WRITTEN ON July 21st, 2005 BY William Heath AND STORED IN Identity

The Quaker Parliamentary Liaison Secretary, Michael Bartlett, writes in The Friend*

..some Quakers feel the scale of suspicion in current proposals amounts to a denial of integrity comparable to the former insistence on swearing oaths. A requirement to produce biometric evidence of identity , in such everyday transactions as visiting a GP, symbolises a breakdown of trust unprecedented in peacetime and unparalleled in Common Law jurisdictions…At the heart of a Quaker attitude to governance is the understanding that it is unhealthy for too much power to be concentrated in any one place. A decision to require compulsory holding of identity cards goes to the nub of democratic politics: the relationship between the citizen, the community and the state. Such a fundamental shift in ths balance calls for a maturity of debate that cannot be conducted in the sound bites of studio phone ins and requires the type of reasoned public consultation that cannot take place in a general election campaign.

The Friends are big on mature debate, deep thinking and avoiding provocative language. But if they start to use the word “Concern” about ID cards that signals a deep-rooted and principled objection – the opposite of a canard. *Not available online. For subs email subs@the friend.org. It has a great classifieds section – rent a cottage from Quakers, buy Ecover or hand made shoes from Quakers etc.