Ah, why not

It's always reassuring to know that Government policy is made by intelligent people sitting down, looking over all the various options, weighing up the pros and cons of a decision, thinking about whether a policy is really in the best interests of the country...and then saying 'fuck it, why not?'

now we have this biometric technology, now we are going to have to use it for passports, we might as well give ourselves a full blown identity card.

But then, the 'we might as well' principle seems to explain a lot of this government's policy when you think about it. Bring in top up fees after we promised not to? We might as well. Sell off NATS after we promised not to? We might as well. Invade Iraq? We might as well. New Labour. New yeah, whatever.