Wake up, you lot out there - you are all sleepwalking into oblivion.

The omnipresent Big Brother marches on, enslaving all.

He must be wearing crepe-soled shoes as most people appear not to notice him.

Identity cards are slowly being introduced by stealth, as foreign nationals will now be issued with them on arrival in the UK.

Next it will be airport workers, then students.

We are assured that the rest of us can have one if we want one, but will not be forced to carry one.

Give it time, boys and girls - the noose will slowly tighten until it will be compulsory to have one and you will risk arrest if it is not carried around at all times.

Believe you me, it's on the way.

I bet not many of you know which books your grandchildren took out of the library last week, but Big Brother Brown does, thanks to computers and barcodes.

Tesco and the like probably know more about you than your kids do, thanks to the information gleaned from loyalty cards.

In the HIgh Court, lawyers attempted to use a 319-year-old law designed to protect freedom of speech to try to block publication of a secret Government report that could damage the argument for ID cards.

Skullduggery, misinformation and subterfuge are three words that show how Mr Brown's clowns are treating the British people with contempt.

We had a minor drug problem at my local - this probably happens in a lot of pubs used by young people. Thankfully, this now appears to have been resolved.

However, the new manager has been instructed that to keep the licence, she will have to install in an ordinary little pub no fewer than 18 CCTV cameras in and around the premises to monitor everyone who visits the pub for whatever reason and to record on tape everything that goes on.

These tapes will have to be kept for 21 days for the police or the Big Brother boys to examine them.

Talk about overkill.

At this rate, every new born will be tattooed with a unique number on their forearm to enable them to be identified from cradle to grave - I think I've seen that idea used somewhere before.

Never mind, at least the Oxford Mail has the guts to print this stuff, but the men in black will probably soon veto the freedom of the press as well, or bang me up for daring to write it.

Got to go now - I think someone is hiding in the hedge.

TONY ANCHORS Didcot