UK: The BBC and the ring of truth

Here's an interesting story on the BBC website concerning the Home Secretary.

"Jacqui Smith says public demand means people will be able to pre-register for an ID card within the next few months.
The cards will be available for all from 2012 but she said: "I regularly have people coming up to me and saying they don't want to wait that long."

There are people coming up to her (by chance? where do they find her? aren't they fended off by her bodyguards?) begging for an ID card now. Why? What have they to gain? Are they unable to prove their identity? Don't they have passports? How have they managed this long?

Richard Ingrams, when editor of Private Eye used to say that as well as checking facts you had to look to see if a story had the 'ring of truth'. This palpably doesn't and shouldn't have gone out.

If the BBC shows itself to be little more than an agency for passing on government propaganda to the people, it is going to face even more calls for it to be cut back. And if Ms Smith thinks we are going to fall for this sort of bilge she hasn't the brains for the job she has been given.