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No it’s really about Identity Cards I’m afraid. The following is basically a letter that was published in the Telegraph’s Comments section and because I’ve written upon this ID Card stupidity so many times as have others far more experienced than me, it beggars all belief that anyone in our current Government has a single brain cell to share between them. It might be worth a “Baldy Ramble” at this point:

Born in December of 1945, I do not come from a ‘computer literate’ generation, I had to train myself to play starting back in the mid 80′s. How most IT projects work is by employing specialist contractors to do the work rather than full time employees because although they are far more expensive on an hourly/daily rate, they come with the appropriate skills (hopefully), do their job and then leave – end of. It was a highly efficient way to work before Gordon Brown, IR35 and now some bunch of MP clowns wanting “equal rights” for contract staff got involved – please pass the sick bag, before the UK economy collapses.

On an early contract, I was working with a database expert who was great fun but had just recently been on a contract to do with the Inland Revenue and the tales he told were frankly hilarious but sadly, far too ‘geeky’ to explain. He said that in his opinion, between IR Stakeholders supposed to oversee the operation and the numerous project managers involved (all on contract), he was certain that it would fail which 6 months later, it did.

I could and have, written reams on this most lunatic project, I hope the following gives a flavour:

“Having an IT background my personal objection, validated by this Government’s propensity to lose data, is the single National Database, a one stop shop for identity theft and potential destruction of our economy. The card itself is irrelevant but that was the “sizzle” that was sold to that idiot Blair – biometrics, how the salesman must have laughed, doing business with him was like trading coloured beads with a native !

No announcement, re-timed introduction and so forth changes the inherent lack of security in having one database and most likely, no proper security model that governs access to it. Very few government IT projects succeed, some do but most fail a bit like British sporting stars who generally lose on penalties. Best way to describe it to the non-technical goes like this: It is perfectly safe to cross the Atlantic on a twin engined jet like a 777 because they are designed to fly on one engine. How would you feel about doing the same on a 400 seater airliner with just one engine rated at 99% reliable ? Err…

The other thing that most amused me about the Smith presentation and considering the previous night’s events in the Commons was how totally immersed in “Euro Speak and Think” this whole Government is. “You didn’t buy it the first time so, we will keep putting the same question until you come up with the Right Answer and do as you are told !” What an awful state our country is in; A PM with one eye and little grasp of reality, the Milliband Brothers, the brother and sister act Alexander and Balls and Cooper – it you haven’t got a relative, a Scottish accent will do. You really could make this lot up and it would be hilarious like a Brian Rix Whitehall Farce but for the fact that this is our “actual government” which is scary! “