Guess which politician thinks that the solution to the Labour Party Postal Voting Scandal in Birmingham, is somehow, a compulsory national identity card and "clean database" ?
As the NO2ID News Blog comments:
"Of course, a moment’s thought reveals that ID cards wouldn’t prevent any kind of "citizen not present" fraud, such as fraudulent postal voting, precisely because the citizen and his ID card aren’t available to be verified."
What about the hundreds of thousands of British people who live or work abroad, e.g. within the European Union is Spain or France, and who are entitled to vote but would not, under the Identity Cards Bill have been entitled to an ID card !
Here is a partial transcript of BBC 1 "Question Time", April 6th 2005
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/question_time/4411797.stm
Starting about 48 minutes in to the Real Media online version of the programme:
DD= David Dimbleby chairman and host of the TV panel discussion.
DB= David Blunkett MP, disgraced ex-Nu Labour Cabinet Minister desparately seeking a political comeback
PH= Petrina Holdsworth, Chairman of United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP)
NS= Nicola Sturgeon MSP, Deputy Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP)
" DB: "Well, well, firstly, let me absolutely clear. In those two wards, they were behaving, like, to use the phrase that was used in the question, a "Banana Republic", and, er, it was, absolutely and totally unnacceptable, and should be condemned by all right thinking democratic people,"
Nothing to disgree with so far.
" and , its happened before. I've known, three examples, in my own, err arr err, work, in, in Local Government, as a leader in Local Government, but then as an MP and a Cabinet Minister, of different Parties, as well as my own, where this has happened, and where candidates have been disqualified, including in my own city, where a party, not of mine , err, was involved in that as well.It's totally outrageous, and it needs to be dealt with
The, er,
DD:
The, the, theDB:
TheDD:
Wha, what the Judge said was, sorry to interrupt you, what the Judge saidDB:
I was just about to sayDD:
short of writing "steal me" on the envelope , it is hard to see what more can be done,[audience laughter]
DD:
to ensure that they came into the wrong hands, it's the system not the individuals in this particular case ?DB:
Well, the implementation of the system, the monitoring of it, you see, kk, kk, Catriona, the difference between, Zimbabwe and here is, that in Zimbabwe it would have been covered up, and the Judge wouldn't be saying anything about itPH:
Well it nearly was , it nearly was covered upDB:
No it wasn't, nearly covered upPH:(same time as DB)
It was, it was going to be left until after the Election, yes it was.DB: (same time as PH)
No, no, no it wasn't, the Labour party withdrew all support from those peoplePH: (same time as DB)
they might have, but the enquiry, was going to take place afterDB: (same time as PH)
long before the case actually came to trialand I don't make any excuses for what for what we're talking about, at all, there aren't any.
You have just uttered such an excuse ! It was not the Labour party hierarchy which reported these abuses to the Electoral Commission, was it ?
I am simply saying , that if we want to get this right, we've got to join not just in terms of the, the err, Advice that was put out, just about a week ago , but actually to re-inforce what the Chief Officers of Police agreed, err, in England and Wales, today, in following that through, and for all political parties, all, including my own, to cooperate, in actually revealing where such fraud exists.
In the end, and this is one of the things that the Judge said, that there had to be, proper Individual registration, rather than signing up, err, from the Household.
In the end, I'm sorry to upset the SNP on this, because they'll go spare when I say it, in the end, you'll be able to do that when we've got Identity Cards and a clean database
[rhubarb from audience]
DD:
mm alrightDB:
Because we are, let me, because we'll know, because we will know who is in the country, who is Entitled to vote, they'll be able to Automatically Register,[audience muttering]
Well we will, we'll be able to automa
DD:
alrightDavid, just for a minute, because
PH:(same time as DB)
WhyDB:
I love Question Time"
Of course you do! Which disgraced ex-Cabinet Minister desparate for a political comeback would not relish the national television exposure ?
"PH:(same time as DB)Why did you turn down the advice, of the Electoral Commission 18 months ago ?
DB:(same time as PH)
and someone, someone over there, someone's laffing , over there aboutPH:(same time as DB)
Mister Blunkett , why did you turn down the adviceDB: (same time as PH)
whether we'll be able to RegisterI'm hearing you Catriona, and as soon as I've answered, the audience, I'll answer you
PH:
rightDB:
That's fine, I was merely going to sayDD:
we don't have that much timeDB:
Ok well not all of them, not all of them, not all of them at once[some audience applause]
just, just, the person who was laffing. "
laffing = laughing in "man of the people with a regional accent when it suits him on television" speak
"If there was any doubt, that we would be able to register people automatically, from a clean database, knowing who's in the country, you need to drop me a line about it, cos it's very close to my heart,
Ok, an email is on its way today. perhaps you can explain of what releveance a "clean database" or "automatic registration" is to Postal Voting where neither the voter nor their ID card is physically present to be checked or verifed ?
If verifying voter registration is such a problem, then why was it not included as one of the Statutory Purposes of the Identity Cards Bill ? Or is this something that David Blunkett has dreamed up on his own recently ?
that we get that right, Catriona, Catriona, yes, it is true that these things were raisedPH::
mm, it's alright, Petrina, but don't worryDB:
Patrina ! Oh ! sorry, my love,"
Aaagh ! Surely every woman in the audience must be cringing when they hear the words "my love" being uttered by Blunkett !
Obviously no Home Secretary would ever mix up people's names e.g.
Catriona/Petrina or Mohammed/Muhhamed - close enough ?
when signing a warrant to detain them without trial, tap their telephones, freeze their financial assets etc ?
" PH: AlrightDB:
It is, is true, well politicians are always ducking questions "
New Labour politicians like David Blunkett are always ducking questions, look at the signal to noise ratio of this TV performance!
" DB: Yes it is true that these things were raised, and with hindsight, we should have dealt with them, now is that not an answer ?DD:
The woman in orange please.[audience claps, a bit)
PH:(patting DB on shoulder !)
Well doneAudience lady:
I am very nuch opposed to Identity Cards, but ther's no doubt we could develop much robust and sophisticated systems for postal voting. Banks and supermarkets can do it. The electoral system ought to be able to.DD:
Nicola SturgeonNS:
Wuh, David, David said that it will all be OK, when we introduce, Identity CardsDB:(indistinct)
After I get (??)NS:
That of course, is until the Labour Party in Birmingham learn how to forge the Identity Cards[audience applause]
NS:
and then it will all be just as bad, as it ever was. IDB
They, they'll have to put, they'll have to forge,NS:: opinion
DB:
somebody else's iris or their fingerprint"
Iris scans may be the "best" biometric identifiers under consideration, but they have not yet been officially adopted even into Passports, let alone the ID Card plans, which revolve around digitised photos and some undertimined number of fingerprints.
" NS: I wouldn't put it past them, on the, on the evidence of the fraud last year[audience applause]
But on a serious point, you know, what happened in Birmingham was absolutely scandalous...
[Question Time coninues]"
Apple now has Rhapsody as an app, which is a great start, but it is currently hampered by the inability to store locally on your iPod, and has a dismal 64kbps bit rate. If this changes, then it will somewhat negate this advantage for the Zune, but the 10 songs per month will still be a big plus in Zune Pass' favor.