<rant>As if CCTV on every street corner (which even police admit hasn’t significantly reduced crime) and speed cameras that track movements over 30 miles weren’t bad enough, I’ve just read about the UK government’s plans that, in order to buy a mobile phone, we will soon need a passport (on the pretence that this is part of the fight against terrorism and organised crime). As Gary Marshall points out, have the UK Government never heard of Skype, e-mail, chat over public WiFi, payphones (and do they think that terrorists don’t have passports)?

There are those who say that, if you’ve nothing to hide, you’ve nothing to fear. I’ve nothing to hide – I simply just don’t trust the government not to mix my details up with someone else’s in a monumental database administration error. Only when they can keep my personal details secure, stop leaving top secret documents on trains, etc. will I be happy for them to store more information about me.

In the meantime, I’m counting the days until we get the chance to vote this bunch of inept <insert expletive here> out of office…</rant>