Yesterday saw two announcements. Starmer is to introduce compulsory digital ID cards in the UK, and Tony Blair is put forward by the White House to be the colonial administrator of Gaza for five years.
The political economy of the world appears locked in a vertiginous downward spiral. You don’t have to scratch very hard to find that Tony Blair’s hand is also behind the compulsory ID plan. He has been pushing it for nearly thirty years, and now it comes with added links to Larry Ellison, Palantir and Israel.
The government will be able to garner and centralise knowledge of everything about you. Every detail of your financial transactions, your DNA, your family, your medical records, your education, employment and accommodation. It will be a very short time before the digital ID is linked to your social media accounts and your IP access to monitor your browsing.
There is already the intention to control us through our access to financial services. I have spoken with one of the women charged for protesting outside the Leonardo factory in Edinburgh. She has had her bank accounts cancelled – simply losing the money in them – and cannot open a new account. You may recall they tried to debank Nigel Farage. The campaign to defend Julian Assange suffered multiple banking cancellations.
The desire of the state to control people politically through their ability to carry out ordinary transactions is not in doubt. It is demonstrated. Once you have a compulsory digital ID linked to transactions – which will follow very swiftly, I am quite certain – they will be able to simply switch off your ability to pay for anything. Add this to a digital currency which tracks all of your expenditure – all the key elements of which are already installed – and total control will be in place.
Starmer is trying to dress up a digital ID as an immigration control – whether you support immigration control or not, the notion that it will make a significant difference is nonsense. Landlords, employers, banks and lawyers already have to check the ID and status of their clients. For those bent on evasion, one more piece of bureaucracy will make little difference. It is the law-abiding who will be enmeshed in the system of control.
Increases in state surveillance and restrictions on personal freedom are always falsely framed as protection against a terrible threat – paedophiles or fraudsters or immigrants or Russians. Yet despite an ever-shrinking area of personal freedom, none of these real or invented threats ever actually recedes.
Starmer is the most unpopular PM in history. Attempting to force through this deeply unpopular measure is going to cause him real difficulties in parliament. The calculation is that Reform will oppose the measure on libertarian grounds, and that this will allow Starmer to show himself as tougher on immigration than Reform. The breathtaking cynicism of this is typical of the Starmer government, which believes in nothing except their own power.
As for Blair being made effectively Governor of Gaza, this is so sickening as to be beyond belief. The man who killed a million Iraqis on the basis of lies about WMD, who has made hundreds of millions of pounds through PR services to dictators, whose Tony Blair Institute has drawn up “Gaza Riviera” plans for Trump, and who has been discussing with western oil companies the takeover of Gaza’s gas field, is touted to administer the mass grave which Gaza has become.
In any reasonable world this would be impossible. The degeneration of western society is profound. There are no ethics in play beyond the dominance of power, wealth and greed. Blair manages to embody these in one person.
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It says everything about the British ruling class that grotesques like Blair, Mandelson and Sir Keir are its most revered and unifying figures; cherished across the great conservative/ centrist divide. In the British establishment hive mind, transforming Labour into a second Tory party far outweighs innumerable dead Arabs, monstrous personal greed or the victims of a Mossad paedophile syndicate.
As for ID cards, it’s okay – Paul Mason says if you’ve done nothing wrong you’ve got nothing to fear.
“The government will be able to garner and centralise knowledge of everything about you.”.
But it won’t be able to keep it secure (except from you).
“What Fresh Hell is This?”
Perfectly put, truly stomach turning.
If Your Party is to stand for anything, and to meet the needs of this country and these times, it must stand against each and every element of the above and do so fearlessly and loudly.
As well as presenting a fresh, democratic approach to the county’s domestic affairs, it must reject and oppose the moral squalor that this country’s foreign policy has fallen to, and to replace it with a genuinely ethical policy that demands justice and a satisfactory and sustainable resolution for the Palestinian people alongside reform of the UN and a strengthening of and a return to international law.
If they are to stand for anything then they must stand for that.
” … Tony Blair Institute has drawn up “Gaza Riviera” plans for Trump … ”
And if this is true, and I have no reason to doubt it, then Blair’s name should be added to the list of those accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, and when the reckoning comes, as surely it must, he should be arraigned in the dock along with the rest of his foul company.
“Blair’s name should be added to the list of those accused of genocide”. With over one million deaths to his name from the Iraq war, I would think Blair is already near the top of the list of genocidal maniacs, along with Bush, Hitler, Netenyahu, Stalin, Tojo, etc. …
I predict this digital ID won’t happen : It wasn’t in Labour’s manifesto; he’s announced it in parliamentary recess, and opposition parties don’t like it. The French national identity card, is literally a physical card(safer) and importantly, it is non-compulsory.
The UK’s digital ID won’t actually do anything to limit small boat crossings either – its stated aim – those people crossing have no ID and many disappear into the black economy, where ID isn’t even required.
Watch the entire elite : Politicians , spooks; military, civil servants find some way to opt themselves out too… on national security grounds. A ‘plebs only’ insecure app that leaves people wide open to state snooping and hackers?
Paul Mason is arguing for digital ID on X. He wants to deanonymize the internet.
Paul Mason, a guy who shares ideas via email with spooks, yet reportedly, didn’t use two-factor authentication on said email account. Allowing alleged Russian hackers, either to phish him via fake email, or to guess his password? Hardly Mr Cybersecurity, is he.
The SNP opposes digital ID.
John Swinney : That aside, by calling it BritCard, the Prime Minister seems to be attempting to force every Scot to declare ourselves British.
I am a Scot.
——
Irish republican community in N.Ireland?
“John Swinney : “.. by calling it BritCard, the Prime Minister seems to be attempting to force every Scot to declare ourselves British.”
We may be thankful for such own goals by the British government. May it cost them this particular game. 😁
I am pretty sure he has a passport? And what does it say in that passport…..?
I think a politician should be aware of the British Nationality Act (1981)?
That’s passed by a foreign colonial government though so he can ram it into the same place as the britcard. Sad days when I have to agree with Sweeny, though no doubt he will change his position 12 times over the next month.
Who’s Sweeny?
If that is the extent of Swinney’s ‘opposition’ then we are all doomed by low IQ mid-wits.
It should be banished on anti-freedom grounds.
It’s clear that for totalitarian societies privacy is an anathema. Fortunately we live in an open society where all our data is shared with Palantir and other Mega-corps who support our government’s aim to protect us from identity theft.
With regard to Anthony Blair becoming the Viceroy of Gaza one could only exclaim:
Dear God, what have Hamas done to deserve this ?
It is indeed stomach turning, and as usual cogently expressed by Craig.
May I respectfully submit we will soon have other, more dangerous fish to fry, long before these two ugly developments materialise?
An attack by Israel/the US on Iran before this year is out seems probable. To it (or shortly afterwards) might be joined some greater escalation against Russia.
None of this is in our interests as citizens, but what the hell.
The race to war before we the people can organise sufficiently to eject these criminals from power appears to me to be unstoppable.
It’s a funny turn of events that only Russia and Iran can save us.
In practical day-to-day terms, freer societies with a lot more holes in the sieve. Particularly the former.
Of course even that doesn’t tell the full story of upward curve Vs downward YooKay slide.
I doubt the proposed war against Iran will go any better than the last one.
Ukraine is a forgone conclusion and NATO’s coalition of the f*ckwits, can mobilise bugger all to reverse that.
I think China is our only hope, it’s a pity they are such transactional socialists😔. Recent suggestions are saying that Chinas military has surpassed the US’s so hopefully the collective west can smash itself on their shores. I think that’s more likely than the extraordinary number of lone gunmen we would require stepping forward.
No less a doctrinaire radical than Maximilien Robespierre warned (in 1791) that:
“The most extravagant idea that can be born in the head of a political thinker is to believe that it suffices for people to enter, weapons in hand, among a foreign people and expect to have one’s laws and constitution embraced. It is in the nature of things that the progress of Reason is slow and no one loves armed missionaries; the first lesson of nature and prudence is to repulse them as enemies.
“One can encourage freedom, never create it by an invading force”.
A while earlier, Montesquieu had explained that “Laws should be so appropriate to the people for whom they are made that it is very unlikely that the laws of one nation can suit another”.
– Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu, “L’Esprit des Lois”
Both those statements, coming from brilliant political minds of very different temperaments and backgrounds, could very usefully be studied by today’s politicians who continually try to impose their own laws on other nations, and to do so by military force.
I am not certain that the traditional British resistance to ID cards is really worth it: they are useful for proving identity, unfortunately frequently necessary these days. As mentioned by Goose above (and by me in the previous thread), the French have non-compulsory cards, but nearly everyone has one. I can’t see they feel imposed upon.
The question is how they are presented: a digital card only on my telephone (the French call it ‘dématérialisé’), I would be very opposed to. Telephones get stolen, or they get hacked. Which means your identity could be easily stolen. And I am certain that if that happened, being a government administration, it would not be easy to get immediate action. For the same reason, I refuse to have my bank card on the phone, or even the whole account, for the same reason.
I am not certain what the plan is here. A physical card could be acceptable; an online only access, as I believe current residence permits are, could be difficult to use for identity purposes.
If it were a physical card like France, i.e. something you can put aside, lock away somewhere until needed, it might be worth considering for consolidating various other ID e.g. drivers’ license, passport.
But a govt app on every mobile device, even old devices that are no longer getting OS security updates? Straight out of G.Orwell’s 1984.
Think of all the phones that are snatched in London and other UK cities each year. If security services want to exploit said app, using it to install sophisticated malware, serious criminals will simply have two or more phones, carrying one without the app installed for daily use.
IMO. You’re overthinking this, think about where this idea has come from, idiots R Us..
Any ID will not replace existing ID cards: Driving Licence, Passport, Bus Pass, etc. it will be in addition to these.
Even in these times many people don’t have smart devices, particularly pensioners and children, how’s that going to work then ?
“how’s that going to work then ?”
Also, how are these cards going to be issued? You will need ID in order to issue an ID card. If that ID is good enough to get you an ID card, what do you need an ID card for? What if you don’t have a passport, or a driver’s licence, a smartphone, a computer, a bank account or a permanent address? How are you going to prove who you are to get your compulsory digital ID card.
@Laguerre,
Are you really willing to trust these fascist pigs?
I was addressing the technicality of ID cards, not the worth of the people who would be doing the introduction. That is another question, which I don’t address.
I would distrust Starmer because he is Israel’s man in Downing St.
No, the zionist antisemites are a proxy not a lobby; it’s one of the ways that American Caesar enforces imperial policy.
Proxy maybe, but they also have self determination. It would be a foolish mistake to assume all Israeli and extremist Jewish evil is totally down to the USA. Sometimes a mad dog is just that !
You might be overlooking the purpose of the card, it isn’t to make your life more secure or easier, it is to collate data on you and centralise it. You should be very worried when fascists start making lists. Have a look at the US attempts to use Palantir to “centralise” data on its citizens, now have a look at the history of Palantir and the way that that US has criminalised protest against Isreal. Starmer is just an even less charismatic Trump, back in January when Trump entered the white house, Starmers speeches and press appearances event started to emulate Trumps… That’s how obsequious he is…. You want that snake to have your data so as you can keep your bank details all in one place? By the way, Palantir already has 3 UK contracts, they will almost certainly get this one too.
“…fascists start making lists.”
“As some day it may happen that a victim must be found
I’ve got a little list — I’ve got a little list
Of society offenders who might well be underground
And who never would be missed — who never would be missed!”
W.S. Gilbert The Mikado 1885
” The government will be able to garner and centralise knowledge of everything about you. Every detail of your financial transactions, your DNA, your family, your medical records, your education, employment and accommodation. It will be a very short time before the digital ID is linked to your social media accounts and your IP access to monitor your browsing. ”
Then how long before said database gets hacked?
Think about this.
There are currently NO centralised government data stores, everything is fractured and distributed. Think NHS, GPs, HMRC, DVLC, Local Government. In fact GDPR would make such a repository difficult. The only close-ish centralised repository of personal data is at GCHQ.
The government cannot technically do this, the courts would create real challenges. So, my question is, how will this work ?
GDPR?
Look to the US. They have the same fragmentation which was why Doge was created and why Palantir received all those Billions to collate the data. It was illegal there too but what’s a bit of law breaking to criminals? You think our lot are above it?
I suppose that centralising the data on us amounts to the same thing.
Hacked?
Optimist, it’ll be managed by Serco. That’s a preemptive hack by swindling criminal swine.
“Then how long before said database gets hacked?”
I’d imagine days, if not hours.
Then how long before said database gets hacked?
Then how long before you’ve overstepped a line that wasn’t there the day before ?
By the way, the idea of Blair in Gaza is a real horror, and I don’t believe would ever be acceptable to the Gazans, in much the same way as Trump’s Gaza Riviera plan. It’s also out of date; there is no post-war solution that would be acceptable to both sides.
Netanyahu is determined on his Final Solution. War on Iran, people say is what he wants. The 12-day war was a real disaster for Israel; Israel will have to have a new trick, as the same methods can’t be used again. There’s no getting round the basic issue: Israel is going to run out of AA defence missiles very quickly, and the Iranians have a lot of missiles.
Mustapha Barghouti’s response captured the reality concisely in asking what’s in it for Palestinians to substitute one occupation with another?
As for Netanyahu, his final solution has always struck me as a personal one: to avoid the ignominy of an inescapable stretch in the slammer for corruption, go irrevocably full-on Thelma & Louise to realise Eretz-Israel. If successful, unimpeachable national hero for life; if someone takes him out en route, national hero for all time + no stir. Unfortunately for the world left behind, the pervasion of sociopathic psychosis through Israeli society renders it incapable of generating a von Stauffenberg event.
Virtually every day we hear stories of important computers being hacked.
And so Starmer wants to increase the danger of this happening.
‘And it will also offer ordinary citizens countless benefits, like being able to prove your identity to access key services swiftly – rather than hunting around for an old utility bill.’
And, of course, if the government does not like you then it could cancel your card and you would be denied services.
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/730194
I wonder if Starmer is on the way out as PM, nd this is part of some spook to-do, bucket or wish list?
It’s dreadfully ill-thought-out. Who will manage the data? The fact so many have old mobile phones e.g. early iPhones, that don’t get any updates because they are end-of-life, makes having such sensitive ID on them absolutely bonkers. And if the govt gives everyone new, secure devices, are they going to repeat that every 5-10 years? At what cost?
How to install digital ID on your iPhone 17 Pro Max, SpAd thinking.
You’d think the govt would’ve learned he lessons of Mr Bates vs. The Post Office and the Horizon IT scandal, which showed just how badly these IT projects can go wrong. Who will store the data, who will update the app holding such sensitive data? Who will be legally responsible for the inevitable mass data breach? The Govt? The app developer? The people in charge of storage?
That other problem; namely, the fact many have old and outdated phones, which don’t get security updates or already have malware, is hugely problematic for this scheme. They should have gone the physical card route and made it non-compulsory, like the French, if they’re set on introducing an ID card.
Mr Bates vs. The Home Office?
Or the failed NHS system the final bill for which was £12 billion for which the taxpayer got – nothing.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24130684
Fujitsu again yet HMG keep awarding them contracts.
It seems the only county that has done this digital ID thing, is Estonia. Estonia have a Russian speaking minority , whom they are paranoid about, and a border with Russia, hence they feel the need to constantly hassle people for their ID.
Paul Mason, believes our situation is akin to Estonia’s. Completely bonkers.
Many people simply don’t want to carry around sensitive ID on a phone, documents they’d normally put in a safe, secure place. It’s going to create a new goldmine for muggers and phone snatchers in London.
Australia, India and Malaysia have Digital ID.
Throughout the Soviet occupation sizeable numbers of Russians were re-located to the Baltic states, some forcibly, in a Russification programme with the intention of eventually making the native population a minority. About 25% of Estonia’s population are ethnic Russians. It’s no wonder they’re a bit jumpy.
Pears Morgaine
And it may make sense there : As of January 1, 2025, the population of Estonia was approximately 1,369,995.
Not here in the UK though. Paul Mason has been arguing for this for a long time on the basis of it bolstering resilience. You know what he means by that. He really does appear to think we’re in a comparable situation. He accused Owen Jones of repeating Russian talking points, and his leaked spider-web map linked virtually every prominent person on the British left, to either Russia or China.
Estonia says hacker downloaded 286,000 ID photos from government database
https://x.com/AdzGCol/status/1971603501009768474/photo/1
That’s approx 20% of their population. 20% of the UK’s population is 13,600,000 or 13.6 million.
You just know there’ll be a huge market on the dark web, in stolen UK digital IDs. It’s inevitable.
Politicians never learn anything.
They’re so much smarter than the rest of us, you see, that nobody can teach them anything. (They really believe that.) That’s why they insist on telling us what to think. It’s never desirable that the plebs know the truth – about anything; it’s much too complicated for our simple minds to grasp. It’s enough that we know who are the Good Guys (Blair, Netanyahu,etc) and who are the Bad Guys (anybody who tells the truth).
“And it will also offer ordinary citizens countless benefits, like being able to prove your identity to access key services swiftly – rather than hunting around for an old utility bill.”
Countless, eh and you can only come up with one example? That’s pretty lame. Anyway how often do you have to go “hunting around for an old utility bill.” in your life and how much time are you really going to save. This really is selling your birthright for a mess of pottage.
Blair appears to have positioned himself as the ‘go to’ agent for half the worlds most reactionary plutocrats. Quite an achievement for a third rate guitarist from the “Ugly Rumours”. Shame he had to build it on the bones of so many ordinary human beings.
They’ve already got ID cards on much of the continent, and they’ve still got immigration problems there, in case “Even Newer” Labour hadn’t noticed.
Nobody that I have spoken to in the last year has volunteered that immigration is a big problem for them. Or mentioned it at all for that matter.
On the other hand, plenty of people are noticing how expensive living is these days, that the rich seem to be doing just fine, that there’s a genocide we – as Britain – are supporting, and that nothing bloody well works in the UK.
So is the government tackling any of these real issues? Of course not. They’re chasing the right-wing vote as ever, and trying to out-fascist Reform.
“…and that nothing bloody well works in the UK.”
I think the problem is that no-one in any large organisation gives a shit any more about anything except what directly benefits themselves. They are all David Brent all the way to the top.
Re: ‘The man [Blair] who killed a million Iraqis on the basis of lies about WMD’
Much as I hate Blair, mainly for instigating mass immigration and not making heroin legally available to (most) addicts – the end result of which will likely be 21st century-style Wars of Religion* (with drone swarms) – it’s not really fair to blame him for the half a million or so deaths in Iraq, since the Dubya-era US would almost certainly gone in without us anyway. His net worth is also only around 50 mill, not ‘hundreds of millions’.
Enjoy the weekend.
* Apparently, 16% of 18-24 year-olds attended a church service (mostly Catholic masses) at least once a month last year – up from 4% in 2019. Anyone who thinks that the Catholic faith is a religion of peace may like to consider where Sinn Fein/IRA got most of its guns & detonators from.
“Anyone who thinks that the Catholic faith is a religion of peace may like to consider where Sinn Fein/IRA got most of its guns & detonators from.”
Beliefs are not responsible for the people that hold them, so unless you can provide convincing evidence that the Catholic clergy were actively involved in gun-running, that’s a complete non-sequiteur. Not that Catholicism was ever a religion that particularly promoted peace where heretics or heathens were involved.
Thanks for your reply Bayard. Just one example who recently left us:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Ryan_(Irish_priest)
He was probably one of the most prolific, but there are plenty more who don’t have Wiki pages. Enjoy the rest of the weekend.
Sure, some Catholic clergy supported the IRA, just as some supported the Nazis and some supported Pinochet. However, the major supporter was the USA- the government and the people (the oirish). “Spare a few dollars for the boys back home”, as I was asked in a Boston bar in the 70s. Of course, nowadays there are Jewish fundraisers for ‘the boys’ back in Israel. Follow the money …
Thanks for your reply, Stevie. Many Catholic clergy supported the Provisional IRA, but some were actively involved in transporting US & Libyan-sourced weapons from Irish ports to their hidden arms caches (less chance of their cars getting stopped by the Gardai etc). Father Patrick Ryan actually directly supplied timers for many of their bombs (including the Brighton one), importing reliable ones from Switzerland. His only regret shortly before his death, was that the bombs hadn’t killed more. As far as I know, no US government ever funded the IRA (neither Provisional nor Official).
The Gauleiter of Gaza
Just when you think that there isn’t enough vomit in your belly to express your feelings, that odious turd bobs up in the bowl again….
The proposed ID scheme is supposed to ensure no one can work without it – but every citizen already has a unique work related identity with their National Insurance card and number. Of course if you are self employed – or working for cash – then you don’t need your NI number – or any other form of ID registration.
It serves no purpose to reduce immigration – it is a data collection exercise as CM states.
It’s been a month or two now since the last govt climbdown – Starmer must be getting the DTs
The amount of roadblocks under Blairs regime increased and there was no let up in harassment and dehumanising rigmarole.
He should bever be allowed to be involved in Palestinian affairs again, the self server.
ID cards? Is Sir kidstarver so desperate to placate the rightwing media?
Shows how out of touch these people are, the *actual* right-wing despise this YooKay technocrat horseshit and don’t buy for one second.
That it’ll be used to thwart migration or illegal working. They (rightly) think it’s to be a regime suppression tool.
I’m hoping the Westminster MP’s shootdown Starmers BritCard, ID cards (bills) have failed to pass in the HoC before, and Starmer is a vile evil b&stard who is utterly disliked, lets hope it doesn’t even reach the bill stage, I’m not English and I don’t live in England or Wales, but I hope Andy Burnham kicks that b*stard out of office sooner than later.
As for Blair, what words to describe that f*ckin monster, who should be rotting in prison for his war crimes against humanity, the West is indeed ran by sick b*stards.
I think the term Starmer’s Shit Card needs to be memed into existence.
I mean it sort of rhymes and is apropos of the general enshittification inherit in late-stage End of History Blairism.
Everything they do is shit, produced by shit, for shit rationales that lead ineluctably to more shit.
“Everything they do is shit, produced by shit, for shit rationales that lead ineluctably to more shit.”
Same shit, just different assholes.
Nearly all of of the UK is a single island, so undocumented immigrants are not an issue that justifies a digital ID. “Stop the boats” is just a slogan. Mass immigration caused by official government policy is significant, though. Despite Brexit, net immigration shot way up as a result of liberalisation by the Tory government, but it dropped again last year after the Tories introduced restrictions.
This unexpected digital ID proposal from Starmer is just a cynical way of taking advantage of the recent massive anti-immigration rally.
Of course, the illegal boat immigrants, albeit small, are just the visible face of the far bigger problem, the immigrants that are waved in by the government: the nurses, doctors, care workers, etc. Instead of investing in these careers within the UK, various governments have reduced funding, reduced numbers, reduced training and reduced wages, all because of the false savings supposedly made by importing low paid foreign workers. No ID card will stop government incompetence and corruption.
Coming up with the dead duck ID non manifesto proposal just before the Labour Party Conference to suggest that HM Government is now really starting to get the job done, putting the country back on its feet and really responding to the people’s priorities is as bereft of political imagination as it could be. Could it not have come up with a better wheeze than this to lift the Party’s flagging spirits like tackling the cost of living crisis? You at least keep warm in hell, but this is just purgatory and pathetic and I am pretty sure will get stuck in the technological mud.
The idea of Blair heading a new kind of Palestine Mandate is of a different puke making order.
How will that affect the ability of SpyCops to steal the identities of dead children? Or the ability of the British Empire to disown its subjects?
If you don’t have a driving licence, you pretty much need a passport to prove ID for online government services already, even if you never leave the country. Identity theft or impersonation seems to be a growing criminal activity.
But without biometrics (and maybe geostamp) from birth, how will such a system be integrated across generations?
And will the transaction and monitoring threats simply boost alternative workarounds which can develop much faster than the lumbering British subcontracting-to-profiteers state?
Is there a benefit to a universal services model (which may only need to check eligibility not personal identifiable details)? Our votes are already tied to our identities so the state knows who we vote for.
Peter Thiel’s Palantir – will have a role in Starmer’s BritCard.
https://nitter.poast.org/EuropeanPowell/status/1971275694995865805#m
https://wikispooks.com/wiki/Palantir_Technologies
No surprise really. Mossad and the CIA being gifted all of our data by the zionist plant Starmer.
On the bright side, if everything is digital it only needs someone to park their bike on a substation and it would all come tumbling down. All your eggs in one vulnerable basket.
They stated on the BBC news at six, there will be a physical ‘card’ version. If it goes ahead, opt for that and bung it in a secure place.
Given Paul Mason is taking about it supporting National Resilience Goals. In line with NATO’s 7 baseline requirements for resilience. Being asked to prove ID will likely become common as their paranoia grows due to how deeply they’ve got us involved in the Ukraine mire. These numpties really do appear to be gearing up for WW3.
Nah, there’s no material means to mobilise for and wage such a war. Particularly in the UK where the military continues to rot away.
That even before NATO spaffed away much it’s usable ammo & gear to get blown up by the Russians. Whom actually have an MIC & manpower mustering system that’s worth a f*ck.
This is strictly about brittle unpopular regimes seeking to cement internal control.
“On the bright side, if everything is digital it only needs someone to park their bike on a substation and it would all come tumbling down. ”
Not to mention another Carrington Event.
I was going to subscribe to your Substack, but it’s very expensive at £150/person. That almost 3 times that of a typical subscription, and I subscribe to a few.
In political matters, I do not believe that I am naive or prone to idealism. Even when it tests my optimism and the fortitude of my convictions, I try to remain realistic and grounded in my assessment of things as they really are, not how I wish they were or would like them to have been.
Having said all, there are still times when I reflect on the staggering depth and diversity of evil concentrated in the single person of Tony Blair and the effect is dizzying. I realise the ruling class is full of cruel, selfish, stupid and venal characters but few rival Blair for the inventiveness and scale of his viciousness and mendacity.
It is not impressive – it is bleak and horrifying. I will not seek to psychoanalyse him or his species of grasping lower middle class pole-climbers (Mandelson is a very good companion in that regard). The man is every bit as evil as the worst and most infamous colonialists of 19th and early 20th centuries – Michael O’Dwyer, Ian Henderson. Perhaps though I am being unfair to Blair’s sense of historical destiny. I am referring to colonial panjandrums. Let’s be generous and say that with the means at his disposal, Blair possesses all the capacity for evil as a Leopold II. As Craig writes, that this blood soaked monster of the cynical application of violence and domination at home and abroad should be considered for anything related to Palestine or Gaza besides a cell in a high security prison is one of the many testaments to the Western degeneration into squalor and barbarism.
Quote by H.L. Mencken: “As democracy is perfected, …
On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron. Mission accomplished. I thought G W. Bush was bad, then along came Genocide Joe, followed by the worst of them all Zion Don, they should all be sharing a padded cell in an asylum.
Mission accomplished
Blair is completely beyond redemption. Blair and Kushner were conducting the real estate auction of Gaza, promising a lot of Arab gentlemen a land without people, just when 480,000 people could be seen walking out of Gaza city as the bulldozers bombers and death squads moved in. I guess buyers wanted a bit more of a guarantee on their purchases so Blair was delighted to own the makeover title of the ongoing genocide.
I don’t know why recognition of Palestine has happened unless it is to back up the Trump Blair real estate purchases. The Freedom Flotilla is another way to put Europe in the crosshairs. Have all the important and worthy crews really got a plan? What exactly will they do if they are allowed through? If they become martyrs for humanitarianism how will that pay off? This new lot of ‘performative’ decisions was made at the recent Windsor banquets, facilitated by Kate. Charles has been guided all his life by highly professional and inspirational women: the Queen, the saint Princess Diana, and the icon of perfection, Kate, who puts the gloss on all the Firm’s new brochures. Charles is a good guy but he is outflanked and being kept in the dark about real agendas.
Microsoft has withdrawn its agreement for Israel to track everyone using its software because it has been using it for military purposes. ID on phones will improve drone targeting and identify bodies buried under rubble more easily. Jeepers! Doom and gloom – every which way you turn evil gloats and beckons.
Drones are being sighted all over Europe. Ukraine is proud of all its bioweapons labs. Mouse virus is causing Russian soldiers eyes to bleed. Where are the UN police to arrest these criminals and bring them to justice? The lunatics have taken over the asylum
“I don’t know why recognition of Palestine has happened unless it is to back up the Trump Blair real estate purchases. ”
I suspect that it is to install a “government” in Palestine which will be fully under the control of the US/Israel. All the valuable coastal land will be sold off and the citizens of South Palestine will provide the “hewers of wood and drawers of water” to all the new inhabitants of the Gaza Riviera.
Or the few remaining Palestinians will be stuck on a reservation as an attraction for the tourists to gawp at – “and for those who have done enough sunbathing here we have a day trip to see the ‘authentic’ Palestine and buy a souvenir Keffiyeh”.
@Tempestteacup, yes, it’s all a bit:
as if someone is interested in exploiting end-of-the-world prophecy for geopolitical goals.
Radio 4 just now confirmed that the ID card will be on your telephone. That’ll be a disaster, as I suggested above. It’ll be open to all sorts of hacking, and simply stealing the phone.
I don’t carry mobile phones around, I leave them at home in case someone rings me. ;O)
The West has abandoned International law in favour of the US led ‘rules based order’, fortunately the rest of the world led by the BRICS have other ideas. 1/ The US provoked war in Ukraine has been won by Russia. Trump has just declared the Europeans must confront Russia without the US, he has backed away, but Trump being Trump has offered to supply US weapons to Ukraine, just so long as the Europeans pay for them, he is inviting them to put their money, troops on the ground and planes in the air (Starmer) against Russia, knowing full well they (the Europeans) have no intention of doing so. Similarly Israel is living on borrowed time, Netanyahu has said Israel must prepare to be another Sparta and fight alone, and manufacture its own weapons, the man is delusional. The Israeli state has no defence in depth, Metropolitan Tel Aviv, and a couple of other largish towns comprise the 7.2 million Jews living there. They are surrounded by approx 400 million Muslims one state of which Iran has hundreds of thousands of ballistic missiles, many unstoppable hyper sonic ones hidden in silos all over the Iranian desert and along the strait of Hormuz, Ansar Allah (the Hoothis) also have hyper sonic missiles, Israel would have been finished in the last round had Iran continued its barrage for another 2 weeks, the West cannot keep Israel on life support much longer. The Muslim states who surround Israel are belatedly realizing that the rabid mad dog (Israel) is going to ravage them all over time (seven Arab countries bombed over the last couple of months). Russia and China are mow supplying Iran with extra missile defence, Pakistan has formed an alliance with the Saudis and other Gulf states with the promise of a nuclear umbrella. It seems the Israelis are being offered, as the Algerian pieds-noir were, ‘the suitcase or the coffin’.
In Europe, money that’s printed debt, planes that can’t fly and troops that march on paper. So if that’s Trump’s game, he wins it by default simply doing nothing.
For Israel the cost of propping it up hasn’t been examined quite as much as Ukraine. Yet the dynamic isn’t dissimilar in terms of a tanked economy, kept on massive external life-support.
If Israel has got an upside it’s due to being less obviously doomed, facing weaker opponents and being the “wife” not the “mistress” for NATOland.
This does beg the question of who the real power behind the throne is here – the events of the last 20 years or so have really laid bare that our elected representatives dance to someone else’s tune. For a lot of us here that was already abundantly apparent for decades but it’s been so blatant of late especially that the only conclusion I can come to is; an unholy alliance of American/British/Israeli security services interests has decided it would rather dispense with the inconvenient notion of democracy all together in the longer term and has organised an end run on erecting the necessary architecture for total state surveillance and control before any real long term resistance can be organised by the public. Left in name only figures like Blair, Starmer and Bernie Sanders etc are the perfect sheep dogs for herding a largely still naive public on stuff like this, it works every time.
Ever so slowly the velvet glove has been removed, and as much as the compliant elements of the media want to pretend its still be-gloved, most of us can very firmly spot the iron fist at this point. Little to no faith can be put in either the HoC/L to strike this down presumably, so our only hope rests in that the authoritarian shit stains behind this are generally so technologically dense that wording of it renders it essentially unworkable before it starts. Terrifying.
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair looking increasingly and appropriately skeletal as time catches up with his vile, wretched carcass. Very appropriate really considering all the death & destruction around the world he is responsible for. Despicable, loathsome waste of oxygen.
Yes, the idea of compulsory ID cards keeps rearing its head over the years.
Linking it to immigration control is both novel and ridiculous.
Would even grudging acceptance of digital cards eventually lead to a mandatory requirement of ‘being chipped’ [e.g. at birth?]
just like cats and dogs?
That’s so Orwellian, it’s believable: control would then be complete.
Why bother, when the plastic driving licence is an ID card in all but name?
Squeeth
They’ll have to make carrying it at all times compulsory too, if it’s to achieve what they claim it will.
If the intention is to demand ID from those suspected of working illegally, it could become a criminal offence not have it available on your person. That changes the UK we grew up in fundamentally, doesn’t it.
And think how this could be abused at demonstrations and marches. Tech is moving fast; they could develop a system with a QR code for your personal info, then scan thousands of IDs, as people pass through designated choke points. Like some Black Mirror episode made real.
Jeez, I typed the last para above as conjecture. Looking at the example on the guardian of this new digital ID, it has a QR code for full details.
https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/4d2cc7f56f31d1889c202d56f1eae7da7c67008e/0_1_3058_2444/master/3058.jpg?width=1900&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none
Some are saying that Multiverse has the ‘Britcard’ app development contract – Multiverse is the company founded by Euan Blair.
If so, it really stinks. The Procurement Act 2023? All that Labour uproar over Johnson’s govt and how competitive tendering processes were halted for PPE during the covid pandemic.
Also from the Guardian’s article :
The government said the ID would sit in a digital wallet on citizens’ smartphones and use state-of-the-art encryption.
Apple has withdrawn Advanced Data Protection from the UK and the govt fought a long legal battle, shrouded in outrageous secrecy, to access the entire world’s encrypted data! Megaton overreach.. It was impossible for Apple to grant their demand because the encryption employed was unique to each user – there was no ‘private’ master key to hand over. So, as stated, Apple has withdrawn that level of protection from UK device owners; leaving UK citizens , uniquely, in Europe, without the highest levels of data security offered by Apple. This govt hates end-to-end encryption.
These are the type of people we have in government. If Starmer isn’t a spook he certainly acts like one.
Such grotesque news about Tony Blair. I had to read it twice. Tony Blair to lead…Gaza?! it reads like a headline from the satirical “the Onion”, what the heck is this?! Why not bring George W Bush with him so they both can rule?? This must be stopped, how on earth could the arab region be so exceedingly corrupt that they have somehow agreed to this!? A man that is responsible for killing hundreds of thousands of (iraqi) arabs… and he is going to rule the area now!? What is this if not sheer colonialism? It would be as absurd if an arab disgraced leader were sent to rule a region in northern europe.
This show how totally insensitive and ignorant the western elite still are when it comes to the palestinians and the region at large. Their view are of arab people are obviously still so low.
What is even Tony Blair’s aim here? To receive the Nobel Peace Prize along with Trump and Netanyahu? Or is it simply the racist White man’s burden that still rule?