The big news may be the birth and name of Tom Cruise and Katie Holden's baby daughter, Suri, and tomorrow's Anzac Day (once a tribute to the nation's fallen in war, now a militaristic celebration of nationalism), but there in the background, and of no concern to Mr and Mrs Australian Silent Majority, is a battle within Federal Cabinet over John "Puny Nephew" Howard's slavering desire for a compulsory Identity Card . Some are fer it, some are agin' it, but it's all but certain that our homuncular leader -- the role model for all Australians -- will have his way.

Just in case you thought an all-in-one ID card was a sensible idea, here is what John Pilger has to say about Britain's version:

The dying of freedom in Britain is not news. The Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill has already passed its second parliamentary reading without interest to most Labour MPs and court journalists; yet it is utterly totalitarian in scope.

It will mean that the government can secretly change the Parliament Act, and the constitution and laws can be struck down by decree from Downing Street. Blair has demonstrated his taste for absolute power with his abuse of the royal prerogative, which he has used to bypass parliament in going to war and in dismissing landmark high court judgments, such as that which declared illegal the expulsion of the entire population of the Chagos Islands, now the site of an American military base. The new bill marks the end of true parliamentary democracy; in its effect, it is as significant as the US Congress last year abandoning the Bill of Rights.

Those who fail to hear these steps on the road to dictatorship should look at the government's plans for ID cards, described in its manifesto as "voluntary". They will be compulsory and worse. An ID card will be different from a driving licence or passport. It will be connected to a database called the NIR (National Identity Register), where your personal details will be stored. These will include your fingerprints, a scan of your iris, your residence status and unlimited other details about your life. If you fail to keep an appointment to be photographed and fingerprinted, you can be fined up to £2,500.

Every place that sells alcohol or cigarettes, every post office, every pharmacy and every bank will have an NIR terminal where you can be asked to "prove who you are". Each time you swipe the card, a record will be made at the NIR - so, for instance, the government will know every time you withdraw more than £99 from your bank account. Restaurants and off-licences will demand that the card be swiped so that they are indemnified from prosecution. Private business will have full access to the NIR. If you apply for a job, your card will have to be swiped. If you want a London Underground Oyster card, or a supermarket loyalty card, or a telephone line or a mobile phone or an internet account, your ID card will have to be swiped.

In other words, there will be a record of your movements, your phone calls and shopping habits, even the kind of medication you take. These databases, which can be stored in a device the size of a hand, will be sold to third parties without you knowing. The ID card will not be your property and the Home Secretary will have the right to revoke or suspend it at any time without explanation. This would prevent you drawing money from a bank. ID cards will not stop terrorists, as the Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, has now admitted; the Madrid bombers all carried ID.

Published in The Age 22 April. Read the full article here.

What are we to do? Acquiesce? Do we have a choice? As long as we keep consuming and don't talk back, there should be no problem. Or … we could start to prepare for the next leap in human evolution, the discontinuance of support for regressive government. Gort Slypesunder will be looking into such ideas shortly.

Chet LaMerde