Back to: What is the sensory bandwidth of Scotland? | Forward to: New York Times

The wheels fall off ...

From today's Sunday Times:


ID cards doomed, say officials

TONY BLAIR’S flagship identity cards scheme is set to fail and may not be introduced for a generation, according to leaked Whitehall e-mails from the senior officials responsible for the multi-billion-pound project.

The problems are so serious that ministers have been forced to draw up plans for a scaled-down “face-saving��? version to meet their pledge of phasing in the cards from 2008.

However, civil servants say there is no evidence that even this compromise is “remotely feasible��? and accuse ministers of “ignoring reality��? by pressing ahead.

One official warns of a “botched operation��? that could put back the introduction of ID cards for a generation. He added: “I conclude that we are setting ourselves up to fail.��? Another admits he is planning Home Office strategy around the possibility that the scheme could be “canned completely��?.


Read the whole thing here.

9 Comments

| Leave a comment
1:

As Nelson Muntz would say, "Ha-ha!"

2:

I'm really looking forward to how they drop it.

3:

Thank god for governmental incompetence...

of course, they never drop the ball everywhere...

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article1129827.ece

4:

Interesting - so arguably a botched implementation may actually be better for civil liberties in that it delays implementation for decades.

I'd be happier still if we were not footing the bill for something pretty much everyone said was going to fail anyway.

5:

How will the French get their revenge if the UK ID card scheme goes belly-up?

6:

They'll reopen the Sangatte refugee camp, surely?

7:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5168524.stm

Quote:

But a Home Office spokesman told the BBC: "We set a timetable for when ID cards would be introduced and that might change. "That is dependent on the review that the home secretary is carrying out."

Which I read as we'll kill it for 5 years and blame Mr C Clarke (as we are with everything else at the moment).

8:

OK, so there was the usual effort to downplay the embarrassing leakage of another government cock-up, but the whole thing is looking more and more as if the ID Card is is an ex-IT-project, and Tony Blair has about as much credence as the average parrot sales executive.

So, does the slug talk?

9:

With Tony Blair looking less and likely to stay ay Number 10 for very long and more and more likely to be interviewed by the Met in the Cash For Honours investigation.

I wonder what G Brown thinks of the ID card scheme. Perhaps that's how they will drop it. "One of Tony's ideas, more time required" "Not needed for the Renewal of New Labour"

Leave a comment

Here's the moderation policy. If this is your first time, please read it before you post.

If you need to sign in and want to create a local account on this blog, select "Movable Type" from the "Sign in ..." menu. You will need a working email address.

Specials

Merchandise

About this Entry

This page contains a single entry by Charlie Stross published on July 9, 2006 12:01 PM.

What is the sensory bandwidth of Scotland? was the previous entry in this blog.

New York Times is the next entry in this blog.

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.

Search this blog

Propaganda