The Dalek kidnapped last week has been recovered.

A Dalek stolen from a Somerset tourist site has been found on Glastonbury Tor after thieves said it was “too hot”.
[…]
Cave owner Gerry Cottle made appeals for information. In the early hours of Tuesday, staff recieved a phone call telling them where the Dalek was.

Mr Cottle has denied that the theft of the Dalek was a publicity stunt.

Meanwhile, some excellent news from the land of the free:

Rules requiring Irish citizens to carry high-tech passports when visiting the US are to be dropped because the technology behind the scheme is seen as unreliable. The US Department of Homeland Security had previously set an October 2005 deadline for the inclusion of biometric information chips in the passports of European citizens who avail themselves of the Visa Waiver programme. This programme allows people to make short-term visits to the US without a visa. The chips would have included a variety of biological information about the passport holder, such as their fingerprints and retina scans.

But according to a report in the Sunday Times, Ireland has shelved plans to include biometric chips in passports amid expectations that the US is to abandon its biometric passport requirements.

Bang goes another justification from Big Brother.

Replacing the slightly unachievable previous pledge, there is a new anti-ID card pledge on PledgeBank which I recommend signing.

I’ve also signed a pledge from Brian Eno to promote the campaign for proportional representation.

I’ve made it into this week’s Guardian Backbencher column, and not for the first time.

Meanwhile, today’s paper tells a lovely story (warning: it includes “offsensive”, although not “grossly offensive”, language) that will prompt sympathy from anyone – including myself – who has spent hours on call waiting when phoning NTL.

When taxi driver Ashley Gibbins called the helpline of NTL hoping to have broadband installed, he was told that all its operators were busy right now, but if he cared to hold the line his call would be dealt with as soon as possible.

So Mr Gibbins held. And held. Then held some more. Eventually, after an hour, Mr Gibbins decided he had had enough. He put the phone down and decided to wreak his revenge.

By chance, Mr Gibbins discovered he could alter NTL’s recorded message, and after he’d tinkered with it people seeking help were met with something altogether more blunt.

“Hello, you are through to NTL customer services,” they were told. “We don’t give a f** about you, basically, and we are not going to handle any of your complaints. Just f*** off and leave us alone. Get a life.”

What it doesn’t explain (understandably) is how Mr Gibbons managed the reprogramming.

One of the Government’s many and varied excusesreasons for introducing ID cards is the reduce crime.

I won’t repeat the arguments so let’s take it as read that ID cards won’t significantly reduce benefit fraud and isn’t the best use of untold billions to fight terrorism. Establishing the identity of a suspect is not a big problem for the police.

So what effect will the introduction of ID cards have on crime levels? The total number of new offences created by the Labour Government since 1997 must be pushing 700 now. The ID cards bill will create “a string of new offences“, although mostly civil, rather than criminal, offences. However – if I understand this correctly – failing to pay a fine imposed as a civil penalty would be a criminal offence.

As people refuse to register for ID cards, forget to inform the Government of changes of address and miss appointments for biometric scanning (for example because their child is off school sick), excessive civil penalties will be imposed and criminal offences will inevitably follow.

Then there are the additional crimes that will be committed in order to work around the new system. Illegally gaining access to the database will surely be attempted, probably successfully on a number of occasions through insider access before hacking is even considered. And then there’s ID card forgery itself, a new crime that will prove popular with certain types of criminal gang.

This is obviously conjecture but rather than a concrete assessment, this is intended to make a point: that despite the Government’s professed intentions, ID cards could actually increase crime.