The Long View returns- February 2005

The Long View returns to BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday 22nd February. As the government prepares to introduce the national database and identity cards, the first episode of the new series considers the historical issues and implications around this very contemporary debate.

London, 1950 and wartime Identity Cards are still in force. When Clarence Willcock refuses to present his card to a police officer, it leads to a test case in the High Court. Judges ponder whether ID cards are an unnecessary intrusion into private life or a useful weapon in combatting crime.

Jonathan is joined by Shami Chakrabarti of Liberty, Martin Linton MP - who developed the prototype of the new biometric cards - and Peter Byrne, alias PC Andy Crawford in Dixon of Dock Green, to debate ID Cards in 1950's Britain and today