Mr Clarke misses or glosses over the point of the objections to ID cards (News Shopper, November 7).
First, the personal liberty objection to the ID card proposal is that we would be legally required to carry it at all times and we could be taken into custody if we did not have it when challenged.
There is no libertarian objection to the voluntary carrying of cards.
Secondly, there will be far more than the "odd" forgery.
If he thinks the criminal will not be capable of efficiently forging such cards he might like to recall that POWs incarcerated in Colditz Castle were able to forge identity documents which fooled the Germans in the middle of the war.
ID cards will not thwart the criminal, they will just inconvenience the law-abiding. I would like to remind Mr Clarke that Conservative policy, repeated by the newly-elected leader, is never to leave the EU. The only point at which we are agreed is that it is an abomination.
Bill Jenner
Chairman, Bexley Branch
UK Independence Party
Pickford Lane
Bexleyheath
November 14, 2001 13:57
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