Just to clarify, MAG is actually owned by all 10 Greater Manchester councils, including some Conservative controlled, with Manchester having a majority shareholding. That's not to take away from what you're saying though - MCC would (and seem to) be a favourite of the government when they want something like this trialling.

I am absolutely opposed to ID cards, and have utmost respect for all of you pilots taking a stand against this - thank you.

Back to lurking...

Looks like the Bitch from Redditch is about to step down........Long queue forming to volunteer for the firing squad....:} Another nail in the coffin of NID. This could give labour an exit strategy should they want it.......what's the betting???????

Whilst I'll be glad to see the back of her, I don't share your optimism. Ms Smith didn't come up with the idea for ID cards and they won't dissappear with her. Whoever follows will implement them just the same. The only light on the horizon is that come next May Labour will be out of power. With them will go ID cards and the National ID Register. In the meantime I hope we can somehow stall the MAN/LCY schemes.

OK if you think they'll last until next may...:uhoh:

They will

They'll hang on as long as possible in the hope that the economy turns round, and then claim credit for doing so, or in the hope they can come out with some new idea that will fool enough people into voting for them.

Either way, they will not give up power in a hurry, as seen by Goggsy's aborted election after he took over from Bliar

Blears has just gone. Pundits suggesting Brown is out soon and the nation wont accept another leadership change without an election.
Labour about to suffer drubbing in local elections.
Lets hope Manchester cc get bluer thus undermining the assholes at Manchester Airport PLC (proxy labour council). Bring it on.
A great day for democracy and an amazing pseudo revolution by the press and public.
ID cards my arse.:ok:

>>The only light on the horizon is that come next May Labour will be out of power. With them will go ID cards and the National ID Register<<

ID cards are long term Home Office project. If the Government falls the Home Office will wait until a new home Secretary is appointed and then start pushing the project again after a discreet interval. Remember, the Card itself is less of a problem. The real issue is having one registration number linked to all government databases. They passport could, incrementally, become a de facto ID Card if information sharing legislation is passed to join up all the databases.

I don't know if this has been posted here but I would anticipate much more of this when all our personal details are logged in all the databases behind ID cards, medical records etc.

Id database snooped for celebrities' secrets - The Inquirer

Much as I would like to see the present lot out ASAP, how does the "Nation" do this? As far as I can make out, once you get your representatives into parliament, they can do what they like until you vote them out at the next election. Which they set the timing for. You could have a word with the Queen, I suppose and get her to dissolve this mess early...

I think the electorate is shortly to have its say on ID cards!

According to The Register, it appears that existing staff won't have to get an ID card, at least not to start with. It'll only be new staff. I suspect they mean "new to Manchester or London City" so you might want to avoid a transfer.

Airport ID cards only for the newbies ? The Register

Which makes it even more of a farce, as you'll have most of the people working there not needing an ID card but then you'll have, at a rough guess, 1 in 10 who will. And we all know what the expenditure will be for that "1 in 10" due to the fact that every gate will need ID card readers and then there will be the added loss of production time as the security grunts argue over who should actually have an ID card, especially if it's a furriner.

Fricking unbelieveable. You really couldn't make it up

Don't forget the £75 bribe being offered to anyone taking up the NID card. I'm sure some mercenary fools will take this up!!:ugh:

But, according to what I understood, the probies at MAN/LCY won't be getting a choice and the rest get the "bribe"...

So many conflicting tales, you never know what to believe. Especially when most of the conflicting stuff comes from the Home Office.

Thats how it's been reported...Newbies - no choice. Oldies - £75 bribe.
I notice that through all this no one from Manchester seems to be posting for or against.
I tried to get a debate going on the Manchester thread to no avail. Maybe the general apathy was the reason it was chosen!!:ooh:

Nope Man is definitely watching but theres still no concrete dates for it all to
start its all quite vague...


Airside Worker Identity Cards

Since we announced our intention to evaluate the use of Identity Cards for airside workers, in partnership with the Identity and Passport Service (IPS), there has been a lot of preparatory activity going on in the background.

The 18-month evaluation period, which is planned to start in the autumn, will provide MAG with the opportunity to shape the Identity Card Scheme and assess the potential benefits it may bring to airside workers.

During the evaluation period all new airside workers not currently in possession of a valid airside pass will be required to apply for an identity card as part of their pre-employment checking process. MAG and IPS have agreed that any extension of the scheme to include existing airside workers already in possession of a valid airside pass will be on a voluntary basis.

Operational trials will take place at the airport prior to the launch and during the trials some volunteer MAG colleagues and IPS staff will be taken through the end to end process to fully test the systems and processes. The cards that they will be issued with will be valid for 10 years.


With a bit of luck and a regime change at the top of the country we might forget all this nonsense.

zfw

Pretty pathetic really.

Alan Johnson taking over as home secretary....From a TU background..Not that that means much these days. Nothing will change with him, he voted for ID cards in 2006...
The fight goes on.:ok:

The union won't be able to do anything about the ID Card issue, which (no doubt) is an edict from our EU Masters and must be obeyed....at least by the political pygmies who comprise our so called government.

As far as the Union is concerned it's just another band wagon (to increase membership) which will shortly run into the sand.

Afraid you're wrong there. If it was an EU edict it would apply to EVERY airport, and since the EU have also said that the UKID program may breach privacy laws then you can see that it is NOT an EU directive. This "scam" (not "scheme") is merely something drawn up by Whitehall in an attempt to slowly force the country into having everything from their personal data covering everything from financial/medical records to breast/penis size held on a central database which far too many people will have access to.