Whether Noelle's plagiarism was at the lower end of the scale or not I think is irrelevant - above nothing else is it not about having professional pride in her own work? It would have taken 30 seconds to rehash those sentences.

Bizarre. I find it very hard to follow the phone company's contradictions in policy. I tried to purchase a sim card from orange.co.uk when I first arrived in the UK but was required to enter such details as past addresses. Because they were NZ based, I was told I needed to place a £100 security deposit.

consequently I went to the dodgy corner shop and picked one up for £1.

From the letters section of today's Daily Telegraph

Letters to the Telegraph
Creeping identity cards

Sir - From today, the Government is issuing what it calls "ID cards for foreigners". These will affect students and those marrying Britons.

Over time, residents from outside Europe will be fingerprinted and have to account for their movements. Later, so would we all.

Refugees and the unskilled poor have nothing to lose, but successful foreigners such as Robinho or Kevin Spacey, and the overseas students who subsidise our universities, have a lot of choice over where they study or exercise their talents.

Some will decide Britain has become too unfriendly. When America introduced more hostile visa conditions three or four years ago, Bill Gates complained that Microsoft could no longer hire some of the best software engineers.

If this scheme is continued it will lead to less fee income and lower international status for our educational institutions. British students will have to pay higher tuition to make up, and will have less money to spend with local businesses. Fewer of the world's leading performers in every field will choose to make their homes here.

We value the contribution that these people make, economically and culturally, to our institutions and our society. We think our country should treat them as guests, not criminal suspects.

Phil Booth, National Coordinator, NO2ID
Guy Herbert, General Secretary, NO2ID

Glad to see a little debate on the issue that doesn't revolve around the 'cost to the taxpayer' which Britons currently seem to treat as the main barrier in introducing ID cards.

For a start councils have been told they are not allowed to use anti terror powers to snoop on people so scratch that one.

Oh, of course there's been discussion, but no law changes as of yet. Last week the Home Office promised action on the abuse of anti-terror laws "in the near future". I'll believe it when I see it.

As to your other points Peter:
TfL now only sell monthly tickets through the Oyster Card system (you can buy without Oyster for National Rail services, however these are only useful if you happen to live on a route operated by, uh, National Rail. No chance if you're reliant on the tube or buses);

The woman did not park on the side of the motorway but in the services ie. in a designated car-park;

And I don't personally believe any information I am compulsorily required to provide the state with ie. the DVLA, should be on-sold for commercial gain. A database of registered vehicles and drivers is one thing, flogging information from it to any company who stumps up £5 is something altogether different.

Besides, if anyone should be profiting from my personal details - it should be me :-D