AN IDENTITY card "gives individuals the right to secure verification of their own identity" the Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, told the House of Commons in the ID card debate last week.

Thanks, Mr C, but I'm not having an identity crisis. When I get to the stage of needing someone to verify my identity for me, I'm sure there will be a kindly care assistant around to oblige. I'd change my speech-writer, if I were you.

All ID cards should do is allow some other party to ensure that we are who we claim we are and, as the great ID card debate will rumble, or rage, among those of all political persuasions and none for some time yet, I'm going to throw my two penn'orth in.

I'd always thought I'd happily carry an identity card. After all, I've carried a Press card, with my photo on it, for decades, though I've never been asked to produce it. That, I suppose, says something for the standing of the D&S in the local community.

Now, I'm not so sure about this proposed piece of plastic.

For a start, I'd want to be able to check for myself exactly what information was stored on a card clever enough to record biometric detail.

That is, of course, assuming that the technology works. Nationwide IT systems coming out of the public sector haven't got the best of track records. Our household is still unsure about repercussions from trying to sort out Sir's National Insurance during the two-year benefits computer fiasco.

Then there's the payment. Pick a figure, any figure. So many have been thrown into the ring that your guess is as good as any. I'm sorry, but I have far better uses for £93-£230. If it's going to be voluntary to have an ID card, as claimed, few will volunteer to pay; if cards are made compulsory, it's just another tax.

What I do fear is compulsion by the back door. It could become part of the rules for, say, claiming an undelivered parcel or taxing a car; opening a bank account or getting a store card. Eventually, we'd have to have one to run our lives.

I renewed my passport last year, for ten years. If I choose not to renew it when it runs out - which is when most people will acquire ID cards if the Bill beomes an Act - will whoever is then in power have made it impossible to refuse to renew one's passport? Will it be possible to get a card without a passport? The two seem to be seen as Siamese twins at the moment.

There's an awful lot of logistical questions to be satisfactorily answered before we get on to the apparent intent of identity cards - the prevention of terrorism or illegal immigration. To be properly effective in those areas, they will have to be compulsory and carried at all times to be produced on demand.

"Pass" laws, anyone?