Tag Archives: Hague

Why is Tony Blair renewing his ‘ID cards’ plan right before elections when we’ll need them?

This was predictable:

We’re going to need ID cards anyway – or a preferred form of identification like a photo driving licence or a passport – if we want to vote in the local elections in May. A friend of mine sent me this image as a reminder:

But that’s not what Blair (and his former sparring partner across the Dispatch Box, William Hague) is on about.

They want digital ID cards that provide every important piece of information about us:

Sir Tony and Lord Hague… argue digital ID cards would make it easier and more secure for people to access services and for the government to understand their needs and better target support.

“In a world in which everything from vaccine status to aeroplane tickets and banking details are available on our personal devices, it is illogical that the same is not true of our individual public records,” they write.

They suggest such a scheme could allow people to prove their identity, age, driving licence, right to live and work in the UK and even their educational qualifications.

Right – and it could also lay us wide open to identity thieves. Not a brilliant idea!

There’s an argument that other countries are already imposing such a system on their populations and we need to catch up. But I was reminded only last night that, a few years ago, other countries were leaping to join the Euro currency and abandon their own – and look what happened to Greece as a result. The UK kept the Pound and it was the smartest thing that we could have done.

Several of us think that Blair doesn’t really understand what he’s saying…

… and here’s a “for example”: Sebastian Payne, contender to take over the title of ‘Child Star of Politices’ from former holders Owen Jones and Ian Hislop, arguing that ID cards will be a great way to “control” immigration, by controlling the wider population of the UK:

Is that what you want?

Do you want to be forced to carry an identity card that allows people in self-imposed positions of authority to tell you where to go, what to do when you get there, and deny you the right to self-determination?

That is where Blair, Hague – and Payne – are going on this.


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New call to put DWP/Atos on trial for manslaughter

It might seem ridiculous but the DWP and Atos are guilty of the behaviour described in this image – and much worse – leading to loss of income and stress that, for some, has been intolerable. Thousands of deaths have been recorded.

Pressure is mounting to have leading Conservative politicians tried from crimes against humanity, with the launch of a new e-petition on the government’s own website, to compliment a submission to the International Criminal Court over the summer.

The e-petition by Christopher Gare calls on the government “To Investigate the DWP and connected MPs for corporate manslaughter, in relation to the WCA & Atos Healthcare… We have seen deaths rise of people on sickness benefit from 310 in 2010 to 10,600 in nine months of 2011.”

The reasoning behind both bids is simple enough – that the so-called ‘reform’ of welfare benefits and, in particular, those related to sickness and disability, have in fact led to the deaths of more than 70 sick or disabled people every week.

These deaths have occurred as the victims have been passing through the government’s dreaded work capability assessments, as administered by the private company Atos, under instruction from the Department for Work and Pensions. The stress of the assessment process, couple with fears about the future, if benefits are removed, has been too much for many to manage and they have died. I believe the most common cause of death is heart attack, although I sit ready to be corrected.

Everybody who died had been found unfit for work by their own GPs. In order to cut their benefits, the Department for Work and Pensions must have relieved those doctors of their duty of care for those patients. That duty would have then passed to the DWP. For those disability benefit claimants to have died after the DWP took over that duty of care, it is logical to believe that the DWP was reckless about the effect its decisions would have.

The government ministers most responsible for the current system are those who were at the head of the DWP until the government reshuffle last month: Iain Duncan Smith, Chris Grayling and Maria Miller. Therefore it seems most likely that they should be the subjects of any investigation.

… Which is exactly what disability specialist Samuel Miller told the office of the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. He contacted the ICC during the summer, seeking clarification on whether austerity deaths of the sick and disabled in the UK are considered a crime against humanity by that court.

If they are, he intended to file a complaint against Messrs Smith, Grayling and Ms Miller for the “draconian welfare reforms and the resultant deaths of their society’s most vulnerable”.

If you think the DWP has caused the deaths of sick and disabled people, then follow the link and sign the petition. If you don’t, have a look around the web and read the evidence for yourself. There’s plenty available!