More census related musings while I await answers from the ONS.

Having looked through a copy of the 2011 census (via Fuel Injected Moose – the linkage here could get a little incestuous!), I was left wondering which demented, nannying, control freak had come up with a set of questions along the lines of something you would have expected from INGSOC themselves.

I initially suspected Labour of having its grubby mits on this so decided to have a look at the legislation upon which the census is based (mainly the Census Act 1920). Surprisingly, the parliamentarians of the time were amazingly vague in setting out the range of questions that may be asked.

Apart from the usual name, rank, serial number type stuff :

Matters in respect of which Particulars may be required

1Names, sex, age.

2Occupation, profession, trade or employment.

3Nationality, birthplace, race, language.

4Place of abode and character of dwelling.

5Condition as to marriage, relation to head of family, issue born in marriage.

We also have this line that could have been slipped in (no sniggering at the back!) by Mandelsnake himself :

6Any other matters with respect to which it is desirable to obtain statistical information with a view to ascertaining the social or civil condition of the population.

Which unfortunately buggers up any hope of legitimately avoiding this prodnose festival due to it exceeding the provisions of the Act.

Having said that, it would seem that Labour did take the long length of rope handed to it by our parliamentary forebears and used it to design the tangled web of snooping we see now in order to be good EU arselickers. In this respect, the current list of questions seems to satisfy most of the topics on which the EU would like member states to collect evidence on answers from its citizens :

On 20 February 2008 the European Parliament approved a Council (Framework) Census Regulation covering the harmonization of outputs from member states’ censuses of population and housing.

…

• Place of usual residence
• Size of locality of usual residence (urban/rural)
• Sex
• Age
• Marital status
• Economic activity status
• Occupation
• Industry
• Employment status
• Workplace
• Educational attainment
• Country of birth
• Country of citizenship
• Ever resided abroad and year of entry into country
• Place of usual residence 1 year before census
• Relationship within household
• Status within household
• Status within family
• Type of housing arrangement
• Tenure status of household
• Type of household
• Size of household
• Type of family
• Size of family
• Type of living quarters
• Type of ownership
• Location of living quarters
• Occupancy status
• Floor space/Number of rooms
• Density standard of accommodation
• Housing amenities (water supply, toilet facilities, bathing facilities, type of heating)
• Type of dwelling
• Period of construction

I dont think they missed a great deal and, in true UK tradition, seem to have gold plated it as usual with questions on passports for example.

Even Germany, which has not had a complete census since 1987 is joining in with their own 2011 census although the actual range of questions is a little harder to track down.

At least they managed to avoid the state snooping for quite a long time especially after the last spat in the 1980’s :

In the 1980s, attempts at introducing a census in West Germany sparked strong popular resentment since some felt that the questions to be asked were quite personal. Comparisons to Orwell’s 1984 were drawn. Some campaigned for a boycott, or for intentional false statements. The Constitutional Court stopped the census in 1980 and 1983, and required a revision of the process. The modified census was eventually held in 1987.

Currently, I am in two minds whether to fill it in or to play silly sods and see what happens.

At the very least, I will be completing it in red pen as it really buggers up the scanning process. I don’t think they can complain about this either as the document over at Moose’s place says “Should” rather than “Must” when it comes to choice of pen colour.