So now the ID and central identity register bandwagon is rolling North, and the lucky Scots are the next to get their names and identities put on the line list.

Of course, there's one rather big fly in the ointment in that biometrics still haven't been proven to work accurately over a large sample of people, even the traditional fingerprint isn't guaranteed to be unique.

The "ID cards and an ID database are fine because I've got nothing to hide" argument really falls down when there's a criminal running around leaving fingerprints identical to yours...