Iām all for human rights but I have no problem with CCTV & ID cards. If you are a law abiding citizen then thereās nothing to worry about.
no no no no no
āArguing that you donāt care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you donāt care about free speech because you have nothing to say,ā
Edward Snowden
I think UK of cards would have been a good idea and saved a lot of hassle.
UK citizens donāt have the right to free speech. Thats the USA. We have a limited right to free speech in reality.
Iām all for a national ID card, as long as carrying it isnāt mandatory and itās either free or VERY cheap.
That way people have easy to access proof of identity no matter how poor they are.
They could even put things like driving entitlement on there.
We have right to speak freely but hate speech is not acceptable in this country.
Think this is best explained by this paradox about why unfettered free speech shouldnāt be a right- it makes the whole place less tolerant.
I donāt want to get into politics but thereās a very real difference between these two opinions ācan we be respectedā and āI think xx group should dieā and we shouldnāt act as if all opinions should be respected or have equal value.
I disagree, we should challenge abhorrent views, but I donāt trust anyone, including you, to determine what should be allowed.
The point Iām trying to make is, Americans have a right to free speech. Many people in the UK think we have a right to free speech, but we donāt. We have a limited right to freedom of expression. The police can, and do, just state some people have Breached the Peace with anything they may have said which may be deemed offensive and can arrest them for that. They donāt need another reason.
Aside from those you mentioned you also forget that UK laws on defamation are among the strictest in the western world, imposing a high burden of proof on the defendant. How many celebrities get their affairs banned from newspapers or on TV news in the UK while the US press report them? Lots. There are lots of laws which restrict feedom of speech. The Malicious Communications Act 1988, the Communications Act 2003, Video Recordings Act 2010, Defamation Act 2013 etc.
Indeed, and the right to free speech has protected so many Americans. I disagree with much of American culture, but freedom of speech is their most admirable quality in my view.
We live in an era of unprecedented freedom, but societies have very short memories, the switch to a malign government could take place in a blink of an eye.
Itās quite funny, I did Journalism for my undergrad degree and one of my lecturers is a celebrity journalist. She said they couldnāt report a specific someoneās affair even though all the European papers were reporting it! There was a super-injunction on everything 
These are the best statistics I could could find (and knowing me I probably made a mistake) from the bi-annual court statistics the government releases which note privacy injunctions.
From August 2011 = 7
2012 = 12
2013 = 6
2014 = 1
2015 = 6
2016 = 3
2017 = 13
2018 = no data released yet
Dave. Although I agree that if you have nothing to hide argument is insufficient reason for carrying ID cards, I suspect that you already carry some form of ID & a lot of other stuff that leaks days like a sieve. I think the main sticking points as you rightly identify, are the making it compulsory and how secure the data is as well as whatās done with it. The problem is that if itās not compulsory (not saying it should be) itās pointless and Iāve as many concerns over the data many companies hold about me. Goggle, Apple, loyalty cards. Yes you can lock down your smartphone but then it loses a lot of its functionality. In todayās digital interconnected world it really is difficult to secure your privacy unless you can afford to go off grid.
I do carry ID but thatās by choice. We have to constantly remind those who seek to govern us that they do so at the will of the people.
Was it Heinlein who said āanyone capable of getting elected should on no account be given the jobā?
The argument against ID made sense in the analogue era. How piece of plastic with your name, date of birth and expiry date infringes your privacy is something I donāt get. Especially if it is voluntary and linked to the passport database. Nobody claims that owning a passport compromises your right to privacy.
Hence why my reply mentioned that your main sticking point was the compulsory bit 
Donāt understand the point of an ID card if it has the same information as a passport or your driving license.
I get some people donāt have them or canāt afford them but Iād just make our passports either free(digital version) or Ā£20 and then itād achieve a similar goal
Passports must be issued in an internationally standardised format. Many countries are not in a position to move to card sized format with a chip and we are long way from having one. Introducing an ID card or passport card adds to convinence and give you additional travel document - great if you ever lose one of them.