Re: Not wishing to trust Big Gov, but--
"Most of us already have a card - it's called a passport. It is simply not required to be presented for these purposes."
Hmm, no, doesn't fly... At this point of time the UK Gov't shouldn't have _any_ idea of my passport. It wasn't issued by them, and I've not yet used it to leave or re-enter the country. They do know about my confusingly-named "indefinite leave to remain", but that's housed in my next-to-last passport -- they want something over £500 to have it transferred into a newer one.