Andrew Mueller of The Independent has been interviewing former MI5 chief Dame Stella Rimington, and finds her tight-lipped on anything to do with her 27 years defending Britain as a serving intelligence officer:
So, just to make sure we’re clear, even if Harold Wilson was a KGB plant, even if Gerry Adams has been wearing Union [...]

Jenni Russell writes on the Guardian Comment is Free web site about the recent evidence of turmoil in the government’s ID cards plans:
A couple of weeks ago, leaks from the heart of government suggested that the ID cards scheme was in deep trouble. Those of us opposed to it felt our spirits lift when we [...]

David Leppard writes in The Sunday Times:
Fresh evidence that Tony Blair’s flagship identity cards scheme is in crisis is disclosed in a confidential Home Office report which has been leaked to The Sunday Times.
The 32-page “restricted” document says that the security system protecting the card and the national database could be infiltrated by criminal gangs [...]

Jean Eaglesham writes in the Financial Times:
The Home Office has admitted it cannot say when its troubled identity card scheme will begin for British citizens and only foreign nationals will be issued cards by the government’s target date of 2008.
In spite of Tony Blair’s claim last weekend that suggestions of problems with the multi-billion pound [...]

The Guardian, commenting on the rearrangement of the managerial deck-chairs at the Home Office, takes the view that this ministry’s failure to deliver on government policies has more to do with the policies than the staff – and singles out one particular unworkable policy:
Chief among these policies is the plan for a national identity card, [...]