Manchester, ID cards and the Congestion Charge

Pity poor Manchester. I was working there this week, and was amazed how upset some Mancunians were with the government. The decision has been taken that Manchester is to be the nation's guinea pig for the ID Cards scheme. The papers rightly point out that it was Manchester who recently rejected [by 80%] a massive area wide congestion charge planned by the government. As some sort of punishment Jacqui Smith has now decided to introduce ID Cards there: once again the project is very costly, is ill thought through, offends civil liberties and is easily avoidable by the unscrupulous. Manchester must wonder whether it is now the Government's test pilot for all things unsavoury. The problem is we are all going to be asked to take on what Manchester so obviously does not want. Put simply this money could be better spent elsewhere.