Sunday, March 09, 2008

What the heck is going on in Britain? Coal and national ID

the story

and an opinion

Well, people said Brown was worse than Blair, that Blair did a deal to pursue regressive policies to get Brown's support when he ran for party leader or something like that as I recall. Ominous that it is announced at the Adam Smith Institute which was behind Margaret Thatcher's privatization and eighties version of the ownership society. I remember a speech circulated in the Saskatchewan civil service where I worked under right wing Grant Devine's government by someone from the Adam Smith Institute. He was touting the public stock offerings in BOAC and other British privatizations of public corporations.

And a national ID program with fingerprints and biometrics beyond anything the US neocons can practically hope for and targeting non-Europeans? Do they really think the existence of the EU covers this return to old racist treatment of non-white immigrants and citizens? British progressives should say, you mean by non-European, non-white. I have a sneaking suspicion the ID card may stop at the 1st phase, non-Europeans, bowing to human rights concerns at the point where it affects whites.

A friend of mine was an Iranian refugee going to high school in Britain in the 80s while waiting for his parents to be allowed to leave Iran. He was very glad when his parents finally were able to escape to the US and he was able to leave Britain, where he said it got worse every year under Margaret Thatcher's politically motivated policies tightening restrictions on the immigrant population.