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                         ID cards. It’s more than
                       just your identity at stake

                  Lynda Warren of Swindon NO2ID gets behind the proposals and
                  explains the concerns of the non-party political campaign group has
                  about The Identity Card Act 2006
                  This is the most ill-named Act of
                  Parliament. The label perhaps
                  leads to some people’s lack of
                  concern over it.
                    If it were called either The Identi-
                  fication Database Act or the Govern-
                  ment Individual Register Act  we
                  would be closer to the mark.
                    Let’s get this straight - it isn’t
                  just about identity cards. The gov-
                  ernment proposes a huge database                           Summer at the Pagoda Palace
                  to keep tabs on everyone, a mas-
                  sive infrastructure to collect peo-                                30% OFF Set Menu
                  ples' details, a giant network of
                  technology required to verify peo-                         (A) Min for two £19.50     (C) Min for two £28.00
                  ple against their cards - and both                           £13.50 per head             £19.60 per head
                  of these against the database.
                                             Lynda Warren, no objection to being  Mixed Hors D’oeuvres    Mixed Hors D’oeuvres
                    The card is just the tip of the
                  iceberg. The proposed National  identified here, but fearful of ID cards  (satay chicken, seaweed, BBQ ribs,  (mongolian crispy lamb, crispy seafood roll,
                                                                          prawn toast, crispy won ton, spring roll,  prawn on toast, deep fried prawn in rice
                  Identity Management System has  •reducing terrorism. Well no it  prawn cracker)        paper roll, smoke chicken)
                  many layers: The National Iden-  won't. An ID cannot show the hold-
                  tity Register (NIR): individual  er's intentions. The Home Office  Shredded Chilli Beef  Tom Yum Goong Soup (Thai style)
                  checking and numbering of the  itself has declared that ID Cards  Sea-Spice Chicken    or Chicken Sweetcorn Soup
                  population, collection and check-  won't stop terrorism.      Sweet & Sour Pork          Aromatic Crispy Duck
                  ing of fingerprints; the card itself:  ID didn’t stop the recent Lon-  Mixed Seasonal Vegetables  Sizzling Beef with Honey Black Pepper
                  a scanner and computer terminal  don and Glasgow attacks. If a per-  Special Fried Rice  Mixed Seafood with Seasonal Greens
                  network connected to the central  son is willing to set themselves  Tea or Coffee      Grilled Chicken Peking Style
                  database; and data-sharing be-  ablaze would they not if they held                        Special Fried Rice
                  tween organisations on an unprec-  an ID card?                                             Tea or Coffee
                  edented scale.             •reducing identity fraud. No
                    Scared? We are. Swindon NO2ID  again. The existing forms of ID                    Vegetarian Set Menu £18.00
                  is a large group of people all united  (passports, driving licenses, util-
                  by their abhorrence of this law.  ity bills) are sometimes stolen or                     £12.60 per head
                  The Government makes many  forged. They each refer to a part of                         Mixed Hors D’oeuvres
                                                                                                       (Spring roll, salt & chilli mushroom,
                  claims about its benefits, such as:  one's life. The ID Card and the NIR          vegetables on skewer, salt chilli courgettes,
                                             will hold access to all of one's life.                           seaweed)
                     Mast proposed             It will be hugely alluring to  (B) Min for two £22.00        Lettuce Parcels
                                             criminals. If ID cards can be manu-  £15.00 per head
                     close to school         factured, they can be forged      Mixed Hors D’oeuvres     Stir Fried Courgettes & Beans
                                                                                                           with Honey Pepper
                  T-Mobile is appealing against the  The cost of creating the NIR will  (satay chicken, seaweed, BBQ ribs,  Singapore Fried Vermicelli
                  decision by Swindon planners to  be paid for by our money - billions  prawn toast, crispy won ton, spring roll,  Sea-Spice Aubergine
                  block a 15 metre high mast on  of it - about £200 per person out of  prawn cracker)
                                                                                                           Pineapple Fried Rice
                  Roughmoor Way, opposite    taxation, plus £30 per person to go  Aromatic Crispy Duck       Tea or Coffee
                  Castleton Road, close to Shaw Vil-  onto the NIR (this will be compul-  Stir Fried Roast Pork with
                  lage Centre and Brook Field Pri-  sory).                      Mixed Vegetables
                  mary School.                 And another thing, the govern-  King Prawn with Cashew Nuts
                    The company say 3G reception  ment will sell access to your iden-  Shredded Chilli Beef  •A suggested gratuity of 10%
                  would be improved in the area but  tity record ( which you were forced
                                                                                Sea-Spice Chicken       will be added
                  residents’ had expressed fears  onto and had to pay for) to organi-  Special Fried Rice  • Not to be used in conjunction
                  about radiation - which are not  sations for 60p a pop.
                                                                                  Tea or Coffee         with any other offer.
                  admissible to planning - and con-  Who wants this scheme and who
                  cerns about visual appearance.  benefits from it? Not me, not you.
                     Andrew Snowden, chairman of  Mr Blair was committed to the  Seating for up to 350 diners  •  Free car parking
                  the Shaw Residents’ Association,  ID scheme, Mr Brown shows little  Disabled access on both floors of the restaurant
                  said, “we are not happy because of  early inclination to drop the
                  the visual impact of the sighting.”  scheme which is rapidly becom-  Two bars - one on each floor  •  Private function room
                    Jane Eatwell from Castleton  ing known as the ‘new poll-tax.’  Freshly prepared Dim Sum served from12 noon to 4pm
                  Road said that the mast head would  We‘re certain that in a climate  Open 7 days a week from 12noon to 11pm
                  be 90 feet from some bedrooms.  where there is often little policy
                  “They just don’t know what the  difference between the main par-
                  health impacts will be.”   ties that this single issue will de-
                    She said the mast would be the  termine many voters ballot.          Pagoda Palace
                  third close to Brook Field Primary.  Swindon NO2ID is mainly a vir-
                    Coun Keith Williams said he  tual organisation, and it is non-  Pepperbox Hill, Peatmoor, West Swindon
                  wanted mobile phone operators to  party political.                   Tel: 01793 877888
                  share transmitter masts. “If they  For more information it lives at
                  get away with sighting masts  www.talkswindon.org or more
                  where they want, we will all be a  personally through Lynda War-  www.pagodapalace.co.uk
                  lot worse off.”            ren on 07802 151464.




               1 August 07              5                                             20/7/07, 10:25 am
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