We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.
Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]
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Samizdata quote of the day – I will not comply Let me make my position unequivocally clear: I will not comply. If this scheme becomes law, I will resist it with every fibre of my being, joining the ranks of those who have historically stood against arbitrary power. This is a fight we cannot afford to lose, for it edges us closer to the continental nightmare of citizens as compliant serfs, beholden to an all-seeing state.
To understand the gravity of this threat, we must first confront the profound dangers it poses to our civil liberties. At its core, a mandatory digital ID transforms the relationship between citizen and state from one of mutual respect to one of constant suspicion and control. Imagine a world where accessing basic services, banking, healthcare, employment, or even public transport, requires scanning a digital credential that logs your every move.
This isn’t hyperbole; civil liberties organisations like Big Brother Watch have warned that such a system would create a “bonfire of our civil liberties,” enabling mass surveillance on an unprecedented scale.
– Gawain Towler
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Who Are We? The Samizdata people are a bunch of sinister and heavily armed globalist illuminati who seek to infect the entire world with the values of personal liberty and several property. Amongst our many crimes is a sense of humour and the intermittent use of British spelling.
We are also a varied group made up of social individualists, classical liberals, whigs, libertarians, extropians, futurists, ‘Porcupines’, Karl Popper fetishists, recovering neo-conservatives, crazed Ayn Rand worshipers, over-caffeinated Virginia Postrel devotees, witty Frédéric Bastiat wannabes, cypherpunks, minarchists, kritarchists and wild-eyed anarcho-capitalists from Britain, North America, Australia and Europe.
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Just to clarify; do you actually have civil rights inherent in the individual in britain? Or are what pass for civil rights there subject to the will and whim of those in power?
Subotai Bahadur
For those who don’t know, Gawain Towler was press officer for Nigel Farage & UKIP and subsequently for Reform UK. Although he is no longer in a press roll at Reform, he is, I have no doubt, still very much a key insider.
Nigel and Reform UK will resist this, and, once elected, repeal it. In the meantime, it will push the party’s support up by a few percentage of the electorate. All the more so, given that the leader of the opposition has, incredibly, decided to sit on the fence about it.
Aetius.
Indeed, Gawain was elected to the Reform Party board, so yes, he is very much on the inside.
Damn this government to hell, and the Blairite knaves and fools promoting National ID cards.
The “debanking “ saga was but a taste of the problems that can arise.
To be fair, our rights in the US are subject to the will and whim of those in power. Imagine gun rights under Kamala. Imagine free speech under Obama.
We have a stronger position for the fight, but we still end up having to fight for each enumerated right. We’re two USSC Justices away from being the UK.
Except for the guns. It always comes back to the guns. They will be our salvation, just from the fear they engender. Not sure what saves the UK. Gov has no fear of the non-islamic population there. It should.
bobby b 9-25-2025 at 8:41 pm
I was actually thinking of what each people regards as the source of rights. For us in the US, it was embodied in the Declaration of Independence from the rule of britain.
We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness—-That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
As I can observe, in britain rights are considered a revoke-able grant from those in power which are not in any way innate in the people. Agreed that in both cases things may have to get Clausewitzian, and we have the advantage there.
Subotai Bahadur
@Subotai Bahadur
I was actually thinking of what each people regards as the source of rights. For us in the US, it was embodied in the Declaration of Independence from the rule of britain.
I didn’t comment on this earlier because I don’t know where you live. But another commenter compared it to the US. The thing the OP is complaining about is the issuance of an id card that all Brits much carry and is necessary for use in many types of day to day transactions.
We already have that in the USA — it is called a drivers license.
My fear on this stuff the OP refers to, even though I would be vehemently opposed to this card, is that of bolting the barn door after the horse has already fled.
The Brits already have amazingly little privacy. The government can track all your financial transactions, or nearly all, there are cameras on every street corner, license plate readers on every road, they snoop on your internet traffic, your phone calls, and you have in your pocket a little tracking device where they can find where you are and where you have been.
About the best we can hope for is to restrict the government on the usage end of all this data. It is all out there. Adding another little card won’t add all that much to the database.
BTW, I read recently that Trump is introducing xAI into government databases, and Elon himself at DOGE did a lot of work to make government more efficient. This, I think, is scary. One of the few protections we have is that the government is utterly, keystone cop level, incompetent at almost everything they do.
Imagine if, for example, they did a Lucy Connolly on every British person who posted a “hateful” comment online. I mean half the British population would be doin’ porridge. It is only the government’s utter fecklessness and incompetence that prevents this from happening. God help us if the government gets more efficient.
FWIW, as always, there is a Yes Minister Episode dealing with this called “The Economy Drive”.
To me, this new little card isn’t just one more card of data. It’s the card that grants you permission to function – to exist – in UK society.
Sure, we have drivers’ licenses here. Out of custom and habit, we use them to prove our identity when needed. But that’s been our choice (except for flying.)
But I buy cars with cash. I buy gold with cash. I buy food and clothes and books and drugs and guns and ammo with cash. I have been known to pay rent and make loan payments with cash.
In none of those instances was anyone concerned with who I am. No one said “we need to know your identity to sell you this candy bar.”
Look at China’s digital ID system. You need that ID to do most anything. Losing it is life-threatening, because no one can deal with you without it.
I’d say this new system isn’t just “one more little card.” It’s sui generis, a new thing for the citizens of the UK, one that brands them as subjects of the current government.