Compare & Contrast

Gordon Brown said that government's first responsibility is to protect its citizens.

However, as more and more details are revealed following the missing CD-Rom affair I don't see how this can be true.

For example: the package containing the CDs could have been lost by one of three carriers, not TNT as originally stated; six weeks ago another package of CDs was lost in the post, this one containing records of phone conversations to an HMRC helpline; the Scottish government has also lost the pension information of another 200 people; since 1997 various government departments have lost approximately 1987 laptops, containing who knows what volume of personal data.

And all this information has to be teased out of the government, as if they were some naughty schoolboy, rather than the body responsible for protecting the country.

It really is difficult to understand the levels of incompetence shown by them

Another Waste of Taxpayers' Money

You would need to have been living in a cave over the last week for you not to be aware that the personal details of 25 million people have been 'misplaced' by HMRC.

Why then, at a conservative estimate of several million pounds, was it deemed necessary to write to every recipient of child benefit to apologise?

I'd much prefer that my tax money was spend on slightly better security (such as recorded delivery!) to ensure this didn't happen again.