Alan Johnson’s announcement that id cards will not be compulsory for British citizens is to be welcomed. The Government always insisted that it would not be an offence not to carry your id card, and on that basis alone its capacity to counter terrorism was seriously ineffective. The notion that Osama Bin Laden, stopped by police shopping in West Bromwich, would be given 7 days to produce his id card at a local police station was always a bit daft. However, I suspect the ‘not compulsory’ element