Big Blunkett appears to be taking the Campbell approach: when caught out, bluster and shoot the messenger.
Blunkett has attacked the BBC’s “Asylum Day” reporting for being Powellite and racist.
John Ware of Panorama has refuted Blunkett’s claims in this letter to the Guardian.
The Panorama programme showed that the asylum system – for which Blunkett is responsible – is a mess. Whether you want tighter or looser rules, the current ones are not being enforced. Human and systemic error is rife despite the use of fingerprints.
Big Blunkett wants to introduce compulsory National Identity Cards. Programmes like this edition of Panorama show once again that any system is only as good as its weakest link – the human element.
If the Home Office can’t manage the records of a few thousand asylum seekers, what chance do they have of maintaining a national database on every one of us? Error and corruption will be rife, privacy will vanish.
This Panorama programme proved that Big Blunkett’s plans to watch us all will not achieve their stated aims. Was that the real reason he was so upset?
Cross-posted from An It Harm None
