Tony Blair is like a runaway freight train barreling into a flock of sheep. He's pushed through a national I.D. card that is a nightmare. For a separate project, he's hellbent on obtaining fingerprints from every last British citizen, little kids included. Facial scans will be mandatory for all, as soon as the I.D. card is implemented.
And right now, if you get arrested for anything at all, even if you turn out to be innocent, law enforcement officers will take a DNA sample — forcibly if they must — and keep it forever, with no appeal possible.
"Orwellian" is a pretty hackneyed word, but given all of the above, nothing less will do.
And Blair isn't done yet. He's said it before and he just said it again: Everyone should submit their DNA to the government's database — voluntarily for now, but I doubt it will remain that way.
What's gotten into the prime minister? The usual. It's all about catching "terrorists" as well as "rapists and murderers."
I am none of these things, but I could see myself becoming the latter if I ever found a government official with a DNA kit banging on my door without the benefit of — at the bloody least — a warrant that could pass Constitutional muster.
The Brits would be wise to take Henry Thoreau's words to heart:
I went to the store the other day to buy a bolt for our front door, for as I told the storekeeper, the governor was coming here. "Aye," said he, "and the Legislature too." "Then I will take two bolts," said I. He said that there had been a steady demand for bolts and locks of late, for our protectors were coming.
[thanks to Martin Owens for the tip]
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