Taking a liberty

So let me get this right then. The Government wants everyone to carry an ID card which will carry any information the Government might find of interest which, of course, will be held on a national identity database.

The database, with all its confidential and personal information will then be accessible by any official body which, in effect, means anyone from a spotty faced council clerk with an unhealthy interest in local residents to politicians looking for ammunition on critics or opponents despite fancy rhetoric and empty assurances from the Government.

And, of course, preferred partners from the private sector will also have access, these being firms who have come up with the asking price in cash and future directorships and consultancies for former ministers and senior civil servants

We also have a DNA database which covers anyone who has ever walked past a police station let alone committed a crime and the Government wants everyone's medical records to be on a central NHS database which, like everything else on any computer with even the most remote Government connection, is as secure as a paper bag in a thunderstorm. On past form insurance companies will also be able to access both treasure troves of information for a fee.

Freedom of speech is slowly evolving into freedom to say what does not upset the Government and just in case you think you are safe when you close your front door . . . some 800 agencies can demand to enter your home - it used to be your castle remember - without a warrant or an invite.

And don't complain to your mates by telephone or computer - the Government wants to record every phone call and email. The logistics might have escaped big brother but the intention behind the sinister plan is certainly pretty clear.

Then, just to keep an eye on you all out there, we have an estimated 4.5 million CCTV cameras screwed to just about every pole or flat surface, a number which conservative estimates reckon will double in 10 years and it now transpires that police want to demand everyone who enters a pub has to be filmed on CCTV which has to be handed over on demand as a condition of a licence.

Amid all this the former head of MI5, Dame Stella Rimington, declares Government is using fear of terrorism to erode civil liberties and we are being pushed further and further towards a police state.

So up pops Tony McNulty, the employment minister - it must have been his turn on the counter attack rota - to rubbish any criticism of the Government. He declares Dame Stella's view to be "abject nonsense" and claims the Government has got the right balance between security and civil liberties. Keen eyed citizens might have spotted he is a member of the very Government she was warning about.

Hands up anyone who doesn't believe him . . . and just make sure there is no camera watching.