Individual Economists

UK Goes Full Cradle-To-Grave With 'Sinister' Plan For Newborn Baby Digital IDs

Zero Hedge -

UK Goes Full Cradle-To-Grave With 'Sinister' Plan For Newborn Baby Digital IDs

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

The UK government’s digital ID push is escalating into outright dystopia, with ministers privately floating the idea of assigning digital identities to newborns right alongside their health records. 

This “sinister” expansion, revealed by the Daily Mail, exposes Labour’s true agenda: a lifelong tracking system masquerading as a tool to curb illegal immigration.

The move is being slammed as a blatant power grab, with many warning it has nothing to do with border control and everything to do with eroding freedoms from birth.

The proposal emerged in secretive Cabinet Office meetings led by minister Josh Simons, who cited Estonia’s model where infants get unique numbers at birth registration for accessing public services. 

Simons even suggested digital IDs could help teenagers log into social media, tying into global crackdowns like Australia’s under-16 ban on apps such as TikTok.

Announced by Prime Minister Keir Starmer in September as a way to verify job candidates’ right to work, the scheme is slated for rollout by 2028-29 at a staggering £1.8 billion cost. But the government has stonewalled on details, fueling suspicions of mission creep.

Shadow Cabinet Office minister Mike Wood blasted the idea: “Labour said their plan for mandatory digital ID was about tackling illegal immigration. But now we hear they are secretly considering forcing it on newborns. What do babies have to do with stopping the boats? This would be a deeply sinister overreach by Labour – and all without any proper national debate.”

Former Tory Cabinet minister Sir David Davis echoed the outrage, calling it “creeping state surveillance.” He added: “The idea that we should allocate children ID at birth is frankly an affront to centuries of British history, and is being put out by stupid ministers who really don’t understand the technology they are playing with. They think they are being clever and modern, but a large number of people will be outraged by this. It will end up being hated by a lot of people.”

Davis accused Starmer of peddling the policy on a “bogus premise” before quietly ballooning it without parliamentary input, labeling it a “constitutional disgrace delivered in a disgraceful manner.”

Liberal Democrat spokesman Lisa Smart warned: “Reports that ministers may be considering dragging newborn babies into their already over-reaching digital ID scheme would be a frightening development.”

Attendees at the meetings, sworn to secrecy, described jaws dropping when the newborn ID concept was raised. One source told the Daily Mail: “The disturbing prospect of digital IDs for newborn babies shows this has nothing to do with right-to-work checks, immigration or giving people choices. It’s a cradle-to-grave digital file being dishonestly forced on every single Briton. This is a shocking, underhand way to massively expand a controversial policy our country has always rejected.”

Big Brother Watch, a leading privacy advocacy group, sounded the alarm on X:

The group’s director, Silkie Carlo, has been vocal against the scheme.

This development builds on Starmer’s broader biometric tracking rollout, the “Brit Card” system—tied to the UK One Login platform—promises to block “illegal” migrants from jobs but ignores the flood of legal asylum seekers and offers endless tools for government overreach.

With net migration hitting around 500,000 annually and only a fraction deemed “illegal,” the ID won’t stem the tide but could easily punish dissenters by revoking access to work or services. It’s a classic globalist bait-and-switch: exploit public frustration over open borders to impose surveillance that targets natives.

A government spokesman claimed: “The only mandatory area of the programme will be for digital right-to-work checks. Only people starting a new job will need to use the scheme.” But a Whitehall source admitted it’s all “hypothetical,” with a public consultation pending—hardly reassuring given the secretive plotting.

 

This is the death of privacy, starting at the cradle. Brits must reject this authoritarian slide before every citizen is fully reduced to a tracked data point in a vast surveillance state.

Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

Tyler Durden Sun, 01/04/2026 - 09:20

Brexit Architect Blows Lid Off Deep State Plot To Destroy Nigel Farage And Reform UK

Zero Hedge -

Brexit Architect Blows Lid Off Deep State Plot To Destroy Nigel Farage And Reform UK

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

Dominic Cummings, the political strategist who oversaw Brexit, has dropped a bombshell warning to Nigel Farage: the UK establishment is plotting to crush him and Reform UK by any means necessary, including illegal tactics, to prevent a populist takeover.

As Reform surges in polls and eyes major gains in the 2026 local elections, Cummings has revealed how insiders view Farage as the next Trump-style threat they must eliminate early and ruthlessly.

Speaking on The Spectator’s Quite Right! podcast, Cummings told hosts Michael Gove and Madeline Grant: “They’ll leak medical records, they’ll leak tax records.They’ll bug his phone and leak that. They’ll do anything that they need to.”

Cummings added that populists in other countries will be targeted too, noting “That will be happening across Europe and they’ll all be telling themselves they’re fighting fascism together.”

He pinpointed “the people around {British PM} Starmer” as driven by Brexit revenge, saying: “The people around Starmer and all through the upper echelons of the Whitehall system are looking at Trump.”

“They’re looking across Europe, and they’re saying to themselves: ‘The lesson is to strike early and strike hard and not let these people in’,” Cummings further noted.

Cummings added that establishment figures regret allowing Vote Leave to win the Brexit referendum, seeing it as “the beginning of the disaster for us.”

Cummings claimed that the ultimate goal of the establishment is “Smashing the absolute s*** out of Farage and making sure that he doesn’t win it – by fair means and foul.”

Reform’s Zia Yusuf responded ominously: “It’s already begun.”

Cummings also described the Conservative Party as “completely dead,” urging that “They’re like the local vagrant who used to smash everything up who is now cabbaged in a wheelchair and isn’t relevant anymore.”

The warning comes amid reports of media smears against Farage, including decades-old allegations from The Guardian, which he dismissed as backfiring: “It’s having zero effect. It’s maybe solidifying our core support.”

Farage vowed in a New Year’s message that strong local election results could propel Reform to victory in the next general election: “If we get this right on May 7 this year, we will go on and win that General Election.”

Cummings’ exposé aligns perfectly with revelations from ex-Starmer aide Paul Ovenden, who just hours earlier accused civil servants of hijacking government via a “Stakeholder State” obsessed with fringe issues while siphoning power from voters.

Ovenden slammed this perma-class for wasting time on bizarre priorities like importing anti-white activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah, calling it a “morbid symptom of a state that has got bigger and bigger while simultaneously and systematically emasculating itself.”

This entrenched blob – NGOs, regulators, and lobbyists – now appears laser-focused on neutralizing threats like Farage, using dirty tricks to protect their grip.

It’s the same elite network plotting cradle-to-grave surveillance through newborn digital IDs, as exposed in our report on Labour’s dystopian scheme to track citizens from birth under the guise of immigration control.

The message is clear: the Deep State are not willing to let populists like Farage further disrupt their globalist agenda.

Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

Tyler Durden Sun, 01/04/2026 - 08:10

Canceled Flights Across Caribbean Resume After US Captures Maduro

Zero Hedge -

Canceled Flights Across Caribbean Resume After US Captures Maduro

Air travel across the Caribbean has normalized after a day of disruptions triggered by a U.S. special forces operation that successfully captured Venezuela's socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro.

Late Saturday night, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy wrote on X that "original restrictions around Caribbean airspace are expiring at 12:00 a.m. ET and flights can resume."

"Airlines are informed and will update their schedules quickly. Please continue to work with your airline if your flight was affected by the restrictions," Duffy said.

There was widespread confusion on Saturday as flights across the Caribbean were canceled or delayed following the U.S. operation in Venezuela. Airspace over Puerto Rico was temporarily restricted, forcing the cancellation of departures from Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport, officials at the airport wrote in a statement. At least 150 outbound flights from the region's busiest Caribbean hub were cancelled, according to flight tracking website FlightAware, while another 140 inbound flights bound for San Juan were also canceled.

Delta Air Lines said normal operations in the region would resume early Sunday after airspace restrictions were lifted at 13 Caribbean airports.

Some of the affected airports Delta listed included:

  • V.C. Bird International Airport (ANU)

  • Queen Beatrix International Airport (AUA)

  • Grantley Adams International Airport (BGI)

  • Flamingo International Airport (BON)

  • Curaçao International Airport (CUR)

  • Maurice Bishop International Airport (GND)

  • Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport (SJU)

  • Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport (SKB)

  • Cyril E. King Airport (STT)

  • Henry E. Rohlsen Airport (STX)

  • Argyle International Airport (SVD)

  • Princess Juliana International Airport (SXM)

  • Hewanorra International Airport (UVF)

One reader traveling inbound to Cancún said early Saturday that his Frontier Airlines flight was delayed, citing the captain, who told passengers the disruption was due to airspace restrictions.

In addition to Delta and Frontier, American Airlines, JetBlue, Southwest Airlines, and Spirit Airlines also experienced flight disruptions on Saturday.

Readers can catch up on the latest reporting (here), detailing Maduro's capture, how he was captured by Delta Force operators, and his transfer with his wife to New York City, where he was placed in federal detention. Maduro has been charged with drug trafficking and terrorism-related charges. 

The good news is that air traffic will begin to normalize across the Caribbean as restrictions expire and carriers begin restoring schedules.

Tyler Durden Sun, 01/04/2026 - 07:35

Germany's Banking Sector Faces Growing Crisis Amid Record Insolvencies

Zero Hedge -

Germany's Banking Sector Faces Growing Crisis Amid Record Insolvencies

Submitted by Thomas Kolbe

The German economic crisis is slowly but surely making its way into the balance sheets of banks. Above all, the crisis in the largely credit-financed Mittelstand is increasingly weighing on savings banks and cooperative banks.

The year 2025 is ending as a disastrous year for the German economy. Around 24,000 companies filed for insolvency—a record figure, surpassed only in the crisis year 2003 following the bursting of the dotcom bubble and the subsequent recession. Back then, a total of 39,000 companies went bankrupt.

Deindustrialization and Loan Defaults 

Loan defaults in the past year are estimated at around €57 billion. These losses hit suppliers and banks hard, especially since the German Mittelstand finances roughly 40% through savings banks and 25% through cooperative banks.

Already in the previous year, losses from corporate insolvencies had accumulated to around €59 billion. The causes have long been known: the persistent weakness of the German economy results from a toxic mix of overregulation, climate-policy-driven deindustrialization, a self-inflicted energy crisis, and high fiscal burdens. This poisonous cocktail severely strains the economy, weakens private demand, and makes industrial production in Germany increasingly unattractive on the international stage.

The ripple effects of a roughly 20% drop in industrial production reach far into other sectors. Supplier companies as well as industry-related services are increasingly under pressure—and are collapsing in many areas.

Pressure Beneath the Surface 

At first glance, the German banking sector still appears stable. Industry giant Deutsche Bank increased its pre-tax profit in Q3 2025 by 8% year-on-year to €2.4 billion. The bank saw growth across all business areas—from traditional lending to investment banking to asset management.

The situation is different for cooperative banks. Volks- und Raiffeisenbanken already suffered a 25% drop in profits last year compared to the previous year. Further revenue declines are expected for 2025. The main reasons are the persistently weak economy, rising geopolitical tensions, and higher risk provisions in the face of growing credit default risks.

Germany’s once stable three-pillar banking model—private large banks, public-sector institutions like savings banks and state banks, and cooperative banks—still shows outward growth. But beneath the surface, deep cracks are forming: years of low interest rates have sharply squeezed bank margins, and the abrupt interest rate reversal is weighing on both businesses and consumers. Added to this is the problematic close entanglement between cooperative banks and politics.

For example, the agricultural cooperative BayWa in Bavaria nearly went bankrupt after engaging in global renewable energy investments—leaving a €100 million loss.

This example illustrates the risks of political steering of the banking sector through public institute credit guarantees like KfW. Nowadays, billions are channeled annually into the climate economy and the military sector—keeping a zombie economy afloat that could never survive in a free capital market.

Examples of the emerging banking crisis are multiplying: VR-Bank Dortmund Nordwest suffered losses of €280 million from risky real estate fund investments, requiring a bailout from the Cooperative Protection Fund (BVR).

VR-Bank Bad Salzungen-Schmalkalden lost a similar amount in dubious real estate deals two years ago and also called on the BVR for rescue. These cases show that banks, facing a declining credit business with the Mittelstand, are forced to move outward on the risk curve to generate operational profits.

The effects are tangible: a BaFin analysis shows that last year, about 1.9% of savings bank loans and 2.2% of cooperative bank loans were non-performing. This corresponds to a volume of €36.5 billion—a 25% increase from the previous year. Consequently, banks are forced to increase credit risk provisions—freezing more capital and making new loans harder to grant.

\Branch Closures and a Mortgage Crisis on the Horizon 

Raiffeisenbank Hochtaunus recently fell into serious financial trouble after making €500 million in value adjustments to its real estate portfolio.

Creaking sounds are coming from all corners of the German economy. It is expected that the economic crisis will translate into a crisis of regional banks’ mortgage portfolios, alongside private insolvencies. Stress in the banking system is increasing quarter by quarter.

Banks are responding to growing pressure with tough measures. Over 1,000 bank branches are closed annually in Germany. The local Sparkasse may soon become a thing of the past. This not only makes personal consultations harder for older customers but also hits bank clients in rural areas. Small and medium-sized enterprises, craft businesses, bakeries, and local retailers who rely on personal financial advice increasingly find fewer direct contacts and a trusted banking environment.

Balance Sheet Damage Becomes Visible 

Bank balance sheets reflect the overall economic situation. At the same time, they are influenced by financial and fiscal policy developments. Years of elevated loan defaults erode the financial substance of banks just as much as the globally high sovereign debt, which has caused significant devaluations of bond holdings on balance sheets.

In short: the longer the crisis in the private economy persists and the more it is exacerbated by fiscal undiscipline and growing government debt, the lower the lending potential of the banking sector.

This is precisely the crux of monetary policy. The European Central Bank can lower interest rates and private sector financing costs all it wants. Lending in the real economy is determined by the interaction between private companies and credit-granting banks.

Unless Germany’s economic outlook brightens considerably—which, under current political conditions, is unlikely—lending will significantly slow on the one hand, while defaults accelerate on the other. This would be further evidence that the German economy is continuing to sink deeper and deeper into a contraction phase.

* * * 

About the author: Thomas Kolbe is a German graduate economist. For over 25 years, he has worked as a journalist and media producer for clients from various industries and business associations. As a publicist, he focuses on economic processes and observes geopolitical events from the perspective of the capital markets. His publications follow a philosophy that focuses on the individual and their right to self-determination.

Tyler Durden Sun, 01/04/2026 - 07:00

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