The UK's "Abolition of Parliament Bill"

Sap'em on 23/2/2006 at 17:39

Quote:

"The Abolition of Parliament Bill" sounds like a title for a Schoolhouse Rock song.

Hey, Parliament Bill
What did you kill
Parliament Bill?

:laff:

sp4f on 23/2/2006 at 17:40

Spotted this in one of The Times op-ed's last week and immediately sent a letter to my MP.

(Yes I know not much will come of doing so but you have to try :erg: )

Strangeblue on 23/2/2006 at 20:25

Poor old Magna Carta appears to be taking it in the shorts. (Gad, I thought my government was grabby.)

Scots Taffer on 23/2/2006 at 22:51

Quote Posted by Strontium Dog

What Iggles said.

And can all other TTLGers who have suffered from ill health please also make a habit of posting regularly? I get worried about you guys :(.

Thirded. And obligatory: GLAD I'M OUTTA THERE.

Paz on 23/2/2006 at 23:26

Look, I like slagging off the UK as much as anyone but you fans of the apocalypse can't have it both ways.

Either the country is doomed because of violent teenagers and weak judicial sentencing and oh god crime is rampant what about the victims oh god I can't go outside OR it's doomed because we're about to become a terrible 1984 Police State where we can't express an opinion without getting 10 years oh god political correctness gone mad and blind dear lord help me what about the children?

Or maybe it's doomed because of a punctuation shortage.

Anyway, I think people should stick to one or the other.

Scots Taffer on 23/2/2006 at 23:29

Of course it's a balancing act that's always going to be in deficit one way or the other - doesn't mean either is good!

Chimpy Chompy on 23/2/2006 at 23:33

Well, I can see the state pushing ID cards on everyone, and hiring Ethnic Awareness Co-ordinators (guardian jobs page ahoy!) to enforce some Political Correctness, whilst singularly failing to do much about yob culture, and islamic terrorists wondering around happily with nice forged cards. Basically an ineffective police state that just burdens the average law-abiding citizen without actually fixing problems you would at least expect an authoritarian stance to tackle (crime etc).

Okay possible hyperbole there, and I'm not quite prophecising ULTIMATE DOOM just yet, but the two positions aren't completely exclusive.

Paz on 23/2/2006 at 23:40

Yeah, I just hear too many people who seem to think the UK is suffering from both things at once - magnified one million times.

Which sort of pisses me off. It's lazy 'man everything is shit' thinking on a massive scale; usually supported by rumour, half-truths, outright falsehoods, shit they've read in the press, vaguely remembered 'friend of a friend's cousin' pub stories, incorrect received wisdom and other such brainwrongs.

Not to say that I'm rolling out the hooray for everything banners. It's just that anyone who complains about soft sentencing in cases they don't even begin to understand properly, followed by a screed about what a tyrannical state Britain is becoming will hopefully suffer terrible accidents with waffle irons in the near future.

But wait, there was a post that snuck in between mine!

Quote Posted by Chimpy

People are far too concerned about ID cards. Of course they're obviously not going to solve any problems or end global terrorism - but nor are they going to invade your privacy any more than that Tesco Clubcard you may own. The only downer is that they'll cost money - it's a cheeky revenue gatherer, really.

I'm not sure how Ethnic Awareness Co-ordinator is any more or less of a meaningful job than any of the other hundreds of mysterious 'marketing' ones which pop up in the very same Guardian job pages. Either way, I find it hard to give much of a shit about. Maybe it's a fantastic position with incredible social value. Maybe it's directionless paper-pushing in a completely invented position. Who knows.

I have a whole epic speech about how the term 'political correctness' has gradually been twisted away from the 1980's alternative comic meaning (ie; you're damn right I think racism/sexism/homophobia is totally wrong - fuck you if you think different) and co-opted by idiots to mean 'political position I don't agree with which may benefit someone who isn't me' (the rest of the time it now means absolutely dick all), but that's for ANOTHER TIME AND SPACE.

Yobs don't have culture.

Aaaand .. yeah, ID cards won't work against terrorism. I'm with you there. In fact, legislation will not work against terrorism unless you go for COMPLETE FREEDOM LOCKDOWN, so we may as well not bother and perhaps try to figure out why people turn to terrorism in the first place.

This is just off into tangentville now.

dvrabel on 24/2/2006 at 00:37

I think ID cards will got more like this.

1. ID cards need massive IT infrastructure
2. Government contracts EDS to do the job (even though EDS is manifestly incompetant).
3. Just like every single other contract EDS have taken on it will be a) massively overbudget b) extremely delayed c) almost non-functional when finally delivered.
4. Repeat steps 2 to 3 until tax payers get fed up with the money wasted.

SD on 24/2/2006 at 00:52

Quote Posted by dvrabel

Government contracts EDS to do the job (even though EDS is manifestly incompetant)

I rather expect the contract will be awarded to Capita, simply because they already operate the private portion of the Criminal Records Bureau, and I expect us to get the ID cards scheme <s>if</s> when it is introduced.

Quote:

Just like every single other contract EDS have taken on it will be a) massively overbudget b) extremely delayed c) almost non-functional when finally delivered.

Yes, Crapita is utterly useless too. One day the government might realise that private companies operating for profit and public services operating in the public interest don't mix well, but I'm not holding my breath.

Oh, put me firmly in the anti-ID cards camp too. Although it'll make my job a hell of a lot easier.