UK digital ID – here's why it may penalize the digital poor and anyone on the margins

Tech companies have made some bold claims in recent months. For example, Tesla and SpaceX chief Elon Musk claimed last month that robots and Artificial Intelligence (AI) will "eradicate global poverty", while providing an "infinite money glitch" for him. At the same time, he predicted that work would become an optional pastime, so it is unclear how we might pay for the robots and AIs that have made him mega-wealthy.

But while Big Tech leaders are free to talk up their share prices and venture capital valuations by making untestable claims, policymakers should be above such social media engineering. Alas, some succumb to the temptation in the hope that it will forge the same national spirit as the "white heat" of science and technology speech that Prime Minister Harold Wilson gave in 1963, back when The Beatles had their first number one.

Take the Muskian claim made by Feryal Clark ...