Comments on: ID cards: voluntary? Only if you’ve never been on holiday http://www.bigmouthstrikesagain.com/archives/1898 Freelance journalist Gary Marshall on technology, the Internet, music, Macs and more Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:46:04 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Squander Two http://www.bigmouthstrikesagain.com/archives/1898/comment-page-1#comment-12709 Squander Two Wed, 03 Dec 2008 18:52:37 +0000 http://www.bigmouthstrikesagain.com/?p=1898#comment-12709 I'm increasingly convinced that draft legislation is badly worded deliberately. Bad wording has enabled all sorts of things. Only a paranoid lunatic would point out that the anti-terrorism legislation potentially gave low-level council functionaries the ability to spy on people for suspected minor infractions of minor bye-laws. <i>Of course</i> it won't be used for such things! It's anti-terrorism legislation! You know, for terrorists! I mean, these people write legislation for a living, they've had years of practice, and they have help from lawyers who specialise in it and have had even more years of practice, and they spend months or even years on each one. And we're supposed to believe that it ends up sloppily worded by accident? I'm first in line to agree that politicians are stupid and incompetent, but this is still stretching it a bit. Especially considering the sheer ingeniosity on display when submitting expense claims for mortgage payments. I’m increasingly convinced that draft legislation is badly worded deliberately. Bad wording has enabled all sorts of things. Only a paranoid lunatic would point out that the anti-terrorism legislation potentially gave low-level council functionaries the ability to spy on people for suspected minor infractions of minor bye-laws. Of course it won’t be used for such things! It’s anti-terrorism legislation! You know, for terrorists!

I mean, these people write legislation for a living, they’ve had years of practice, and they have help from lawyers who specialise in it and have had even more years of practice, and they spend months or even years on each one. And we’re supposed to believe that it ends up sloppily worded by accident? I’m first in line to agree that politicians are stupid and incompetent, but this is still stretching it a bit. Especially considering the sheer ingeniosity on display when submitting expense claims for mortgage payments.

]]> By: mupwangle http://www.bigmouthstrikesagain.com/archives/1898/comment-page-1#comment-12708 mupwangle Wed, 03 Dec 2008 10:45:38 +0000 http://www.bigmouthstrikesagain.com/?p=1898#comment-12708 So you're exempt from having to produce documents if you've never left the country. Without producing documents, how do you prove that? So you’re exempt from having to produce documents if you’ve never left the country. Without producing documents, how do you prove that?

]]>