BRUCE.
As I have said before, I have met with the Home Office Officials responsible for implementing the NID system. Your post is spot on regarding everyone else's attitude to the system. Even they were not exactly enthusiastic in their discussions.
It is also correct that one of the biggest hurdles I and my colleagues fighting this are encountering is in the Union hierarchy.
As for the TU's realigning with the Tory's..Well your analysis of the outcome is spot on. However, we both know that this will never happen. A lot of senior TU officials are still fighting the battles of the 70's and 80's. I despair that they are lagging far behind in representing the members on Civil Liberty questions.
All I (We) can do is continue to fight and not let it disapear. An indication of the difficulties can be seen by looking at the Manchester thread. Nothing is being discussed on there....Sleepwalking or what....
I'll post any progress on here.....