NO2ID

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/ ... _reaction_

ID card tsar understands public reaction

By Angela Epstein

February 25, 2010

ID card tsar Sir Joseph Pilling has admitted he can see why people don't understand why the scheme is needed.

...

“I am personally neutral - and I do understand why those who haven't followed every aspect of the debate may find it difficult to see why we are having them, particularly since they are voluntary.,” he said.

“I personally don't qualify for an ID card - I don't live in Manchester or work airside,” he says, adding with a chuckle, “nor am I clearly 16 - 24, the age at which you can get them in Greater London. Anyway if I could apply for a card people would assume I was in favour - and I'm impartial and am anxious to establish my independence.. Though I have to admit I'd be interested in going through the process just to see for myself what it involves on a personal level.”

Today Home Secretary Alan Johnson will present Sir Joseph's initial report to Parliament.

...

I have news for Sir Joseph - there are many of us, particularly in the IT industry, who have followed every aspect of the debate, know as much as anyone outside the Home Office about the Scheme they're incubating, and who deeply oppose it.

According to the MEN web site:

Does anyone else feel patronised by this garbage?

Is Angela Epstein (for it is she) saying that Sir Joseph Pilling has stated that the ID card scheme is needed; this seems at odds with his later statements,



This really smacks of very lazy journalism both in writing and I'm assuming sub ed level...



I would be interested in Sir Joseph's reaction to the first paragraph of this article.

"On the possibility of forgery - particularly topical after the recent theft of British passport holders details in Dubai - Sir Joseph, who occupied a senior position at the Northern Ireland Office, simply reports: “The system cannot be fool proof. It will require a combination of skill, resources and luck to obtain a card in a false identity but no one claims that it can`t be done.”

Come to think of it, we haven't heard the incumbant Home Secretary making this claim - which makes a change from her predecessors, especially David Blunkett...

As to the rest of the article, I resent being branded as opposing the scheme because I'm too thick to understand the benefits.

To the contrary, I understand it all too well, understanding being the source of my opposition.

Um - "her"? Pay attention at the back there - Smith went *ages* ago - unless you mean Mystic Meg the under-secretary? Though Alan Johnson I think hasn't said it either so you are right on that one.

As for fool-proof, he is correct.

It's good to hear that Sir Joseph Pilling and his team are earning their £560,000 a year by noticing that "some people are opposed to ID cards, while some people aren't."

(have we found out if he was fairly and legally appointed yet?)

Sounds like the start of a letter to me

If you are referring to e.g. http://forum.no2id.net/viewtopic.php?t=30269 i.e. he didn't apply, just got a phone call, then I think 'nothing definite as yet'.

See: http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/r ... r_identity

The Identity and Passport Service (IPS) spent £42,077.24 on recruitment consultants and £8,826.35 on advertising for this post. The job was publicly advertised in the Sunday Times on 18 January 2009, as well as via the Cabinet Office Public Appointments website and the Odgers Ray and Berndtson website. 20 people applied for the post, and six of them were interviewed - after which Sir Joseph, who had not applied and was not interviewed, was 'phoned up out of the blue, at home, by his former bosses at the Home Office and offered the job.

A letter stating these facts is winging its way to MEN.

A knight of the realm called Pilling
It was felt, needed to earn himself a shilling
So by agreeably lunching with Hall
Who steers his eye from the ball
His empty days he is now filling.

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Justin.