Why Are You Twittering When You Don't Have A Job?

From the governmental perspective, new technologies always have two essential purposes into which all others can be reduced or subsumed, namely war and snooping; and social media are no exception. Sites such as Twitter and Facebook are to be given a chance to atone for their unfortunate role in last year's riots, thanks to a new scheme by the Ministry of Ministerial Administrativity. The Ministry, which is run by the famously up-to-date Francis Maude, intends to allow people to apply for benefits, tax credits and other public services using their social media log-in details. The social media sites will be required to confirm individuals' identities, and no doubt the information thus acquired will be treated with that degree of competence, care and respect which is characteristic of Whitehall's relationship with information technology and the proles who use it. A spokesbeing was at pains to stress that the scheme is not yet compulsory, and the Government has denied that it is sneaking identity cards or a national identity database onto the statute books, however much the Deputy Conservatives may have begged it to try.