the irony of this week's announcement of the introduction of their new social security identity card. The hapless DHSS has waited until the beginning of 1984 to announce the introduction of what amounts to a national identity card system.
tion will be issued with the new card, which will be similar to a bank credit card.
The giveaway in its potential is that each card will have a magnetic strip on which invisible information will be stored. But the DHSS police THE DHSS obviously didn't quite understand During the next few years the whole populawill be able to read the information. In effect a national identity card is being introduced by stealth.
The trend to a restriction of civil liberLAST week South ties under the Thatcher government has been confirmed by the scandalous of Sarah Tisdall, a Foreign Office clerk charged with leaking a memo on missiles to the CHISE Guardian. The memo only had the date of cruise missile arrival hardly something to be kept SOCCE trom the population. Yet the full weight of the Official Secrets Act is being invoked, Heseltine ran to the High Court to force the Guardian to reveal its source of information.
Britain has one of the most restrictive official secrets laws in the world. The decision of the Guardian to comply with the High Court order will make every potential informant think twice, and further deepen government secrecy.
Thatcher has started 1984 by graphically cluded that the threat from showing that this government stands for restriction of civil liberties, for control of the population government secrecy. These moves complement the sinister increase in state powers in the Police Bill. Orwell may not have been dead right about 1984, but Thatcher is doing her best to catch up with his predictions.
Friday 13 January 4.30 to 7.00pm The picket is also to advertise the forthcoming national demonstration against the Police Bill on Saturday 21 January government
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SociAlist ACTION
Reclaim 1984: Stop the Police Bill Picket outside New Scotland Yard,