Digital ID: What is it Good For?

 Don’t you just hate Digital ID? It hasn’t even been launched and it has already achieved its goal. You see everyone was talking about fiscal black holes, small boats and that Andy Burnham bloke and yet the mere mention of Digital ID has blown it all out of the water. That’s how powerful it is. Who in Government cares if the technology ever comes to fruition? Dear boy, that is not the point.

Talk of Digital ID in the UK has very little to do with technology and everything to do with distraction politics. Who in Government frets about how it works, what vulnerabilities it has, or whether, like in Estonia, it could make public services work together in ways we can only dream of in the UK? That is not what Digital ID is used for here in Blighty. It is not about the tech. It is about its political uses.

We have been here before. Matt Hancock really tried to convince us that a virus could be suppressed with some software on a phone. Meanwhile the government destroyed the economy and a generation of kids’ development. We don’t talk about that these days. Nice work comrades.

I am less sure Starmer believes a single migrant will be deterred by his Brit Card but I do think he believes the Digital ID debate will be less damaging than anything about migrants or party leadership. Never mind ‘Smash the gangs!’ when you can smash the glass and deploy the emergency Digital ID cards debate instead. Phew, that was close.....<<<Read More>>>...