs) what hope do they have?