The Guardian has a report on a classified MI5 internal research document. The findings show a good understanding of the nature of the problem and seem to back up research from Louise Richardson, whose book What Terrorists Want is essential reading.

Christopher Hope writes in the Daily Telegraph: Sensitive data for more than four million people was lost by Government departments in the past year, on top of the high profile loss of child benefit records. Following the loss of details for 25 million child benefit claimants in November, Whitehall departments have begun including information on personal information [...]

“In the next few days we will know if Russia wants to be part of the international community or if they don't give a damn what the worlds thinks of them”, is the stark warning given by Nick Gabrichidze, the 42 year old Georgian artist and writer who is coordinator of SOS Georgia. This new NGO was set up by members of the Georgian community in Belgium to focus efforts to raise humanitarian aid and to promote Georgian independence by advocacy and campaigning. They are looking for donations and professional volunteers to help those in the improvised refugee camps. Being based in Brussels they are close to the European institutions but Mr Gabrichidze has found them unimpressive so far. “They're all on holiday! We've had some discussions with the European Commission but we're waiting for people to come back from their vacation. All throughout this crisis the European Parliament has been on vacation.” “Although the French have made some initiatives, I haven't noticed any response from the European Union as a body. The European Parliament hasn't made any decisions yet, the Commission, in their first meeting ,tried to postpone a decision until September. I can tell you the position of individual countries but the position of the European Union is unknown at this time. We're having better luck with NATO”. Mr Gabrichidze is also dismissive of a peacekeeping role for the EU. “They have no experience. They tried and failed completely in Yugoslavia.” NATO is seen as a better bet because of their experience and ability to respond to rapidly changing events, while the EU could play a role in reconstruction and humanitarian aid. Responding to the Georgia crisis is complex because the Russian's are being very secretive and the infrastructure has been heavily damaged, so simply finding out the current situation on the ground is difficult. “I don't know what's going to happen this evening. Will the Russians withdraw? Will they attack? Nobody knows”. With the tanks only 20 miles from Tbilisi, no sign of Russian retreat, what will happen if the situation continues, or worsens? “SOS Georgia was mainly set up for humanitarian aid, but if things get worse some people may decide to go and fight on the ground. This would be their own decision and nothing to do with the organisation.” There are problems and differences between Georgia and the South Ossetians and Abkhazians, Mr Gabrichidze admits, but says there is no hatred between the peoples. He recently attended a meeting with South Ossetians and found they had a lot of common ground. Significantly, some Russians there tried to throw him out. He says that this is a conflict, not with his fellow countrymen but with Russia, pointing out it was Russian soldiers, who invaded, Russian aircraft that bombed. When asked about a solution to the crisis Mr Gabrichidze explained that he thought the agreement brokered by France is not a solution but the first step in resolving the conflict. The withdrawl of forces is more difficult for Georgia because of damage to roads and it would be hard to get supplies to refugee camps and there is still looting going on. For the agreement to work,“It's entirely in Russian hands.” “If the Russian don't react as they did after the Cold War, meaning co-operating with the world, then we're in another era, one where Russia does whatever it wants.” For Mr Gabrichidze, the immediate concern is for Russia to honour the signed agreement. “Russia must withdraw. Not completely, but to show goodwill, they must return to where they were before the conflict.” With Russia threatening Ukraine and Poland and the USA and NATO stretched in Afghanistan and Iraq, Mr Gabrichidze compares their actions to the actions of Germany in the 1930's of annexing or neutralising one state at a time with no serious military opposition. He also predicts that Russia will soon start a propaganda campaign, depicting pro-Georgians as fascists, islamic terrorists and so on. The hardliners may be directing the military, but there are tensions within the Russian government as some wish to keep and build on commercial and business relations with the world and see military actions as harmful to Russia's long term interests. The coming days will show the world the nature of the Russian bear. Will it be aggressive or friendly? The Georgians will be the first to find out, but what happens in this small republic will affect all of us. More information: www.sos-georgia.netEmail: sos.sos.georgia@gmail.com

Turns out it might be China.

Etan Smallman writes in The Times: Trust Britain’s youth to be characteristically ungrateful. The Government goes to all the effort of making a website for 16 to 25- year-olds to express their views on identity cards, and all they get in return is a solid mixture of scorn, sneering and scepticism smattered across their fancy new [...]

David 'Call Me Dave' Cameron is promising to be as radical as the Blessed Margaret: "I'm going to be as radical a social reformer as Mrs Thatcher was an economic reformer, and radical social reform is what this country needs right now."Margaret Thatcher in her time realised that the big challenge was reviving Britain's economy, and we should recognise that the challenge for the modern Conservatives is reviving our society,It's dealing with the issues of family breakdown, welfare dependency, failing schools, crime, and the problems that we see in too many of our communities." Well there's an old saying; If you broke it, you fix it. The social problems Britain faces were largely caused by Thatcher and her turning large parts of Britain's towns and cities into economic wastelands. She gave us long term unemployment, the elimination of major industries, the demonisation of single parents and the poor. Cameron's invocation of Thatcher shows that he just doesn't get it.

Chris Hastings, Beth Jones and Stephanie Plentl write in The Daily Telegraph: When Gordon Brown called on the British Library to stage an exhibition about Britishness he perhaps envisaged a patriotic celebration of the national identity. What he would not have expected is the resulting event, Taking Liberties, which encourages visitors to contemplate the perilous state of [...]

Christopher Hope writes in The Daily Telegraph: The personal details of 45,000 people, including dates of birth, criminal records, National Insurance numbers and court information, were lost by a single Government department last year. The Ministry of Justice’s (MoJ) annual accounts show the data was lost in nine separate incidents in the past financial year. The worst incident, [...]

Alan Travis writes in The Guardian: The national identity card scheme faces fresh problems following a warning from the government’s top scientific advisers that the quality of fingerprints from 4 million people aged over 75 may be too poor to be used to prove their identity. The “gold standard” integrity of the national identity scheme would depend [...]

Fergus Shanahan writes in The Sun: But help has to be offered to EVERYONE and not just those receiving child benefit. Handouts are just gimmicks, anyway. And they have to be paid for - usually through tax. We need long-term solutions. Brown should cut petrol and diesel tax, axe wasteful Labour pet projects like ID cards and freeze town [...]

The opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics was lauded as the best ever. This is the traditional accolade, but what does it mean? The international 'spirit' of the Olympics often turns out to be highly nationalist, something the Chinese excel in. It was an enjoyable enough spectacle, especially for one essentially about a lot of people walking in a circle, followed by a strangely Mao free display, people running about and the final ejaculation of fireworks, this time aided by CGI. One can only feel sorry for the organisers of 2012 who witnessed this and may well be having many sleepless nights. But what does the opening ceremony mean? Is it important or just a nationalistic 'look at me' moment? Well, who remembers the opening ceremony? I can't recall anything much about Athens, Atlanta or any others. As the Olympics become ever more bloated they become increasingly forgettable. Sadly they're a political event, as these games were given to China to assist trade and political ties. China wanted them as a symbol of their status as a near- superpower. The IOC and the western powers are helpless in the face of China's assertiveness. That is why the atheletes are performing in unsuitable air and it's no mere metaphor that these are the most polluted Olympics ever. A further demonstration of the West's impotence was provided by the Russian army when they invaded Georgia, a key ally of the US and would be EU member. The US initially blamed both sides and has come round to the belief that the Russians are being a bit naughty, but the 'condemnations' are tepid and mealy mouthed. The UN Security Council is spending a few days preparing a draft resolution. A prime example of leaping to inaction. In the meantime the war continues. What, precisely, is the point of the UNSC? Because of the misjudged strategy in the War on Terror and economic pidgeons coming home to roost, the West is now impotent. This is the real legacy of Blair and Bush.

Colin Coyle writes in the Irish Sunday Times: When John Welford fumbles in his pockets for change as he boards the bus, fellow passengers often nod sympathetically at the pensioner and ask him if he has forgotten his free travel pass. Those who strike up a conversation with Welford will come away thinking that he is [...]

Nadine McBay, writing in Metro, reviews Lucy Porter’s Edinburgh Fringe show, and gives it 4 stars: Her gentle rants about ID cards and reminiscences about buying Lidl gin may be closer to amusing after-dinner ramblings than hard-nosed stand-up, but that’s her attraction. Someone who can find sweetness even in the man who stole her credit card, [...]

Richard Ford and Sam Coates write in The Times: Opposition MPs accused the Government last night of being naive in believing that new microchipped passports would be foolproof against criminals involved in identity theft. After The Times disclosed that new passports could be cloned and manipulated in minutes and would then be accepted as genuine, MPs also [...]

Steve Boggan writes in The Times: New microchipped passports designed to be foolproof against identity theft can be cloned and manipulated in minutes and accepted as genuine by the computer software recommended for use at international airports. Tests for The Times exposed security flaws in the microchips introduced to protect against terrorism and organised crime. The flaws [...]

Nick Heath writes in Silicon.com: A prototype of the UK ID card biometric database will be delivered by French firm Thales for £18m. The defence contractor will design, build, test and operate an early version of the National Identity Register (NIR) and ID card application system for airport workers, which will go live from the second half [...]

Jenni Russell writes in The Guardian: The new dividing line between Labour and the Tories is less about a left-right split than about an authoritarian approach on one side and a more liberal one on the other. And Labour are on the wrong side of it. Many of their social and economic policies may have failed, [...]

Sylvia Pfeifer writes in the Financial Times: A controversial national identity card scheme took another step forward on Friday when the Home Office awarded the defence group Thales a four-year contract to help deliver the £5bn-plus programme. Under the £18m contract, Thales will design, build and test a system to issue the cards, along with a computerised [...]

Gerry Braiden, writing in the Glasgow Herald, reports the Identity and Passport Service’s announcement of 114 job losses at its Glasgow office: Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, said: “This news comes as a bitter blow to people who deliver a world-class service and will lead to a poorer service and an end to the processing of [...]

Africa Confidential is running a story on BAE bunging 25 million quid to an ally of Mugabe. Britain’s BAE Systems, the world’s fourth biggest arms company, has paid over £25 million (US$49.5 mn.) to a company whose majority Zimbabwean shareholder is a long-time business ally of President Robert Mugabe’s regime. The multiple investigations into BAE’s role in the affair, which appear to be nearing conclusion, are likely to have serious political repercussions in Britain and South Africa.