WHAT is it with governments, that they increasingly want to control every aspect of our lives? I thought we lived in a democracy. I am miffed at present about two things which I think impact on people's freedom: ID cards, and the suggestion that we shall all have to have equipment fitted into our cars so that the powers-that-be know how far we have travelled and can charge us for it.

On the question of ID cards, it's a simple matter of principle. I am totally opposed to having to carry one and I hope someone will start a campaign against them, which I can join.

My opposition is based, not on the costs of the things or whether they will work or not though I am pretty certain that if they are introduced crooks or terrorists will find a way of faking them perfectly well and never have a moment's trouble with the police, whereas the rest of us will probably lose ours and end up down the nick having to explain ourselves.

No, my reason for opposing them is that I know who I am and I don't need a card to tell me. I owe my existence to my parents, thanks very much, not some all-powerful state.

It's such a cheek.The state exists because of its people, not the other way round.

Now, what about being charged for the miles we travel by car? That's another cheek, making us install equipment in our cars, so that people can check up where we are.

Where individual people drive seems to me a private matter and nothing to do with Big Brother.

Yes, the Department of Transport probably needs to know how many cars use which road at what time of the day, so that it can plan, but it does not need to know that Joe Bloggs nips a few miles down the road twice a week for a drink after work, when he should be at home.

That's a matter between him and his family, not something for the Government. I can envisage the day when this in-car technology is so all-seeing that Joe's wife will get a letter from the minister for the family telling her her husband is drinking too much and asking would he like counselling.

That apart, car drivers are becoming pariahs, merely for switching on the ignition.

But who are these bad people? They are you and me.

And who are we?

Remember that expression, "Hard Working Families", used by politicians over and over again before the general election last month. That's us too.

Hard working families according to politicians are the backbone of the country, supporting ourselves and contributing to the wealth of the nation.

As I drive to work each day and look at my fellow drivers I think, we are all members of hard working families, so why doesn't the Government get off our backs?

Why are we constantly being berated for driving to work and on our days off for taking the family out on a trip?

Why are you proposing to make life even more expensive for drivers? Why do you want to force us off the roads when all we are doing is being a member of the hard working family group you pay so much lip service to?

I suppose we just have to know our place. If ordinary people are forced off the roads, that will leave them free for the great and the rich to enjoy.