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November 2025 | Phonebox Magazine 51See you next month!Dave%u2026 It seems that the government, or the PM especially, is keen on Digital ID cards. Not something that they mentioned in their manifesto, but then again, they explicitly said %u201cWe will not increase taxes on working people, which is why we will not increase National Insurance, the basic, higher, or additional rates of Income Tax, or VAT.%u201dThat said Tony Blair, or %u2018the turd that will not fl ush%u2019 as he%u2019s known generally, has been mooting this since 2006 but it was kicked into touch once they were booted out of offi ce. Still, Blair raises his head on this matter, plus his fervour for rejoining the EU, but fortunately he is an ex PM and the current one has to manage public opinion and although we all know Starmer really wants to rejoin that ghastly crowd (as he wanted a second referendum) it should be simple enough to stave that off until he too is booted out of offi ce. Oh, how we need the likes of Tony Benn and Dennis Skinner back.But the digital ID cards are unlikely to get through as around three million have signed a petition against them and while Starmer will try to ignore the public, some of his own MP%u2019s are not happy about it %u2013 probably due to their constituency views. Be aware you Labour MP%u2019s who want to win your seats next time around.So why are we worried? Well for a start the cost. I%u2019ve researched this and it%u2019s not actually been costed. The Tony Blair Institute (yes him again) reckons it could be %u00a31billion to set up and running costs at 100 million per year but it%u2019s generally accepted that this will be an underestimate. When did any government do anything within budget? Think of what that money could buy. Four brand new state of the art hospitals, 40 new schools, and so on and so forth and yet this Prime Minister seems set on ideas that have no public backing.They started off by pretending that digital ID was to stop illegal immigration. I think they%u2019ve admitted that this is cobblers now, and most people recognise that it is just to control the public and basically you will be under surveillance at all times.We will have no idea of who has information and let%u2019s be honest and look at data breaches that have happened already. %u2022 The outsourcing giant Capita, which handles services for the NHS and local councils, was hacked. Data belonging to pension funds, councils, and NHS patients was exposed. %u2022 In 2014, Barclays suff ered a leak of 27,000 customer fi les (names, addresses, national insurance numbers, etc.), reportedly sold on the black market.%u2022 In 2015, hackers accessed the data of 156,000 Talk Talk customers, including bank account details for 15,000 due to poor website security. %u2022 In 2017 large parts of the NHS were compromised as It locked up 200,000 computers, disrupted appointments, and exposed the fragility of NHS IT systems. %u2022 Greenwich University was fi ned in 2018 after a student website exposed 19,000 personal records. %u2022 A cyberattack on British Airways in 2018 compromised the personal and fi nancial details of about 400,000 customers. %u2022 In 2021, an email error exposed the identities of 250 Afghan interpreters who had worked with British forces. %u2022 It was revealed in 2023 that the UK Electoral Commission was hacked, with attackers gaining access to data on 40 million registered voters.I probably don%u2019t need to go on. We also know that the new breed of computer hackers are far cannier than the establishment bods. Successful criminals are always one step ahead of the law and this is something we surely can%u2019t trust to this government or indeed any future ones.Sir Ed Davey of the Lib Dems is unsurprisingly a bit on the fence. He thinks that %u2018in principle%u2019 it%u2019s ok, but only if it%u2019s voluntary and respects freedom. Mm, well it%u2019s not going to be that is it?The Tories are mainly against it, although they accept the idea in principle (especially for specifi c purposes) and have previously supported digital identity solutions (though not full mandatory ID cards).Reform seems to be against it although one MP from Reform UK said %u201cI don%u2019t think we have a clear policy %u2026 I don%u2019t know what it is%u201d.The Green party say they are against it, although their leader Zack Polanski, isn%u2019t even a sitting member of parliament, thinks all drugs should be legalised, wants landlords to be abolished, and to leave NATO, so he has a lot of %u2018odd%u2019 things to convince the public and I%u2019ve not even mentioned his past breast enlargement scheme, as there are so many huge tits in politics that it barely deserves a mention.Jeremy Corbyn and whatever his party is currently called are against compulsory Digital ID but support a voluntary one, but again, like the Greens are not likely to get a sniff of infl uence in the long run.It occurs to me, and I%u2019ve said this before, that my party The Monster Raving Loony Party are beginning to look electable and sensible.It%u2019s a worry isn%u2019t it?We%u2019ve had a voluntary ID for years anyway, which is a key ring with a mirror on it and here it is:Vote For Insanity %u2013 You Know It Makes Sense...And what a choice you now have.ID CARDS: A DIGITAL DILEMMANAME: DAVID PIBWORTHOCCUPATION: COLUMNIST