Friday
This is not a joke.
Well, it is a joke. However, the Home Office does not seem to realise this.
Reading the comments at The Register is always good value in times like this, too.
Somebody please tell me that this is really a withering piece of satire dreamed up by Guy Herbert. Please.
Is it for real? If so then the comments of The Register are absolutely spot on.
It is encouraging that the powers-that-be find it necessary to go to such lengths to sell the concept.
But, like the EU, every step forward into the controlled Brave New World is a step that will not be easily undone.
It is insidious, too.
Who would have thought, 10, 15 years ago, that Britain would be plastered with monitoring cameras and that it would be acceptable?
Or that any bank transfer over 10,000 GBP would require explanations?
Posted by John B at January 8, 2010 07:43 PM
I still suspect this of being a hoax. I just can't believe that any government would create such a thing for real.
But, if it is real, presumably what they are getting at is that, with ID cards, Crassus (aka Lord Olivier) would only have had to crucify the one real Spartacus, confident that he had got the right man, thereby making everything much nicer for everyone. All the other rebellious slaves could have been given cups of tea and free pardons.
Posted by Brian Micklethwait at January 8, 2010 10:07 PM
"...a committee's intelligence can be summed up as the lowest intellect in the committee divided by the total number of committee participants."
This.
It wouldn't surprise me if the people who made this decision were all recently graduated twenty-something balloon-heads who'd never seen a film older than The Lion King. Only old people and weirdos like me have actually watched films that were made prior to about 1990, so it's likely that they haven't even seen Spartacus and likely also that most young people who happen to see this ad won't have seen Spartacus either (though they might youtube it after seeing the ad).
Posted by mike at January 9, 2010 03:34 AM
This *has* to be a spoof. We simply could not be so lucky that our enemies are that stupid. Seriously, this must be a spoof (and a pretty funny one too).
Posted by Perry de Havilland at January 9, 2010 04:23 AM
The ad has been on sites receiving advertising provided by Doubleclick. It seems unlikely that they would accept an advertisement claiming to be from the Home Office from anybody other than the Home Office. The ad is entirely consistent with the rest of the IPS's advertising in terms of fonts, design etc.
So, amazingly, it appears that our enemies really may be this stupid. The only other possibility is that we have friends who are rich, clever, and extremely devious.
Posted by Michael Jennings at January 9, 2010 04:56 AM
Oh brilliant. So before the scheme has even come into place someone has already stolen my identity.
So every time I want to apply for a passport, driving licence, job, post of slave rebellion leader etc I will be accused of impersonating myself.
And then, to add insult to injury, I will be required to create a new, fictitious, identity for myself and then be accused of forgery.
Brilliant. Just brilliant.
Posted by Spartacus at January 9, 2010 08:11 AM
It wasn't me guv. I have spent some time this week trying to confirm whether or not it is real. I have a couple of witnesses who claim to have seen it live, but no confirmation, sad to say.
My contact with the Home Office/CIO leads me to believe that they are tin-eared enough to have signed-off such an ad (and that the Home Office secretly does think of the function of ID cards as for efficient slave-management), but I can't quite believe the advertising agencies they are spending lots of money on would do this to them.
Posted by guy herbert at January 9, 2010 09:25 AM
Se non è vero, è ben trovato.
Shall I send you, the Register, or the Home Office the bill for cleaning all the splork stains off my keyboard?
Posted by Gray Woodland at January 9, 2010 03:16 PM
Nowhere is it indicated how many you can each have... is that going to be a problem?
As we say "over here", vote early, and vote often...
Posted by marc in calgary at January 9, 2010 05:40 PM
guy herbert: I once read a story from Dave Freer (Rats, Bats and Ugly, if you're interested) whereby someone was order to write up a series of charges for another man's court-martial. That someone managed to draw up a series of serious-sounding charges and specifications... but when you looked closer at them, was so full of holes that it collapsed without even a sneeze in their direction.
So, if you had a Samizdatist or two working in said ad agencies, well... why not? :)
Posted by Gregory at January 11, 2010 10:34 AM
Do not worry Mr Jennings.
The government will mess up the new identity cards, they will identify us all as Sparticus and we will all be punished accordingly.
Even if the I.D. cards did not identify us all as Sparticus we would all still be punished (apart from real criminals of course - they will be given subsidies and other special help).
"But that is a contradiction".
As I said "do not worry" - the Home Office loves contradictions.
Posted by Paul Marks at January 11, 2010 01:51 PM
