Month: January 2006

A report by Corporate Watch, a Quaker-funded research group in Oxford challenges the feasibility of creating the necessary IT system required for the Identity Card scheme. It will they say based on previous examples of Government IT procurement from the companies involved likely lead to an IT disaster

It blames huge, over-complex schemes that fail to deliver promised benefits. Acknowledging months of controversy over the civil liberty and cost implications of the scheme, due to start in 2008, Corporate Watch says “relatively little attention seems to have been paid to the significant practical problems of implementing ID cards and the National Identity Register”, which will eventually hold data on all 60 million UK biometric identities.

The unprecedented enormity of the scale of this IT project plus the fact that it will be reliant on cutting edge technologies will in my mind almost certainly fail to deliver. Therefore there seems to be even greater reason for extensive oversight and detailed cost analysis than there would for any previous Government IT project.

Failure to create a perfectly functional and secure system will actually create more problems and exacerbate the current problems the scheme is designed to solve.

Tags: ID cards

The Government faces an uphill struggle in trying to get their ID Cards bill passed and once again were faced with defeat in the Lords but the Home Office remains unbowed by their defeat and will fight on.

Ministers refused to back down last night in the face of a defeat in the House of Lords which threatens to block their bill to introduce ID cards until the scheme’s estimated costs have been independently vetted by the National Audit Office.

Tory, Liberal Democrat and crossbench peers joined forces to reject government claims that an ID card and passport, complete with hi-tech biometric identifiers, would cost £93 at current prices, with the card itself costing £30. The government was defeated by 237 votes to 156.

The Peers rejected the notion that set-up costs needed to be confidential.

But the Home Office minister, Lady Scotland, told peers she “simply did not accept that there should be any such unprecedented review of the estimated costs” before the bill passed.

It may well be unprecedented to have such a review of the costs but for such an unprecedented scheme such as the creation of a National Identity Register and the infrastructure to run it then I believe that parliament and the public really should be fully informed of every aspect of it.

They also suffered their second defeat when the Lords voted by 206 to 144 in demanding that the National Identity Register have a secure and reliable method of storing the personal data to be contained with in of every citizen.

I think this is the more serious point. Such a database as the National Identity Register that contains comprehensive data on virtually every adult in Britain will surely be a major target of identity thieves. It could be a disaster if the data contained within it was not securely held and access to the data restricted via a robust authorisation system.

Tags: politics, ID cards

It’s worrying finding yourself on the same side as the bloody Tories in a political debate but I find myself increasingly there in recent years.

I wouldn’t never have believed it 10 years ago if someone told that I’d be agreeing with the views of the Conservative party on the issue of Identity Cards.

Thnakfully there are still Labour MPs such as Anne Begg that are prepared to ask hard questions of the Home Secretary in this debate but the likelihood of get a decent answer are unfortunately remote.

Every one of the arguments that Mr. Bercow raises are wrong are they. Well I’m afraid that simply asserting that doesn’t make it a reality. Surely that’s the purpose of having a debate so that people can raise points that you then convince with detailed arguments why they are wrong. Or, and I know this might be a hard concept to grasp Mr. Clarke but it’s just possible that dare I say it you might actually be wrong.

Tags: ID cards

I watched Johnny and the Bomb yesterday and darn good fun it was too. Johnny and the Bomb is probably my favourite of Terry Pratchett’s non-Discworld books and I’d been waiting for a TV adaptation of it since they did one of Johnny and the Dead about 10 years ago.

Right as rain and twice as ninepence.

The cast is good also especially the lads playing the roles of Johnny and Big Mac as both are exactly how I picture the characters in my head.

Seems that time travel is really in vogue now at the BBC following the success of Doctor Who what with Life on Mars and now Johnny and the Bomb.

Tags: books, TV

Just watched the first episode of Life on Mars the new detective drama series on BBC One (in fact it was on the previous night but I recorded it and watched it tonight). For those who haven’t heard of it I shall try and explain (in fact I’ll let the BBC explain)

DCI Sam Tyler’s (John Simm) world is about to be turned upside down. Moments after his girlfriend and colleague, Maya (Archie Panjabi), is kidnapped by a serial killer, Sam is knocked unconscious by a car.

He wakes up – in 1973.

Sam discovers a strange new world full of cigarette smoking, gum chewing, and unreconstructed men. He’s a DI starting his first day in a new precinct and he’s got to prove himself to his new DCI, Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister). Gene likes to throw his weight around. He acts first and thinks later. The only person in this alien world who reaches out to Sam is a young WPC, Annie Cartwright (Liz White).

Dazed and confused, Sam finds it difficult to focus on the murder his new colleagues are investigating. Then he discovers a connection between this crime and the serial killer who kidnapped his girlfriend back in 2006. Could solving this case be the key to getting home? Could it be a way to save Maya?

Sounds daft and like it couldn’t possibly work but it is a fucking cracking drama and I’ve developed a massive crush on WPC Annie Cartwright, must be the uniform.

I think this’ll be taking the place of Lost, which is due to finish this week on Channel 4, as my must-see piece of television each week.

Tags: TV

Reinvigorate your Monopoly board game by using some of these new rules.

I particularly like the following rule as it gives the railroads some enhanced use.

Traveling Railroads
Rule: Whenever a player lands on a railroad, the player may choose to move his or her token to any other railroad owned by the same player.

It’s been years since I played Monopoly but it was a family favourite when my brother and I were kids and we’d play it very often. I might see if I can dig out the old board and play him again using some of these rules when he next visits.

Tags: games

I’ve been wasting several hours recently playing Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath on my Xbox. As with most of the previous games in the Oddworld series this one succeeds in combining a quirky sense of humour with great gameplay.

Set in a bizarre version of the Wild West where the citizens are chickens, outlaws are piglike creatures, you play a bounty hunter named Stranger who is a kinda Humanoid-Feline.

Stranger requires moolah to pay for an operation and the only way he’s gonna get it is to bring in some bounties by hunting down outlaws using his double-barrelled crossbow which can be loaded up with a variety of different live ammo.

The game is a mix of first-person shooting and third-person melee and platforming and it’s great fun especially blowing the crap out of badguys using explosive bats launched from the crossbow or beating them senseless using some brass knuckles.

Tags: games

P1010145
Originally uploaded by electricinca.

The lights put up by the houses in Longford Road in Melksham are bigger and better than ever this year.

The photo is part of my Flickr set of Christmas Lights 2005.

Tags: photography