The petition to ask Mr Bean to resign is doing well, now up to almost 20,000 signatures. But checking the latest state of play did bring up one interesting thought.
The UK Government seems to be obsessed with trying to collect as much data on people as possible, and then I noticed it. To sign up for the petition, you need to put your name (naturally) and your email address. The website states:
You must be a British citizen or resident to sign the petition. Please enter your name only; signatures containing other text may be removed by the petitions team.
Fair enough.
Your email will not be published, and is collected only to confirm your account and to keep you informed of response to this petition.
Also fair enough, logical.
But then it asks for your address, postcode and, if an expatriate, where you live. Why? Email addresses are not tied to residential addresses, so totally irrelevant. Except for collecting personal information!