If you are not a church-goer or don’t describe yourself as religious, please tick the box for No Religion on the census, if you complete it at all. Putting a joke religion in the Other box isn’t funny, it is an absolute waste of time at best and at worst assists the Church of England in maintaining its grip on the symbols and reign of power. Make no mistake, the Church of England lends credence to the last vestiges of justification for the royal family. Disestablishment now!
I couldn’t help wondering what the census costs? Obviously it must be difficult for the thieving Tory bastards to abandon tradition, especially one which was begun before socialism was even a twinkle in the eye of Karl Marx’s father. Surely the census has now outlived its usefulness? Data collection by the government in this manner cannot be the most efficient way to do it. Surely it would be much cheaper to openly and clandestinely buy the data on the private market, from data miners. Much more data would be obtained and we wouldn’t be troubled with knowledge about how many people declare themselves to be Jedi Knights. The census was began in times when changes to people’s lives occurred much more slowly but nowadays we move about, move jobs, move religions etc., sometimes several times in a decade. Okay, it is a snapshot at a particular time. Perhaps that is interesting for historians but what use is it for planning major social projects?
Personally, I was pleased to declare that I would still be married on 27th March 2011. It felt good to be able to confirm to the government that my personal relationship with my wife is in a good state. Thank-you, Ministers of the Crown, for giving this hapless subject that comfort! Trouble is I want to a citizen, not a subject. Whilst I personally find the whole thing relatively inoffensive, it was staggering to see the racist term gypsy on the form. Why hasn’t this been replaced by Romany? Romanies are indigenous to the UK, along with the English, Irish, Welsh and Scottish, having arrived here in the 16th century. I wasn’t sure what the point of question 17 was – that’s the question that declares that it was intentionally left blank. Presumably the question has been dropped. Is the government so technically incompetent that it cannot manage to migrate data from one question number to the next?
