pursed lips and clenchy buttocks

We're not hearing much in the news now about Labour Party funding irregularities, and the fact that HMRC lost ID details for 25 million people two weeks ago, appears to have been all but forgotten. The funding row won't go away because the police have now been involved. They have to follow it up and I don't think there is any question about the law having been broken. I was hoping the missing data issue might run for longer, but people are bored with it I suppose.

There was one small piece in the Telegraph today that mentioned the fact that, within the 25 million records that went missing, are records for people on witness protection programmes, and that both their real and original identities are included. That's a bummer for those people isn't it.

The government does not realise how important data protection is. I hope with every fibre of my living being that people will remember this fiasco when the id card scheme lurches forward next year. Some time in 2008 all overseas residents will be required to register for the id database. That means my wife. There is little I can do about it. She is a visitor, she can be deported for non-compliance. I on the other hand, am seriously considering refusing to register or pay when the time comes.

On a completely different note, the Jerry Springer Musical is in the news again. The musical was shown by the BBC a while back and managed to generate a record 63,000 complaints from christians claiming that it was blasphemous. I never saw it, and I don't care, but I'm always amused when Christians get all pursed lips and clenchy buttocks about stuff like this. Why on earth do you let it bother you? The show got far more publicity after your ranting than it ever would have otherwise. Anyway, I digress.

The Christian Voice, a most odious group of self righteous head cases, who hate just about everything except church (It's true, just visit their website), decided to launch a legal case against the BBC and the producer of the stage show. The district court ruled that neither the BBC, nor the producer of the stage show could be prosecuted for blasphemy. So Christian Voice appealed to the high court, and lost again. And I can't tell you how pleased I am about that. It will be a sad day indeed when these nutters start calling the shots.

We're going to get lovely shiny new prisons built. Currently there are over 81,000 people in prison in England and Wales. The three shiny new prisons will each hold 2,500 scumbags. I make that 7,500 new places. Actually the new prisons and a programme of improving existing prisons are expected to result in 10,500 new places. Here's the thing; my understanding is that 5% of prisoners currently held in British prisons aren't British. I make that about 4,000 scumbags. Why not simply send these scumbags back to wherever the hell they came from, and don't give me any BS about asylum, then we get 4,000 new places for British scumbags. It's not hard maths is it? What's the problem?