In the beginning, I found myself thinking I was doing something wrong. Why was I thinking that way?  Is the state conditioning that strong? It isn’t a crime to not have identification. If it was, babies and children should be locked in prison. If you don’t drive you don’t need a license and if you have never left the country you won’t have a passport. Both of those are voluntary, you cannot be compelled to get one for any reason other than to drive or leave the country.

As I am a driver, I am technically supposed to carry both the photocard and counterpart pieces of the license as both are required during a police stop. There is a clause in the legislation which allows me to take both pieces of the license to a police station of my choice within 7 days from the stop so that is not an issue.

Of course, I will carry my passport while in a foreign country as those are pretty much globally recognised.

The only other real use for state issued ID in this country is to prove you are old enough to purchase alcohol. I took my photocard ID to the supermarket last week because I knew I would be buying alcohol but due to the number of people that know me there (I work there) I never got carded. In fact I hardly ever get carded. This is possibly due to my lack of drinking but the times I have been in pubs I have had little to no problems getting drinks.

So it would seem that identification is not needed in this country. For now. It seems that The Powers That Be are hell bent on making it mandatory within a decade or so to carry ID. Of course, I do not agree with this and will resist at every point. Instead, I propose a new idea. We should go back to trusting each other. When I identify myself, you should be able to trust that I am who I say I am. If you don’t believe me, it is down to you to prove that I am lying. Kinda like innocent until proven guilty.