Leading article: Identity disorder

When the Government unveiled its plan to issue the population of the entire country with identity cards five years ago, ministers promised a monolithic scheme that would thwart terrorists, deter fraudsters and make our lives easier in countless ways. But now that mighty monolith has been worn down to a small pebble. The timetable for the introduction of the cards has slipped several times; the auctioning of the contracts to make them has been delayed.

Yesterday, the Home Secretary, Alan Johnson, scrapped a trial of the cards for pilots. And now Mr Johnson even says that the cards will never be compulsory. So what exactly are we left with? The answer is a hideously expensive voluntary scheme which the Government persists with simply because it would be too embarrassing to ditch it. It is time for the Home Secretary to do the sensible thing, remove this annoying and pointless pebble from the nation's shoe and throw it away for good.