The government’s much-derided national ID scheme will be launched in two years time… but it will not be compulsory.

Later this year, people living in Greater Manchester will be able on a trial basis to buy a card for £30. Another ID scheme, to cover foreign nationals, which will be compulsory, will be launched at the same time.

Home secretary Alan Johnson, launching the new card, said:

“The introduction of ID cards today reaches another milestone, enabling the people of Manchester to prove and protect their identity in a quick, simple and secure way.

“Given the growing problem of identity fraud and the inconvenience of having to carry passports, coupled with gas bills or six months worth of bank statements to prove identity, I believe the ID card will be welcomed as an important addition to the many plastic cards that most people already carry.”

That statement is completely bogus.  There have been fears that the government and public bodies will use the card to deny people access to basic frontline services. Any hardline criminal or terrorist can easily change his or her identity and many people would not be able to tell the difference. Then there’s always the rising cost of implementing the scheme, and the fact that ministers did a U-turn on forcing people to have the card.

Britain’s database state is getting closer. The last chance to stop it dominating our lives will come at the next general election. If you care about your freedom and right to live your life without Whitehall interference, then don’t moan about it- make this an issue… and vote against it.

The swine flu pandemic is getting greater by the day, and judging by what is happening so far, the government has given up on plans to fight it.

At present, according to official statistics, there are over 9,718 confirmed cases, of which there has been 14 deaths, with around 335 people in hospital, 43 of them critical.

The UK now has the third highest rate in the world, next to the United States, and Mexico, the centre of the current outbreak.

I cannot understand why the US, with a far bigger population, only has around 33,000 cases, when ours, a much, much smaller country, have around 9,000. I fear that this country seems to have a typically lax attitude to dealing with the problem when analysts independently compare our approach with others.

I also fear that the government’s poor record in dealing with crises may repeat itself all over again, like what happened in the Foot-and-Mouth crisis back in 2001…. except this time, we may be ordering body bags to help bury our human dead.

Lest we forget….

A fitting memorial on those who lost their lives that day.

A perfect antidote for today’s other news story….

The Labour government is set for a renewed attack on public sector workers after public spending watchdog the Audit Commission called for pay cuts across the board.

The BBC quoted chief Steve Bundred, in an interview with the Observer newspaper, said:

“At a time when inflation is likely to be between 2% and 3%, a pain-free way of cutting public spending would be to freeze public sector pay or at least impose severe pay restraint.”

Pigs might fly, Mr Bundred.

Over the last twelve years, our public services have declined, not because of the demands of staff, but the fact that the government wasted most of the resources on stupid PFI projects, implementing pet projects and imposing a target driven culture which treats both frontline staff and the public as if they were idiots.

Our public sector isn’t perfect. Staff make mistakes, but not on the scale on what the government has done. Over the last few years, the cost of privatising services has been exposed all over the media. The unions, who are understandibly angry at any plans to cut their already poor pay, are once again going have to fight a Labour government to protect the right to a decent living salary.

When the government starts to impose spending cuts and wage freezes, it will be the whole public who suffers…