Friday, August 05, 2005

The Gold Standard

Home Office Minister Tony McNulty says
Perhaps in the past the government, in its enthusiasm, oversold the advantages of identity cards. We did suggest, or at least implied, that they might well be a panacea or identity fraud, for benefit fraud, terrorism, entitlement and access to public services.
OK. That's all of the reasons the government has produced to try to sell this nonsense. "Home Office minister admits government is full of sh*t!" would be my headline. Of course that doesn't mean the government wants to scrap the bill. Don't be daft. There's a new reason : The Gold Standard. It's not even a reason really, more of a branding excercise. I've heard it's quite effective in hot beverage marketing. Oh look, it's called the "gold" standard. Gold good, this good too.

Occassionally, the Blair government is still able to surprise me with the depths of their shallowness. This particular example of meaningless sloganeering is so utterly vacuous that I'm trying hard to avoid full rant mode. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!

A definition
Gold Standard - Emergency soundbite for use only when all the straw men have been destroyed.

*Sigh*
It's actually pretty worrying that it has come to this. You've got to wonder why the government is so keen on building a national database. If there is a valid reason, you'd expect the government to have told us what it is by now. What number is this we're on now? Reason 5 I think. Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to present the Gold Standard, a special blend of the biggest government bullsh*t ever produced.

Update: Another government Gold Standard IT project. Solid Gold.

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