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From:
Subject: Re: 1901 Census debacle (this is very off topic)
Date: Sun, 16 Nov 2003 01:47:04 EST


Sorry to have to interrupt the nice flow of the Essex list.

It is just that Pam wrote:-

"I agree that the 1901 census was a complete fiasco (can't wait to see the
mess that will transpire from the proposed new combined passport and ID
card!)."

I agree that the quality of information contained within any of the Census is
only as good as the information that is transcribed.
I recently found a one-year-old girl described as a "servant" in the 1881
Census. Then there is no end of problems with the "relationships".

What has prompted me to write in his time is the reference to the proposed
new combined passport and ID card.

This is something new, and so most of us know very little about it.
Therefore, your only source of information is the Press (Newspapers), and we all know
how they can manipulate facts and so forth.
I work in the Home Office, in a small area called "Border Control. The facts
are very different from what is printed in the press. The new ID card/passport
is already in use, and it is working well. For now the cars are mainly used
by businessmen who do a lot of travelling.
The advantage to them is that they can skip the Passport control before
boarding a plane, and likewise when they reach their destination.
While the likes of you and me have to join the long queues for the control
desk. All they have to do is go to a machine and insert their card, and then
they have an iris scan. If the scan matches the information on the card, they can
proceed; if not - they are arrested.
There is too much money to be made from the forgery of Passports, and I have
seen some very good ones.
With the introduction of the new system and the identification before
boarding, only the person who's ID matches the card, will be allowed on the plane. On
arrival the persons holding a card will be able to un-clog the arrivals
desks, freeing the Immigration Officers to tackle the ones whom should not be
coming here in the first place.
Any system will have its faults, and there are too many things wrong with the
present one. Why do you think we have to keep changing the layout of the
Passport? You don't know about things because the Press thinks it is not
important enough to print.
Having sat by a Passport Control desk at both Heathrow and Gatwick. I find it
really amazing how a US citizen fills in their landing cards. When answering
the question on Nationality, which should be "US citizen" almost 90% of them
will write something like - English, Scottish, Welsh, Irish, White, Black, and
so on.

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