In the final version of the Identity Cards Act some attempts to respond to objections can be observed. No longer will it be necessary to define one's "ethnic group". On all police charge sheets "ethnicity" is now recorded. Options are limited - Asian/Asian British, Black/Black British, Chinese, Arab, Mixed (you have to record what the mixture is), White British; Irish; Any other white background. This can easily cause distress. Indians do not necessarily like being lumped in with Pakistanis, and Kurds and Iranians can be distressed at being labelled Arab, although the average police officer cannot tell the difference. At present "ethnicity", or perhaps officialdom should be more honest and talk about "colour", is not required, but it was initially required in the Bill before it passed into law, and we may expect it make a reappearance once we are all suitably anaesthetized. A government so obsessed with "ethnicity" that it makes labelling oneself a compulsory question on the national census and insists on it being stated on any application for work in the civil service is likely to want it declared for ID cards too.

Also there is no longer a requirement to state all your addresses. People these days often have complicated living arrangements and an obligation to give all the addresses at which a person can be said to be living is not likely to be observed. Typically many of the people I have represented over the years have several places at which they could be said to live. A man - it is usually a man - will often give his mother's address to the police but will actually be living with his girlfriend, and for reasons not unconnected with the DSS would prefer not to say so. We can be sure that many of the addresses given on the Register will be bogus or out of date.

One of the worrying aspects of the legislation is the powers given to the Secretary of State to vary the information which will be required. The Government will no doubt point out that most variations will have to be laid before Parliament, but this gives little confidence. Baroness Shirley Williams on the radio programme Any Questions said she would rather go to prison than have an i.d. card. Sadly, going to prison will not be an option, since apart from a very few criminal offences created by the Act, most protests will only be liable to civil financial penalties. Opposition will be a source of revenue: there will be few martyrs. Baroness Williams only succeeded in showing us that politicians do not bother to study the legislation they pass.