I AM, THEREFORE I INTERFERE

The proposal to make getting a passport harder in Britain is symptomatic of anti-British New Labour. Yes, we have identity fraud. Yes, it is a big problem. But is this a problem we must all pay a price for?

There are about 5,000 cases of identity fraud involving new passports a year. Once upon a time, the police would devise measures to fight crime. Now they leave it up to government to legislate against the rest of us.

 On the one hand, this shows how the police have become lazy and incompetent in many areas. But this is so because they have warmed to the attitude of New Labour. And this attitude is entrenched in an anti-British philosophy.

There are two ways of looking at politics and society – the ‘little’ and ‘big’ government ideals. The big version is what leftist policies are all about. The idea is to have big government which finds its way into every nook and cranny of life.

This form of government has a simple credo – laws and interference must be based on the assumption that the population is inherently criminal and stupid. Hence, a law that should only affect a few transgressors has to cover the entire population.

New Labour has taken this idea to its extreme. Hence, because a few criminals indulge in identity fraud, we must all be put out in case we are one of them. And this is why New Labour is so anti-British.

Britain was built upon compromise and a sense of fairness. Government was supposed to be small, and as long as the Brit paid his taxes and obeyed a fair common law, the government had no right to interfere in his life.

This is the Britain that is now disappearing. Yes, it is right and proper to have a good social services network for those who need it. But in all other respects, the authorities should do their job better, and government should get the hell out of our lives.

© Anthony North, Feb 2007

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