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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Dear Craig,
First of all, thanks for what you do and secondly I am already a monthly subscriber.
I have one suggestion… immediately before the words above, “Because some people…” I think it would be a good idea to add something like, “If you are not already a financial supporter of my work, I would greatly appreciate it if you would send me a one-off or perhaps start paying a monthly donation. ”
I suggest this because so often I read requests where the benefactor seems to forget those who are already contributing. i.e. this request is aimed at more than just you. I think expressing such appreciation brings both podcaster and audience closer together.
Thanks again for all you do.
Hugh Williams
The hypocrisy by the West is so obvious when it comes to Gaza/Ukraine regarding Eurovision and FIFA/UEFA.
So, Russia was kicked out from UEFA and FIFA after 4 days after the russian invasion of Ukraine.
https://www.uefa.com/news-media/news/0272-148df1faf082-6e50b5ea1f84-1000–fifa-uefa-suspend-russian-clubs-and-national-teams-from-a/
4 days. Meanwhile almost close to 800 days of genocide in Gaza and the corrupt UEFA and FIFA are – according to incoming rumours – to take no action against Israel. One could only imagine the corruption that goes on behind the scenes here. Trump said the other day that he would stop any push to ban Israel.
Same with the Eurovision contest. Russia was kicked out after 3 days (after russian invasion).
https://eurovision.tv/mediacentre/release/ebu-statement-russia-2022
But when it comes to israel, the same Eurovision now claim that the competition should be free of any politicial agendas and will therefore not take any action against Israel!?
You cannot make these f*ckers up. Unbelievable.
In other news, Netanyahu openly claim that Israel use Twitter and Tiktok to spread propaganda, he also speak how he look forward to the selling of Tiktok (pro-israel jew Larry Ellison will become the owner) and how israel will work with Elon Musk to get israel’s message out on Twitter.
Video: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DPLpiekAYjL/
Imagine if Putin said the same, it would be all over, it would be blasted as some evil influence-campaign operation tactics! But when Netanyahu actually say it, there is no reporting whatsoever about it in the western MSM.
Jack, they are the chosen people, God picked them, not you, not us. And, that terrible Holocaust thingy they suffered. If you want to go to heaven you need to stop picking on these poor victims. We are their cattle. At least FIFA, Eurovision, Starmer and Trump understand we are here to serve not criticise.
Steve Hayes wrote: “If Russia launches hundreds of missiles and drones and kills four civilians (all as reported in our media, not Russia’s), it should be obvious to anyone that civilians weren’t the target.”
And all the civilians conscripted to fight Russia – are they not the target also?
Not sure what your point is ?
Once a conscript puts on the uniform they’re military, no longer civilians. Ie. Covered by the Geneva conventions, whereas civilians fighting aren’t and are classified as terrorists.
Or, are you suggesting Vietnam and WW1/2 draftees were still civilians ?
Hostilities only conscripts had a different legal status to regulars. They were quite willing to complain to their MPs against poor treatment, like the officer who shouted “Hi-de-hi!” on parade and wanted them to shout back “ho-de-ho!”. During the Big Two, Monty said that his men weren’t killers by nature, interested only in women, beer and football. There was no attempt at ideological indoctrination like the Germans went in for.
“I invite you, and all citizens, to contemplate the meaning of the phrase ‘you are not under arrest but you are not free to leave, you have no right to silence, if you refuse to answer any and all of our questions you’ll be committing an offence under the Terror Act’.
“The doublespeak in the phrase ‘you’re not under arrest and you’re not free to leave’ chills the blood, and it could happen to any of you.”
And that is exactly what happened to George Galloway at the weekend when he was detained for 9 hours and his phones confiscated. He says he is going to sue for illegal detention.
And today, in a not dissimilar exercise of unwarranted and frankly illegal police mass stop and check around a 180 passengers disembarking a Glasgow to Bristol internal UK flight were stopped by armed police and made to form two queues one comprising UK nationals, the other non UK nationals, whilst police demanded photographic passports and or driving licences of all.
Causing concern and outrage among many who were travelling lawfully on business the police in response to complaints aggressively shouted at passengers that the mass stop was part of a nationwide initiative.
Very much seems that the pass laws redolent of apartheid South Africa and the 1960s American deep south are now part of the british policing political landscape.
Russian media discuss the future of Ukraine.
https://youtu.be/JCtbxcj__uw?si=WhtLRDL5T5ovnCmF
Nice people….
More propaganda. Do you get renumerated per comment ?
Stevie Boy
September 29, 2025 at 23:57
Yes, the TV video is Russkiy propaganda.
“Yes, the TV video is Russkiy propaganda.”
The BBC is doing Russian propaganda?
The TV show that I linked to was a Russian political discussion on broadcast Russian TV.
“The TV show that I linked to was a Russian political discussion on broadcast Russian TV.”
Do try to read things before you put finger to keyboard. The YouTube video to which you linked was Steve Rosenberg, the BBC’s Moscow correspondent, doing “What the (Russian) papers say”. Mind you , I can’t read Cyrillic or speak Russian so I couldn’t tell if what he said they said was what they actually said.
Funny how Russia is always – allegedly – on the brink of collapse and weak according to the western pundits but somehow, at the same time, manage to be a powerful threat. Make up your mind.
Ever since the russian invasion one heard cocksure arguments, from the West, that the russian economy and the state itself, would collapse ‘any time now’.
Jack
September 30, 2025 at 08:12
Of course both can be true.
The German economy was hugely overstretched in the late 1930’s due to unsustainable spending on the military.
Hitler “had” to launch Barbarossa as the alternative, winding back military spending, would have led to the collapse of his regime.
The analogy with Putin’s predicament is obvious.
Piffle, the Germans managed another measure of rearmament after the French job in 1940. The trade deal with Russia was back to front, it was based on Russian terms, making time be on the USSR’s side. It was Britain not folding that kept Germany out of world markets for oil, food, cotton, rubber and copper etc that forced Germany to attack Russia in 1941 rather than wait.
Making an analogy with nazi Germany is pernicious when the nazis are Ukrainian and Zionist.
JK Redux
One wonder why the West bother to pile so much economic sanctions on Russia then if the economic factor play no role if a state is a threat or not.
The german GDP per capita was soaring during the 1930s and even a few years into the 1940s.
“The analogy with Putin’s predicament is obvious.”
Well it would be if the Russian economy really was about to collapse, but it is not, so it isn’t. You seem to think, like frighteningly many people in the UK, that every country is like the countries of western Europe, a net importer of energy, food and raw materials. Russia, however, is a net exporter and is self-sufficient. Not only that, it has a huge market in China to divert its exports to if the West doesn’t buy them. Yes Russia used to import lots of stuff from the West, but that was only because the exported lots of stuff and ended up with Western currency they needed to spend and the only place they could spend that was in the West. Once the West stopped buying stuff from Russia, Russia no longer needed to buy stuff from the West, so the West saying they wouldn’t sell them stuff was neither here nor there.
“Hitler “had” to launch Barbarossa as the alternative, winding back military spending, would have led to the collapse of his regime.”
Bollocks, the invasion of Russia was always part of the plan, which was to avoid being starved into submission as they had in WWI by taking over Eastern Europe, especially Ukraine and the oil fields around Stalingrad. That was why the Munich agreement happened: the British government thought that Germany was going to attack Russia and get rid of those damn commies. If you remember, the UK was the same side as Germany in the Winter War. The Ribbentrop-Molotov pact was just to buy time for Germany to deal with France and Britain.
The Kremlin’s Economy Minister has been warning for some time that the Russian economy is standing on the brink of recession if not outright collapse.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russia-recession-maxim-reshetnikov-putin-b2773901.html
Now Putin’s allies are saying the same thing.
https://www.london.edu/News/russian-economy-threatened-by-recession-says-portes
The interest rate was recently increased to 18% and VAT increased from 20% to 22%.
This is not propaganda generated in the west but data from within Russia itself.
Far from being self sufficient Russia imported nearly $300 billion of goods and materials in 2021 and exported nearly $500 billion. Not only are many of these imported goods no longer available but much of ihe export market is now blocked as a result of sanctions.
Anyone who claims Russia’s slow progress is deliberate strategy does not understand just how expensive war is. A division (12,000 men) in the front line requires hundreds of tonnes of supplies, food, fuel, ammunition etc, every day. Putin claims to have 700,000 soldiers in Ukraine, although whether or not they’re all front line troops is unclear. The amount of kit they need every day is vast and it all has to be paid for and transported to where it’s needed which is an expensive operation in itself.
Pears Morgaine
Surely you don’t believe the Indie’s take on Reshetnikov’s remarks, given its ownership.
First line: “Russia’s economy is teetering on the edge of recession”. I.e. in an identical position to UK. So what’s the particular problem of Russia?
The LBS assessment looks even more partisan, as it’s an opinion piece.
“Far from being self sufficient Russia imported nearly $300 billion of goods and materials in 2021 and exported nearly $500 billion.”
Do try to read what I wrote before putting finger to keyboard: Yes Russia used to import lots of stuff from the West, but that was only because the exported lots of stuff and ended up with Western currency they needed to spend and the only place they could spend that was in the West. Russia imported nearly $300 billion of goods and materials in 2021 because it exported nearly $500 billion. What was it going to do with the $500 billion otherwise, apart from stick it Euroclear where it is effectively lost?
“Anyone who claims Russia’s slow progress is deliberate strategy does not understand just how expensive war is.”
Once again, you are thinking of Russia as the same as a basically broke Western European country. Russia has huge amounts of money from exporting natural resources that cost almost nothing to extract. It can afford to fight a war, unlike nearly every country in NATO. Unlike Jingoland, they have the ships, they have the men, they have the money, too. All of this was obvious before the war started, except it wasn’t what people wanted to hear and so was the Wrong Answer.
Redux
“The TV show that I linked to was a Russian political discussion on broadcast Russian TV.”
The TV show that you linked to was a BBC video (hence the prominent BBC logo in the top left hand corner) called “Reading Russia” by that notorious shill, Steve Rosenberg, laughingly styled BBC “Russian Correspondent”. Fortunately for you, living as you do on John Bull’s Other Island, you’re not subject to his regular comically anti-Russian propaganda pieces on BBC “news”. His output is so embarrassingly biased, it would make Joseph Goebbels and William Joyce blush, so he fits like a glove at the BiBi C.
Please do a bit more research on links before you add them to your posts, there’s a good chap.
Frank Hovis
September 30, 2025 at 14:14
Touché.
Rosenberg was reading from the Russian press. Are you claiming that his translation is faulty?
JK
Yes, he was reading extracts from a wide selection of Russian newspapers some of which were very critical of the economic and social policies of evil monster Putin’s cruel government, (surely, it can’t be long before all of the senior staff of these vile detestable publications are marched off to the gulag or mysteriously fall out of very high windows) to try and show Russia in a bad light to his audience. And he’s allowed to do this for the BBC from the capital city of the country he is attempting to denigrate. Any Russian broadcasters who attempted to do the same in “The West” were given the bum’s rush several years ago. So much for our much vaunted free press and freedom of speech.
And I notice, in true Kinsella tradition, you totally ignored the fact that it wasn’t a “Russian political dicussion on broadcast Russian TV” as you said it was and finished off with a typical bit of sealioning.
So please heed the advice in the last sentence of my original reply to you i.e. look before you leap and you might not end up looking such a complete arse every time you post.
JK
Please accept my apologies for the intemperate nature of my previous post (at 18:27). Although I still stand by the opinions expressed within it, they could have been expressed in a more civil manner.
I’m just off to have a lie down in a darkened room.
” he was reading extracts from a wide selection of Russian newspapers some of which were very critical of the economic and social policies of evil monster Putin’s cruel government, (surely, it can’t be long before all of the senior staff of these vile detestable publications are marched off to the gulag or mysteriously fall out of very high windows) ”
That they dare publish this bad news either shows that Putin’s grasp is slipping or it’s been allowed to prepare the population for worse news.
We get nothing but bad news about the economy and politics in the UK, if you hadn’t noticed.
Frank Hovis
September 30, 2025 at 18:27
Gracious as always.
“That they dare publish this bad news either shows that Putin’s grasp is slipping or it’s been allowed to prepare the population for worse news.”
You remind me of the handwriting expert in the Dreyfus case who said that a piece of writing had to be by Dreyfus as where it resembled his handwriting it was obviously by him and where it didn’t it was obviously him trying to disguise his handwriting. So, when there is no bad news from the Russian press, this shows that Putin has it in a vice-like grip and it is totally censored, but where there is bad news published, this shows that his grasp is slipping. Is it not more likely that in the real world, the press isn’t censored at all? Most countries seem to function pretty normally under all sorts of economic woes, but the moment things are not perfect in Russia, it is “on the brink of collapse”.
The absurdities goes on unhindered, an obvious capitulation order against Palestine, is cynically framed as a “peace offer”. A “peace offer” crafted by the same actors that enabled and carried out the Genocide. Palestinians are to be disarmed/de-radicalised and will not even be allowed to rule their own territory – Tony Blair and Trump himself will rule it. Still, this “peace offer” is hailed by the western media/pundits!?
And unfortunately, if Hamas reject it – it will be framed that palestinians do not want peace on the other hand, If they accept it, they will capitulate the palestinian cause.
It is very tragic because there was so quite a momentum recently against Israel but there are obviously too many enablers and collaborators that keep throwing the palestinians under the bus, especially the the arab and muslim world. Erdogan, that like to bark so much about Netanyahu, came out and cheering Trump’s peace plan.
Turkey’s Erdogan hails Trump’s efforts to end Gaza war after deal
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/turkeys-erdogan-hails-trumps-efforts-end-gaza-war-after-deal-2025-09-30/
Imagine if China crafted a “peace offer” with Russia regarding Ukraine like this for Ukraine to simply capitulate. It would certainly not be framed as a “peace offer” by the western world.
Trump’s peace ultimatum is more complicated than you suggest. The BBC has just said, correctly, that the threats uttered of letting loose Israel, are worth nothing, because Israel is already doing all that it is capable of (bar nuclear). Equally, it admits the right to a Palestinian state. And lastly Netanyahu’s coalition partners are also opposed, though there are also stories that they’ve been persuaded out of their opposition.
That doesn’t mean that I think Hamas should accept. Netanyahu will certainly not conform to the few conditions imposed on Israel. He’s already stated his position clearly, and that is Hamas’s unconditional surrender and no future Palestinian state, a position at odds with Trump’s declaration.
We need the true “good” zionists to come back into office in Israel and then this Palestinian state you mention will finally come into being.
We know some of the very best people, like Emmanuel, Sir Keir and Sir Tony, are desperate to see one.
Zoot there are no good zionists, the ideology is racist, fascist, colonialist, antisemite and nazi genocidal.
zoot, If that was supposed to be ironic, it didn’t work, as I am not in favour of the agreement/ultimatum. In any case, as an initiative it has now more or less failed, as Israel has entered objections to a formula that was intended to give them all they wanted.
The Israelis have no incentive to reach an agreement, they now have tested the west and the rest of the world and found that no one will stand up for Palestinians. They have been given a carte blanche to complete the genocide. This peace plan is a mere attempt at regaining a whitewashing of poor Israel and terrorist Hamas image propaganda .
The poor sods are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. The only choice is the moral one, to refuse this ‘deal’.
Obviously the choice is solely, or should be, the Palestinians. In reality they are being asked to sign their own death warrant by three of the most evil people on the planet.
Yes what is happening is that israel now want a closure and a nice little calm exit from their slaughterfest, Gaza city was the last stop and now they want to wrap the Genocide up by a phony “peace” deal by cynically pose as someone that want to make peace… after 2 years of non stop killing. It is so gross.
Latest rumor is that Hamas will accept the deal. Perhaps they have no choice? But still, they and the Palestinian people, get absolutely nothing in return if they agree to this deal, or rather ultimatum, because if Palestinians are not allowed to question any of the “20 points” in the agreement, what is this if not an ultimatum?
Maybe it’s 4D Chess ? Hamas accepts the deal, Israel doesn’t, therefore the deal is off …
Trump clearly dreams of being known as a peacemaker.
He’s eager to insert himself into every conflict with his “peace initiatives,” which often leads to zero or even the opposite result.
We need to launch a crowdfunding campaign to raise money, to award Trump 2 Nobel Peace Prizes, in exchange for a promise to cease his peacekeeping efforts.
Seems like Blair trying to polish his horrible Iraq legacy, trying to pose himself as some peace maker, perhaps the ultimate goal – like Trump – is to get the Nobel peace prize.
Blair has been on the Zionist payroll for years.
Blair will support ANY cause that enriches him and ‘enhances’ his profile. He has no shame.
Jack
Perhaps he’s trying to buy his way into Heaven instead of his pre-destined route to Hell?
For the believers – God works in mysterious ways.
For the non believers like me it is good to know that he is worried about his fate.
Hence the bags under his eyes.
Better a Sinner Saved.
No – give him a swerve I say.
“There are obviously too many enablers and collaborators that keep throwing the Palestinians under the bus, especially in the Arab and Muslim world”.
I agree with you Jack, in fact at the recent 57 group of Arab and Muslim league nations they did not propose any concrete actions, rather they whined pathetically on what the “International community” should do, when it is incumbent on them [almost 2 billion people] to act. No chance, they are content to be bought off by the west. Here in the UK thousands of Pensioners some blind and in wheelchairs are being arrested defending the Palestinians, meanwhile the Arab satraps are doing as they are told by their masters. They have no self respect and are sniveling cowards. Here is an excellent article on the complicity of most Arab leadership.
https://savageminds.substack.com/p/the-moral-rot-of-the-arab-and-islamic
Yes, the the arab and muslim nations humiliate themselves day in day out, they have so much agency themselves, so much power, so much influence… but deliberately refuse to use it and instead whine that “the international community” must do this or that.
And just today I read that Palestinian Authority back and praise Trump’s “peace” plan and his policies will bring “stability” to the region!?
You cannot make these slaves up. The same nation that wrecked the Middle East since 1950s, the same nation that made the Genocide against the palestinian people possible is… praised by the Palestinian Authority. I do not say this as a childish immature slur but these people are clincally mentally challenged. There is no other possible explanation by now.
Corruption is an explanation.
Eg. The quisling, Mahmoud Abbas and his family, have hidden away millions in overseas accounts. They are all alumni of the Blair school of morals and ethics.
This is far beyond any corruption factor by now. For Abbas to say that US is a force of the good after american bullets, missiles have massacred palestinians 24/7 past 2 years clearly show that something else is at play here, something innate. He is nothing but a self-hating palestinian/arab just like the rest of the arab leadership throughout the region.
“They have no self respect and are sniveling cowards. Here is an excellent article on the complicity of most Arab leadership.”
All the Arab countries were set up after WWI by the colonial powers, Britain and France. Do you really not suppose that they, and the USA, have made damn sure that the rulers of these oil-rich states kowtow to them and not the people they rule? We have had an example in our own country, FFS, of what happens when a potential leader tries to put the people before the oligarchs. Occasionally these people try to get someone who is not a Western puppet into power, but the are usually removed, like Mossadegh or Gadaffi, by the same colonial powers. Do you really think that any Arab country that defied the colonial powers wouldn’t end up like Libya? Better to be ruled by snivelling cowards than have your entire country destroyed.
In any case Israel is a problem that the Arabs have had imposed on them by those colonial powers. If the people of the UK and tha US won’t solve that problem, why should the Arabs? If someone sets fire to your house, do you think you are to blame for not managing to put it out if it then burns to the ground?
Bayard
The issue is that 20+ arab nations let outside forces influence and to certain extent, control them, divide them. They could break free but choose not. It is a deliberate choice by themselves.
We are talking about a wealthy region, there is no reason whatsoever for these genocidal enablers to take money from the same U.S that kill their own ethnic group in Palestine. This idea that these leaders are so powerless is just a myth. The other week it was reported how the foreign minister of UAE more or less forced Netanyahu to give up on annexing the West Bank otherwise the arab leaders would put the breaks on expanding the Abraham Accords:
Netanyahu drops West Bank annexation from agenda due to UAE pressure
https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/diplomacy-defense/artc-netanyahu-drops-west-bank-annexation-from-agenda-due-to-uae-pressure
If it was so easy for the arab world to get Israel to back off from annexing the West Bank, imagine how much they could accomplish if they put some effort to stop the Genocide? They could have stopped it within weeks back in 2023.
–
On a side note, interestingly the same foreign minister of UAE is also a good friend and financial backer of Tony Blair
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdullah_bin_Zayed_Al_Nahyan#Career
“They could break free but choose not.”
How? Come on, there must be millions of Arabs waiting for you to provide them with the answer that has eluded them for decades.
“We are talking about a wealthy region, there is no reason whatsoever for these genocidal enablers to take money from the same U.S that kill their own ethnic group in Palestine.”
Yes there is, it makes them, personally, rich, which the fact of living in a “wealthy region” doesn’t. That’s been a good incentive for thousands of years. The fact that it’s the same ethnic group is neither here nor there. They are human beings and these “genocide enablers” are no different from our own leaders.. What reason, do you think, makes our “genocide enablers” take money from the genociders themselves?
Perhaps you would like to explain to me why it is up to the Arabs to pressurise their own leaders to pressurise Israel when the inhabitants of the countries that caused this problem in the first place and have far more influence on Israel than they do, either can’t or won’t do anything effective about it. Why should they get themselves killed in a revolution when the British or French or Americans are not prepared to? I am afraid you display the reckless courage of the non-combatant.
I am reminded of a story told to me by an erstwhile boss. As a teenager, he got on the wrong side of a couple of beefy skinheads and took to his heels. They chased him and he took refuge in a branch of Boots, where he was cornered, knocked down and given a good kicking. As he lay groaning on the floor he heard an old lady, who had done nothing to raise the alarm, say to her friend, “I wouldn’t have let them do that to me if I was him.”
“Starmer is the most unpopular PM in history.”
So the mainstream media bubble tell us, based on the vox pops and opinion polls that they themselves commission and circulate. If Starmer were instead deemed ‘popular’ where would that leave the media’s campaign for the Americans to install Farage?
We are told the ID cards are unpopular, yet the fact there is a debate and mixed public views about them at all tells you a lot – when was a debate ever allowed about any of the far more draconian covid measures? Or opinion polls about the wars for Netanyahu or Zelenskyy?
To give Blair his due re: Gaza at least he has some wisdom and good intentions, which you couldn’t say of Bush or his wicked cronies in Washington.
@Tom74
“To give Blair his due re: Gaza at least he has some wisdom and good intentions, which you couldn’t say of Bush or his wicked cronies in Washington.”
Are you bonkers? He is a criminal against peace, a criminal against humanity and a criminal against peace.
Starmer and Blair’s incredible unpopularity is despite the media not because of it. No other political figures have been accorded greater reverence across the conservative-centrist media divide.
We know at this point there is literally nothing they could do that would tarnish them in the eyes of British journalists and a minute, very distinct section of the public.
I quite agree, @zoot 30 September at 13:05. It’s a real shame Mr Murray felt obliged to post a news item with Blair’s face on it. Just seeing Blair makes me want to vomit.
In the days when I had a radio alarm, nothing would get me awake, out of bed and reaching for the off button faster than the voice of Blair on the radio.
Meanwhile across the Pond
From A Mighty Girl
‘From his first days in office, Pete Hegseth has demonstrated a pattern of reckless, ill-considered actions that have alarmed military leadership. Within a month of his confirmation, he fired Admiral Lisa Franchetti — the first woman to lead the Navy and serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Today brings another example: Hegseth is spending millions of taxpayer dollars to bring virtually all of the military’s top commanders — more than 800 generals or admirals plus their staff — from around the world to Quantico, Virginia; this has drawn sharp criticism from military experts and lawmakers as both a massive security risk and completely unnecessary given that such communications are easily conducted via the military’s secure teleconferencing system.
Admiral Franchetti achieved several historic ‘firsts’: she became the first woman to lead the Navy and the first woman to serve as a permanent member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Ironically, this highly respected military leader with decades of distinction was fired by a former Fox News TV host with no senior military command experience.
Trump’s military leadership purge was denounced by five former U.S. defense secretaries, who served under both Democratic and Republican administrations.
Admiral Franchetti received her commission in 1985 through the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps program, just seven years after the Navy ended its prohibition on women serving on ships at sea. The firing of a service chief, with no explanation, is normally extremely rare; the Trump Administration broke historic precedent by firing many in the senior ranks of the military including the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Charles Q. Brown Jr., Vice Chief of the Air Force General James Slife, and the top lawyers for the Army, Navy, and Air Force. In January, Trump also fired Coast Guard Commandant Linda Fagan, who was the first woman to lead a military branch.
Admiral Franchetti spent roughly half of her 40-year long career at sea, rising to command the destroyer U.S.S. Ross, and later a destroyer squadron, two aircraft carrier strike groups, all naval forces in Korea and the U.S. Sixth Fleet. She became the 33rd chief of naval operations in 2023, making her the first woman to serve as a permanent member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Her firing, like those of other top military officers, is an exceedingly rare event.’
Some might say that Lisa Franchetti was the architect of her own demise. If you’re going to play politics make sure you’re on the winning side, alternatively do your job and keep your mouth shut.
Forty years at the top is probably long enough to be good at the job she was doing. Wishing her a long and happy retirement. The job description is going to change though. The 800 senior officers recalled to attend at Quantico will get new orders or be retired from their jobs. The world is changing fast.
The new orders are becoming clear:
‘In a lengthy speech to top U.S. military commanders, President Donald Trump on Tuesday defended his use of federal troops for domestic law enforcement and said U.S. cities could serve as “training grounds” for troops.
Trump also spoke about the need to defeat “the enemy from within,” apparently in reference to unrest in major cities — often in direct response to his policies.
“San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, they’re very unsafe places and we’re gonna straighten them out one by one,” Trump said.
Trump’s address took place at the Marine Corps headquarters in Quantico, Virginia, after Defense Secretary summoned hundreds of top generals and admirals from across the military for the unusual meeting on short notice.‘
Democracy Now
This is good. A civil war in America will hasten the demise of the hegemon, however the major downside is that the trumptons will attempt to distract from the chaos at home by creating chaos abroad.
It appears Keir has resigned after receiving yet another email invitation to yourparty. They really need to lose the clickbait comms if they’re ever to be taken seriously by a member that is post 25. On another note, can we be assured that Andy burnham is not another chancer shoring up whatever neoliberal hellhole we have until reform come into play?!. I get he has a political cv, which compared to keir is one helluva a bonus, but what does he believe in?. One last point, America will never invade Iran, they have 140% debt gdp, the financial markets will say no, unlike back in 2001 when they had sub 100%.
“One last point, America will never invade Iran, they have 140% debt gdp, the financial markets will say no, ”
I would have thought that it is more likely that the financial markets say no because the Iranians will close the Straits of Hormuz if the US invades and crash the Western economies.
The US will have devised a plan to deal with every scenario. Anything Iran can plan, the US and Israel will have planned to counter. This is what separates Israel from Iran too; Iran got caught flat-footed – because Israel is meticulously working 24/7, 365 to undermine and harm its adversaries. Whereas Iran tends to be reactive, waiting for a large-scale exchange of fire, rather than having ongoing covert operations, like Israel had in Iran. It’s for this reason innocent Iranian nuclear scientists are dying, and not Israeli ones. Hezbollah found out just how Israel’s obsession with its regional adversaries is continuous, even in periods of relative peace, with the pager modification, supply chain attack.
Goose
Good comment, yes unfortunately the intelligence services of Iran and Hezbollah do not seems to be that competent. Israel have after all engaged in covert/infiltration strategy for decades, still Iran and Hezbollah was caught surprised by the extensive infiltration acts by Israel. It is strange that they do not know Israel better than this. Of course one should not deny that Israel is more tech savy than iran and Hezbollah but because of that – instead of focusing on missile production development Iran should do like Israel, spend more on tech/intelligence/working behind enemy lines type of operations.
One can bet that Israel already have covert operations ready to be set off inside Iran in case of a new war.
Jack
The number of Iranian scientists killed and the way Israel boasts about killing them, would drive any other country to fury. It’s incredible to me that Iran can’t protect its best and brightest, inside their own borders.
Of course, Israel doesn’t reveal its own losses, only its successes. Israel is highly secretive; not wanting to hand its adversaries any propaganda victories to crow about.
The reason Iran’s security services may be so outmatched, could be – and this is conjecture on my part – due to historical factors relating to the revolution. The Shah’s brutal secret police, SAVAK, were detested by the clerics and their followers. SAVAK’s headquarters were ransacked in the 1978-1979 revolution; its files on citizens tossed to the wind or burnt. Thus it’s likely Iran’s theocratic rulers are instinctively distrustful of intelligence agencies accruing too much power, and thus the Clerics kept a tight rein and strict limits on their activities, in case they plotted with foreign powers against them?
I know it’s the guardian. But this cartoon from Ben Jennings perfectly sums the Blair Viceroy of Gaza nonsense up :
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2025/sep/30/ben-jennings-on-the-new-gaza-plan-cartoon
A ghoulishly warped take on that famous 1997 photograph, on the steps of Downing Street. And the hope and optimism he embodied back then.
Yes, I don’t really recognize Iran anymore, perhaps they are feeling alone/weak/desperate now when allies like Hamas, Hezbollah, Assad, Houthi are either gone or severely weakened.
Iran should have – for example – kicked out the (pro-israel/US) IAEA after the war, instead they let the IAEA come back in with the belief that the West would then stop the sanctions against them but as we now see the West re-imposed the sanctions, obviously the West took the iranian goodwill measure as a sign of weakness.
“Israel’s attack completely caught the leadership by surprise, especially the killing of the top military figures and nuclear scientists. It also exposed our lack of proper air defense and their ability to bombard our critical sites and military bases with no resistance,” Hamid Hosseini, a member of the country’s Chamber of Commerce’s energy committee, said in a telephone interview from Tehran.
https://archive.is/Juesv#selection-894.0-894.1
Bayard
Precisely.
Forget The Torah and The New Testament Mammon always wins.
If that happened even Trump’s Tariffs will look like a mere bagatelle.
Imagine The Yanks paying 8 dollars a gallon for fuel.
The US could sell their own petrol to their own people in a great act of Patriotism but, there’s no money in that
as they sell it to the Europeans for a good criminal price.
I wonder where Netanyahu and his mad mates keep their money?
The US or Israel?
.
Are Iran even able to close the Hormuz? If they did, the US and other western nations would only bomb Iran and/or hindering Iran by sending their naval force.
Jack
“Are Iran even able to close the Hormuz? ”
Answer: yes, I think so. But probably not completely. Controlling the straits of Hormuz doesn’t require any sophisticated weaponry – mobile rocket launchers can do it. The kind of weapon frequent in militia circles.
“But probably not completely.”
Not to warships,no, but to civilian tankers carrying a very valuable and inflammable cargo with a crew that doesn’t want to die and an insurance company that doesn’t want to pay out, yes completely, if the Red Sea is anything to go by.
This miraculous document is about as real as the 9/11 passport found at the bottom of the Twin Towers – it will give the Zio-Monsters an excuse to attack the Sumud Flotilla – the Zionists have been in contact with the Spanish and Italian authorities but not the Turkish ones the former two, also have warships shadowing the flotilla, the last one – (Turkey), has a warship and drones doing the same – if attacked will any of the countries warships come to the flotilla aid, or will they just mop up after the attack.
Read the whole made up document below in the link.
Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA): “EXPOSED: Official Hamas documents found in the Gaza Strip – now revealed for the first time – prove Hamas’s direct involvement in the funding and execution of the “Sumud” flotilla to Gaza Hamas documents that were discovered in the Gaza Strip, and are being revealed for the first time, show a direct link between the flotilla leaders and the Hamas terrorist organization. While Hamas in the Gaza Strip is responsible for what happens inside the Strip, Hamas Abroad is responsible for activity outside the Gaza Strip, with emphasis on the PCPA organization, which is subordinate to Hamas and serves as a wing of the movement. The PCPA (Palestinian Conference for Palestinians Abroad) was established in 2018 and functions as Hamas’ representative body abroad, operating de facto as Hamas’ embassies. The organization operates under the pretense of civilian cover and is responsible, on behalf of Hamas, for mobilizing actions against Israel, including violent demonstrations, marches against Israel, and demonstration and provocation flotillas. The first official Hamas document was found in the Gaza Strip – a letter from 2021 signed by Head of the Hamas Political Bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, directly and explicitly calling on the PCPA chairman for unity. In the letter, Haniyeh publicly endorses the PCPA organization. It should be noted that Israel designated the PCPA as a terrorist organization in 2021 due to it being a wing of Hamas. The second official Hamas document is a list of PCPA operatives, some of whom are high-ranking well-known Hamas operatives. Among the names on the list are Zaher Birawi, who serves as Head of the PCPA’s Hamas sector in the UK, and who is known as a leader of the demonstration flotillas to the Gaza Strip over the past 15 years (number 19 in the document), and Saif Abu Kashk (number 25 in the document), an operative from the organization in Spain. This document was found in a Hamas outpost in the Gaza Strip and proves again their direct connection between the flotilla leaders and Hamas. In addition to being a Hamas-aligned PCPA operative, Abu Kashk is the CEO of Cyber Neptune, a front company in Spain that owns dozens of the ships participating in the “Sumud” flotilla. Thus, these ships are secretly owned by Hamas. A full translation of the document in the first comment.” | nitter.poast.org
https://nitter.poast.org/IsraelMFA/status/1972938224281465339#m
Starmer, will do his best to ignore dishing out any meaningful sanctions against Israel.
“Huge defeat for the Government as Labour conference votes that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
The resolution accepts the UN Commission of Inquiry report and demands sanctions and a full arms embargo.
The Government must listen and act. Stop arming Israel now”
RoS
I find it disgraceful how the UK and EU (von der Leyen & Kallas) instantly endorsed these Trump proposals for Gaza, demanding : Hamas must accept! These proposals were developed without any Palestinian input. They aren’t a peace plan or negotiations, they are an ultimatum; with Trump threatening death and destruction on people who’ve experienced way too much suffering already.
And the US are trying to have it both ways; by on one-hand claiming Hamas are purely a terror outfit and not a govt. But at the same time, claiming they hold the fate of Gazans in their hands, simply because the US won’t rein murderous Neytanyahu in.
In a different time, under different leadership, the EU would’ve developed its own proposals and insisted on Palestinian inclusion in the drawing up of said proposals, but not this EU under the dreadful Kallas.
How would von der Leyen and Kallas react if Trump tried to impose a settlement on Ukraine, one that Ukrainians had had no input in?
These peace proposals amount to a complete surrender to Israel and with the subjugation of the people of Gaza to the Israeli military, who will never leave. They must release all the hostages and disarm, only then will food and water be supplied. Trump and his team put together a series of proposals the basis of which were relayed to leading Arab nations who [so we are told] agreed with them. Then Trump met with Netanyahu and the terms of the agreement were changed, Netanyahu was cock a hoop after these changes and later wrote [in Hebrew] how Israel was isolated a short time ago, now, after this Trump agreement it is Hamas who are isolated. In this article it is explained how ‘Netanyahu BRAGS On FAKE Gaza Deal: Tricked ‘ENTIRE WORLD’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=–E7VO-S8go
Laith Marouf, Palestinian commentator said they are going to make Tony Blair the Viceroy of Gaza, in other words they are going to make a war criminal (Tony Blair, probably the most hated Politician in the UK) to be in charge of an extermination camp. Then asking rhetorically, what are you going to do about it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lg4HLqv3uU
Many were pensioners, one woman had an oxygen tank carted away with her, into the police van disgraceful – watch her and other taken away by the police for supporting “terrorism”
“Keir Starmer’s war on anti-genocide protest and free speech continued on Sunday 28 September with the arrest of more than a hundred peaceful protesters outside Labour’s waterfront party conference venue.”
https://www.thecanary.co/skwawkbox/2025/09/28/labour-conference-arrests/
War is indeed very expensive and what applies to Russia applies to the EU and the UK.
The problem for The West is that if they believe the idea that Evil Russia is going to take over Europe then they are going to have to bankrupt themselves to do it.
After the Gorbachov/Yeltsin lesson I don’t think Putin will be unaware of what happened after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Overstretch seems to be a US problem not a Russian one and Putin’s caution is being questioned by a lot Of Russians.
The main one’s pushing to get it over with are The Oligarchs who have skin in this expensive game and a lot of Russian people in general.
We forget that Russia is capitalist not communist and the powerful and influential forces are from rich people – not ordinary people.
Very much like The West.
Trump wants the war to end – not out of largesse ( he doesn’t do largesse) only to put the thing on the back burner in order to come back to it later when world circumstances may have changed.
If you look at Syria you will get an idea of the strategy.
Israel and the Mid East is his focus for now and he appears to be trying to prevent Netanyahu from attacking Iran too early.
He’s got plans alright but so has Netanyahu and because Israel has got away with ignoring US plans he ( Netanyahu) will no doubt be itching for regime Change in Iran who in truth have always been a danger to Israel – not Hamas.
Israel is not powerful enough to do that on its own and need the US to co-attack.
This is what is worrying Trump .
For all the Moaning Minnie’s ( remember that phrase from Thatcher) in 1980inflation was at 21.6% and Interest Rates were at 19% minimum.
North Sea Oil kept the Thatcherite Ship above water eventually.
Once that went all bribes were off.
And there wasn’t even a war on!
Lest we forget?
Glasgow Herald 17/05/1980:
https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=GGgVawPscysC&dat=19800517&printsec=frontpage&hl=en
” in 1980inflation was at 21.6% and Interest Rates were at 19% minimum. ”
Inflation peaked at 25% and interest rates at 17%
The economy shrank in 1980 and 81 and by the middle of the decade over 3 million were out of work.
Thanks to mismanagement of the economy all but £1 billion of North Sea oil revenues was spent on additional dole.
“The economy shrank in 1980 and 81 and by the middle of the decade over 3 million were out of work.”
but it didn’t collapse and Russia has a lot more oil than we did. You are right, though. Thatcherism was a failure softened by oil revenues and masked by victory in war.
Pears Morgaine
The economic ‘ recovery ‘ was paid for ( as it is now) by the pre-cursor to Austerity – Neo- liberal economics.
Thatcher attacked the Unions – The Councils – anyone who worked for the State and of course the poor the disabled and then when the oil revenues ( not the income ) ran out we saw ‘ Big Bang ‘ in The city of London.
The wheeze there was to sell The British people something they already owned – The essential Service and allowed the scum access to mortgages/loans and the insurances that come with ownership ( after 25 years of course ) an it was great for B+Q etc etc.
Very much like The Financial Crash Ponzi scheme that had to keep bringing in mug punters to the bottom of the pyramid to keep the fraud show on the road until 2008 then the charade was exposed and bailed out by? the Great British Public.
Another one is well on its way without a doubt.
They even abolished Ken Livingstone and Arthur Scargill.
Nothing changes and Trump is carrying on this Great tradition before our very eyes and Farage’s policies are a pathetic attempt in copying Trump’s ‘ successful?’ ( we will await the outcome of Trump’s Genius ideas in around a year ) policies.
The main point being that Russia is struggling maybe, but don’t you know there’s a war on between Russian and NATO ( sorry Ukraine ) it is very expensive as a I said.
Thatcher was not at war until 1982 on an island most people thought was in Scotland.
No excuses for Thatcher in the conflict sense.
Her fight was internal – not external and her legacy haunts us to this very day.
Starmer operates around it as best he can.
He doesn’t want to offend The Markets.
Offend the people fine – but not The Markets
.
Support for digital ID has collapsed according to various polls and reports. The guardian claims Starmer has the opposite of the Midas touch. I think it’s likely that people realised all the harmful ways they could be discriminated against, by a govt that seems to be waging a war against free speech and more broadly civil liberties.
While pushing digital ID, the UK govt is once again demanding a backdoor to encrypted data stored on Apple’s servers – as recently as September. Although, this time they’ve narrowed it down to UK citizens only : https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/10/uk-once-again-demands-backdoor-to-apples-encrypted-cloud-storage/
Since these technical capability notices(TCN) aren’t targeted, and are basically secretly authorised fishing expeditions, they should either be halted or disclosed, so their merits can be debated. Any real Labour govt would have rewritten or repealed large parts of the Investigatory Powers Act 2016.
‘Ich bin ein zionist’ Starmer caught out again. Labour really should be rebranded as the UK Mossad Operations party. Farage may be despicable but Starmer and his comrades are in another league. Whilst the country goes to the dogs, labour’s only policies seem to be based around just ‘attack any opposition’.
“Firm directed by former Israeli intelligence officer recruiting journalists to publish content that benefits Labour party.
– Labour-linked firm 411 offered to pay journalists for political content
– Its directors include former Israeli intelligence officer Assaf Kaplan
– 411 asks influencers to post content which attacks Reform UK and is beneficial to Labour’s political goals
– Content creators asked to sign Non-Disclosure Agreement
An “attack team” has been formed inside Downing Street, tasked with challenging Reform and rescuing Labour from electoral disaster in 2029. The team will reportedly work under Morgan (Mossad) McSweeney”
https://www.declassifieduk.org/journalists-secretly-offered-cash-for-social-media-posts
Thanks, and in another similar exposé today show that israel pay american influencers to carry out israeli propaganda:
Israel is paying influencers $7,000 per post
Netanyahu referred this week to a ‘community’ pushing out preferred messaging in US media — and boy are they making a princely sum
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/israel-influencers-netanyahu/
Apparently this blatant influence by israel is not considered foreign meddling according to the West. That prove how phony the hysteria about “russian meddling” really was.
I recall a report a while ago where Israel flew around 100 ‘influencers’ on an all expenses paid trip to Israel for brainwashing. Just demonstrates why one should trust nothing on social media – question everything.
Also raises the questions with digital ID as to who benefits from the data collection ? And how will it be used ? I think we can guess the answers !
“and rescuing Labour from electoral disaster in 2029. ”
and how to square the circle, polish a turd and nail jelly to the ceiling as well, no doubt.
“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” Or Covid? That was the episode that revealed to me the true mechanism of the State’s intentions.
Ben McDonnell
It’s an old trick and it works like a dream:
Create the fear come up with the answer to the fear.
Everybody’s happy.
In recent decades, with their clearly unjust Middle East policies and in terms of the terror threat, it’s certainly true they are both the arsonists and the firefighters.
So-called ‘Blowback’ used to be a widely acknowledged phenomenon.
Craig, are you sure that a national ID works as you described? I was born in a post-Soviet country and have had a “compulsory” IDs since I turned 18, now supplaned by a digital ID. Yet, I can count on the fingers on both hands how many times I had to use my ID last year. Essentially, it was twice when proving who I am at a bank, once when getting a SIM replacement, a few times when sorting out administrative matters in the local council, and 3-4 times when crossing an international border (in lieu of a passport).
“The government will know your DNA…” Well, you can’t have your DNA sequenced by a mobile app. No, a mobile app on your phone will not make the government secretly obtain your medical results. They already know where to search for them, and don’t need an ID app for that. You likely confuse identity verification with tracking – ID card is very poor for tracking, there’re much better methods in common use.
I assume people living in a country where identity is “verified” using a gas bill or a letter from a local pharmacist can believe in anything. Even that a mobile phone will inform the government about education or employment. Because otherwise the government doesn’t know these, right?
IP address isn’t needed to monitor anyone. Your ISP knows perfectly well at what street address you are accessing internet through their infrastructure, as they installed it in the first place. No need of your ID card for that. And yet, even the ISP can’t identify the person using the connection, much like a car plate doesn’t identify the driver.
BTW, it’s ok to be against ID cards. But let’s offer good arguments 🙂
P.S. Surprisingly, nobody claims that passports or driving licences track their every move. Ehhh.
Good argument thanks. Point taken about gas bills! although they are only used to back up something stronger like a passport or D/L.
It is hard to find balanced arguments here either side. To me the strongest arguments against are that
UK government, civil service and police are incompetent unaccountable liars and can’t be trusted not to misuse Digital ID.
Digital ID may increase the risk of being hacked,
Would be grateful for any comment on that?
IIrc Kacper is Hungarian? ID cards are voluntary in Hungary, aren’t they?
Hungary, like many of the other countries being cited using ID cards and digital ID, doesn’t have an elite with designs on ruling the world and a global surveillance infrastructure to match that ambition. Also, the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI) that’s been lobbying for this, comes across as sketchy to say the least; with its billionaire donors, like Ellison, with his designs on centralising and monetising everyone’s private NHS records. One of the leading proponents of digital ID has spoken of his desire to deanonymise the internet. One way that could happen is forcing everyone(behind VPNs etc) to login to social media using their compulsory digital ID.
AFAIK, Kacper is predominantly a Polish name, though can often be found in other countries that have ethnic-Polish communities. Poland has a national identity card, the Dowód Osobisty. I’m not aware of it being a digital ID in the sense of the dystopian systems being ramrodded in across the globe, though there is now in smartphone form of the card in the form of the mObywatel app (mCitizen) that’s a legal substitute for the plastic card. I believe it’s just a type of personal identification on a plastic card or smartphone, like showing a passport works as a form of identification.
On the other hand, the proposed digital ID system is a different beast altogether and is the foundation stone of the (CDBC) programmable digital currency, carbon credit system and social credit scoring that will be introduced soon afterwards. It’s all to do with control of the population, not identification, and is being pushed right now because without the digital ID system all the other control systems cannot work – and they need to get things in place fast, before the current economic Ponzi system completely (and inevitably) collapses. Programmable money offers all sorts of possibilities for governments to do mischief, especially when linked to your carbon limit and social credit score. In short, it’ll be a form of digital prison that we should resist at all costs.
@Bayleaf – “programmable digital currency” is a fantasy, I’m sorry. “Carbon credit system” also has nothing to do with individuals or identity – it’s a taxation mechanism on businesses. “Social credit scoring” is a Chinese invention that’s certainly an interesting alternative to traditional policing (i.e., more carrots, less stick), but no country on our continent is formally considering it as far as I know.
The Polish mobile ID card (mDowód osobisty) has largely replaced plastic identity cards, although to be frank I still prefer to carry a plastic document, and people seem to trust it more than a smartphone display. It has many more functionalities than just identity verification or showing your driving licence (which isn’t compulsory to carry in Poland anyway – your ID card links to your driving licence anyway).
The mobile app is extremely useful for authentication to various government-run online services, such as:
* applying for benefits
* registering vehicle sale/purchase
* getting a driving licence / replacement driving licence
* signing in to taxman’s systems (filing tax returns, sending messages to tax offices, etc.),
* signing in to tens or hundreds of other systems where you need to confirm who you are – for exaple to get all the various permits, clearances and permissions from your local authority, (e.g., a plannig permission),
* obtaining electronically signed birth/marriage/death certificates (yes, it’s near instant in Poland – I can’t believe it takes 4 days in the UK),
* signing digital documents (PDF files) with a legaly-binding electronic signature issued by the government (no need of crappy Docusign),
* using eDelivery messaging with government bodies and, soon, also with anyone: all email-type messages are verfied and can be digitally signed – amazing to exchange quotes, contracts, etc.
* proving your eligibility for discounts and rebates as a student, pensioneer, disabled person, large household, low-income person, etc.
More info here (ignore the promotional language pls): https://info.mobywatel.gov.pl/cooperation
It’s not perfect, of course, and certain features do annoy me. But it’s the direction that the entire EU is now going – look up the eIDAS 2.0 regulation.
Generally, people in the UK don’t seem to appreciate how much of a hassle it is having to prove their identity again and again. They don’t complain when they need to bring a paper reference letter signed by a school teacher, pharmacist or postie when applying for their first passport (no joking). They don’t blink when having to provide a “proof of address” or address history and mother’s maiden name again and again to all the various government agencies – even though the government should have these details on file.
I love this piece: https://www.poeticexpressions.co.uk/letter-to-the-home-office/
So, I’m all for an ability to prove who I am to UK government agencies in an easy manner. And if all I’m asked to provide is access to certain personal from a government-issued app, I’m all for it.
Hi @Kacper. I understand that mObywatel has many useful functions but the issue at hand is the digital ID. Your Dowód Osobisty has been a feature of Polish life for many decades and has progressed through different forms, such as small booklets through to plastic cards, but its function has always been to prove your identity. Right now, you still need to possess a Dowod Osobisty in the form of plastic card, even if you choose also to have an mDowód for reasons of convenience. As far as I can tell, while the plastic Dowód will get you through EU/EEA border controls, the electronic mDowód won’t. So, all in all, the mDowód seems to be just a digital version of the “analogue” plastic identity card, but with one or two limitations, eg travel. The “digital ID” that we are discussing here is a different beast entirely and, while it will provide a means of proving your identity, that will not be its main function, which is social control.
We in the UK have already been through this same debate back in the days of the Tony Blair government, pre-2000. Had the government at that time been proposing a simple ID card, such as something like the Dowód Osobisty, it might have been accepted. Instead, what was proposed was an electronic system of massive overreach so that the government would have been able to control access to all sorts of things in your life at the press of key. In my opinion, this overreach was the main reason for it being unacceptable to people. Technology has moved on and the scope for government overreach has expanded greatly, plus Keir Starmer is a psychopath who absolutely cannot be trusted to do the right thing.
As for programmable digital currencies, they’re a thing and a brief search of the Internet would provide all the information you need. Here’s an article from 2004: “India to make its digital currency programmable” https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/09/india_programmable_money/
@Kacper & Ben McDonnell
The EU Commission is pushing something called ChatControl : https://metalhearf.fr/posts/chatcontrol-wants-your-private-messages/
It seems to be some sort of client-side scanning demand, that could be built into apps and OSes and it’ll likely be an offence to disable it. It seems strange they are pushing this given there are FOSS alternatives. Having to prove innocence, turns the tables on the principle of the presumption of innocence – turning it into a presumption of guilt until verified innocent(by said scanning).
The number of countries opposed, to those in favour, is finely balanced. Incidentally, Hungary is in favour. Many govts hate end-to-end encryption; the idea that citizens can communicate in genuine privacy. In the UK SSL is probably broken, or at least vulnerable, due to ISPs using CGNAT. Very few people in the UK have static IP addresses permitting definitively secure P2P, and IPv6 rollout seems to have slowed.
Apple wanted to implement client-side scanning (i.e., carried out your device, as opposed to server-side) and abandoned the plans after a global backlash. Of course , everyone wants to stop CSAM proliferating online, but scanning everyone’s devices against a known list of hash values, is a bit like being frisked for drugs or weapons every time you leave the house. And there could be false positives, with all the harm that could cause to an innocent person(s) and their life, work etc. The idea of devices constantly reporting back to authorities seems very Big Brother-ish. Imho, it does anyway. The politicians and military want to opt out, of course.
@Goose: “Chat control” has virtually nothing to do with universal identity documents. It’s more akin to recording telephone connections or logging internet connectivity, which has for years been a legal requirement in the UK anyway. That both a mobile identity document and Whatsapp snooping somehow relate to smartphones is where similarity ends IMO.
Ben McDonnell
No expert at all but I think I can reasonably say this:
Once the ‘ Appropriate Authorities have info on you it would
not be great leap to ‘sanction’ you – not as a country but an
individual.
Go on a protest – lose access to bank account.
Support Palestine – the same.
Lose your job.
I had a Greek friend who told me that the chip in his Greek ID Card ( 1998)
informed the Authories that he and others were Communists.
Not sure whether the right type of Greeks were fascist though.
Remember this was 26 years ago in Greece.
Palantir et al will have moved on to much more sophisticated stuff.
No being a naughty boy or girl in the future otherwise your access to
money/credit and banks will be sanctioned by The State.
“I had a Greek friend who told me that the chip in his Greek ID Card (1998) informed the Authories that he and others were Communists.”
I had a family member who asserted that COVID-19 vaccines contained microchips that let Bill Gates know their thoughts and manipulate them.
Chips don’t know what you think. They even have no power source. Honestly.
I recommend speaking to experts about technology, not to random nuts.
Kacper
My Greek mate was no ‘random nut’
His mother and father were active Communists and were imprisoned and tortured
in the 60’s and some of the seventies as was he in the late seventies.
The ‘chip’ was around then and his mates had the same ID’s.
It would be basic as the PIN number for any debit/credit card was at the time.
let’s sat instead of a pin or b barcode your ID number started with ‘COM….’
His and his mates funnily enough started with COM.
In later life he gained his revenge by taking two relatively empty suitcases to Athens
from the UK and once there threw the clothes away and filled his suitcase with very cheap cigarettes.
And of course visited his mother ( who never smoked ) and his brother.
p.s. You mean there ano little submarines in our bodies due to the Covid Injections?
I’ve had six plus 4 flu jabs and keep singing We all Live In a Yellow Submarine in my head randomly.
Of course it’s all supposition because there has been no consultations and no explanations or detailed descriptions. The only noise has been generated by know nothing politicians, who give fuckwits a bad name. People are, rightly IMO, assuming the worse. As said previously, the UK has an appalling reputation when it comes to IT projects, so we can safely assume it would be a late and over cost disaster that would leave data vulnerable to the wrong sort of people. I suspect this ‘idea’ will not survive the reality.
Stevie Boy
Horizon IT vs Dido Harding?
I previously argued here, that Corbyn’s new party should embrace allowing members to vote online. I’m not being inconsistent; in that you could safely login to their site using 2FA, cast votes and opt keep a record of how you voted for either personal reasons, party auditing, or both, via a simple tickbox system. There could even be a party app, but installation would be entirely optional. Vast difference between that and a compulsory digital ID.
Technically, the problems around secure voting or digital ID can always be solved. The problem, always IMO, is one of defining the requirement adequately. With digital ID no-one has actually said what that is, what it means. It’s just junk terminology thrown about by the ignorant. Ask any politician what it means if you want a laugh. If it ever moves forward It’ll be a money pit guaranteed to fail.
@Stevie Boy:
Some say that intelligent people don’t become politicians – they’re too intelligent to swim in this sh*t.
That said, here is an official report that’s slightly more informative – click the “Download PDF” button:
https://www.labourtogether.uk/all-reports/britcard
Goose
I will say this about Dido Harding’s ‘ Epic ‘ Track and Trace wheeze.
Everyone’s moaning about Mome.
A veritable amateur and even Hancock.
This ‘ Epic’ Track and Trace Scheme neither tracked nor traced but cost around 30 billion ( yes billion ) and
certainly would bolster Rachel Reeves’ coffers if Starmer and she had the guts to get all the money back on the basis of fraud.
Fortunately for all concerned they haven’t so they can sleep calmly in their beds.
The media as usual pick on the easy money and easier people.
Anyone remember those tent like Hospitals?
Thought not – neither do I.
As I mentioned in a previous post, digital ID is occurring simultaneously in many countries across the globe, which is no coincidence, since it’s a global-wide project. Development of the digital ID and its subsystems, such as CBDC, carbon credit limits and social credit scoring has been going on for at least the past 10 years and is an inter-governmental project. The calamitous reputation of the UK government in delivering working IT systems that are on time and on budget is, unfortunately, not likely to work to our advantage in this case.
If you recognise that the simultaneous introduction of digital ID is a globally coordinated phenomenon, you’ll have no trouble understanding that the development of the IT systems will also need to be global in nature. You’ll also have no trouble understanding that every lame reason and pretext given by the UK government for why we need a digital ID system is going to be a shallow lie. The truth is that our so-called representatives are implementing a barely-concealed global agenda that is dystopian in nature and squarely against the interests of the British public.
What very few people ever seem to mention (or perhaps don’t know) is that Keir Starmer was, until recently, a member of the secretive and super-sketchy Trilateral Commission (by invitation only), which was founded in 1973 by David Rockefeller and Zbigniew Brzezinski. Rockefeller is famously quoted (from his autobiography) about wanting to build “a more integrated global political and economic structure—one world, if you will” and Brzezinsk,i in his 1970 book “Between Two Ages: America’s Role in the Technetronic Era”, outlined the ideology that would influence the Trilateral Commission, emphasizing global interdependence and the diminished role of the nation-state. They now have one of their men as head of the UK government and I expect Starmer to implement his instructions, whatever it takes.
“BTW, it’s ok to be against ID cards. But let’s offer good arguments ”
The best argument is that we don’t need it.
How about this argument from Collective Evolution: ‘Bad ideas are often proposed under the guise of something good… Vietnam is in the middle of a sweeping banking reform that will see more than 86 million bank accounts closed starting September 1, 2025. According to the State Bank, these accounts are being terminated because they are inactive, fraudulent, or have not been verified with biometric identification.
The new rules require customers to link their accounts with Vietnam’s digital identification system (VNeID) and undergo biometric verification, part of a broader effort to crack down on “ghost” accounts, cybercrime, and financial fraud. Accounts that remain unverified will face restrictions, such as being unable to make transfers, and dormant accounts may be deleted altogether.
While this has led to claims that the government is “taking people’s money” if they don’t register for a digital ID, official reports describe the policy more as a cleanup of inactive or unverified accounts, rather than outright confiscation.
Customers are expected to be able to recover their funds if they verify their identity, but let’s be honest, this effectively pressures citizens into compliance with the national digital ID system.’
Oh, so criminal gangs will find it harder to keep money in banks under fake identities? What a shame.
As a recent victim of identity fraud – a fraudster obtained a credit card in my name – I wholeheartedly support this measure. At least banks will need to see a government-issued ID before offering services.
UK ranks near the top globally as regards the prevalence of identity fraud. Guess why.
Freedom?
Will this plan include linking offshore bank accounts to the system?
“The best argument is that we don’t need it.”
– A true Conservative on hearing about something new.
@Bayard
“Would you trust a used identity to these people?”
Bayard
Agreed.
Just like the voting card crap.
I live in France and we have ID cards but for now it’s just a picture and a load of
numbers .
To get it you have to have your fingerprints taken but the problem is that your fingerprints
do not stay the same so, not much use that.
Of course there is the ubiquitous chip.
No-one knows what’s on it of course.
Mine might read ‘lefty – loves Roquefort Cheese ‘ or something like that.
Craig, I strongly recommend reading this piece in American Affairs:
https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2025/08/trumps-road-to-riyadh-the-geopolitics-of-ai-and-energy-infrastructure/
The author doesn’t talk much about Gaza but you can figure out how Trump’s riviera plan for Gaza and Tony Blair fit in.
Thank you Yuri. Now I get it. This article has provided a quantum leap to my understanding of global geopolitics and all the pieces come together in it. Astonishing in its scope and achievement.
You are very welcome.
A good assessment but IMO very USA centric. Looking outside the confines of the western box, BRICS and China, in particular, are making huge leaps forward. Chinese AI has recently completely upended the western business model and although not promoted in western MSM the rest of the world will look at the costs of the different approaches and choose appropriately. Also, let’s not forget goods trains from China already directly serve Europe and have called into London. While the west talks and plots, China acts !
Naturally, USA centric cause he’s trying to explain Trump’s actions, not China’s reaction.
Point taken. However, I don’t believe China reacts, it plans and acts. It’s mainly the western vassals who react to Trump as they’re incapable of independent thought.
It has been claimed Hamas has agreed to surrender on the terms of the Trump 20 point deal negotiated by Witkoff and Kushner.
Late Friday evening Hamas has announced it has agreed to release all of the Israeli hostages as well as the bodies of those who had died. This is in direct response to President Trump’s peace proposal, contained in the 20-point plan released by the White House earlier this week. According to the breaking announcement via the NY Times:
In a statement posted online on Friday night, the armed group said it would release the hostages “according to the exchange formula contained in President Trump’s proposal, and as the field conditions for the exchange are met
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/trump-sets-sunday-deadline-hamas-accept-peace-deal
The statement issued jointly by the leaders and foreign minister of the countries that Trump met – Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Jordan, Egypt and Indonesia – referred to the first draft Trump and Witkoff had agreed to in New York.
Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner took that plan to Netanyahu. Together and over many hours in hotel rooms they changed the text radically. The Times of Israel referred to these changes as “edits”.
This did not need the busy hands of Witkoff and Kushner to rewrite. The betrayal of the Palestinian national cause by those Arab and Muslim leaders who claimed to have promoted it for so long had already been completed.
For there is not one word in this plan about self determination and the inalienable right of Palestinians to their own state. Trump is deaf to anything but Israeli statehood between the river and the sea. He sees Palestinians as migrant workers.
If Hamas surrenders the hostages, it has no guarantees the war will end and no more levers to ensure the release of Palestinian prisoners. Reject it and the war continues with Trump’s full backing.
How Arab autocrats enabled Israel’s Gaza genocide
From Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan and Egypt, there are no surprises in the way they have folded.
But Turkey and Qatar are in this too. Together they have betrayed the Palestinians in putting their name to a deal as bad and as one-sided as this.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/trump-gaza-plan-great-betrayal-arab-muslim-leaders-rewarding-israel-genocide
No wonder Netanyahu is grinning like the Cheshire cat, if Hamas iron out the details Israel can claim a complete victory, with the assistance of the Arab vassals.
The snap back arrangements in the 2015 JCPOA which the Europeans have just reintroduced against Iran have been declared to be illegal by Russia and China, since Trump abandoned the agreement in a fit of pique, this was expected of the US vassals and workarounds have long been in the works. The comprehensive strategic agreement between Russia and Iran has just been published, this is not good news for the Neocons on both sides of the Atlantic nor for the Genocidal state.
https://en.irna.ir/news/85722405/Text-of-joint-comprehensive-strategic-agreement-between-Iran
Iran is so important to the leading world powers, China receives almost 90% of its oil from Iran and is a vital conduit of its Belt and road initiative, China is now supplying missile air defence to Iran ahead of an expected attack from Israel/US. Similarly Iran has formed an alliance with Russia as noted in my comment above, Russia, fearing a US led regime change operation in Iran which if successful could leave Russia exposed to attacks through the Caucasus. These geostrategic alliances are so important in this mew world of ‘ Rules based order’ as can be seen with the huge US armada off the coast of Venezuela, ostensibly to stop the drugs trade. but more likely to intimidate Venezuela and China (China receives over 80% of Venezuelan oil) it is also investing in oil extraction, remember Venezuela has the highest known oil reserves in the world although it is unusually very heavy grade and needs a lot of investment to extract. This is absolutely NOT about drugs. If it were, Washington would be getting ready to invade Columbia and Mexico.
Could these twin threats against both Iran and Venezuela indicate regime change possibilities in two leading oil and gas countries of the world? A better question would be do bears defalcate in the woods?
Craig, have you seen this?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/documents/f86dd56a-de7f-4943-af4a-84819111b727.pdf
“The GREAT Trust – From a Demolished Iranian Proxy (!) to a Prosperous Abrahamic Ally”
Gaza Reconstruction – Economic Acceleration and Transformation
The Elon Musk Smart Manufacturing Zone” (e-cars) built with minerals and materials shipped from KSA and UAE; (rare earth minerals in Western KSA estimated value $ 1,3 T); “assembled into batteries by low-cost personnel” in factories powered by gas from the Gaza Marine field and PV energy… exports to Europe – competing with Chinese EVs…
“American Data Safe Haven “ … regional DCs, with special US AI regulation protected by the GREAT trust and serving Israel and GCC
Gaza Trump Riviera & (artificial) Islands …
AI powered, smart cities.. all services and economy in these cities will be done through ID-based digital system …
…government authority is exercised by the predominantly private trust company GREAT Trust… not to forget the unhindered exploitation of the gigantic oil and gas deposits in Palestinian territorial waters off the coast.
After ten years, administration should be transferred to “re-educated, de-radicalized” Palestinians …