This country does not own me, and what I carry around, or not, to identify myself should always be fully my decision. I never go anywhere (whether driving or not) without my driving licence. My decision. I need it (or something similar to identify myself), quite rightly, to pick up my wine order at Waitrose click and collect, and I need it this morning to pick up an order at the local Argos. I've been caught speeding several times, and that has taught me that it's always a great idea (though it isn't obligatory) to carry the licence with me as it means I don't have the inconvenience of having to go to a police station to show it later. Those are my choices, and I will not carry ID just because a government tells me to. I haven't got a problem with certain convicted criminals wearing tags, but that's the only acceptable exception as far as I'm concerned.

Nigel, dear fellow, there is no discernible problem with voter fraud that even remotely requires a law obliging us to carry voter ID. That's the argument, if you're making it, that you've lost. So nitpick away, I'm finished with that avenue of enquiry.

On a different tack, here's a comment from a reader under a Guardian opinion piece about the motorway protests. I'm reproducing it because I agree with every word.

One of my closest friends is involved in the Insulate Britain protests. In over 30 years of environmental activism she has sacrificed so much, at considerable personal cost. To hear her dismissed as an “irresponsible crusty” by Johnson brought home to me how little thought he actually puts into what he says. As long as he gets in a cheap ad hominem dig and gets to play to the gallery it’s job done. That’s the extent of his involvement.

As for the benighted Home Secretary. I was listening to her speech today. She shifted seamlessly from the word “protestor” to the word “criminal”, almost as if they were synonyms. She is a menace. She is a threat to all protest …... a threat to decency.

I accept that Extinction Rebellion and Insulate Britain really piss people off. That’s part of the point. Is it counter-productive? Well, we’re all talking about it, so on an important metric they are succeeding in what they’ve set out to do. After decades of activism with little to show, these are the tactics which finally seem to have broken through.

But be under no illusion that this doesn’t come at some personal cost for the protestors. Don’t fall for the bullshit of focusing on who the protestors are. Focus on the issue and its ramifications. Because if you think you’re inconvenienced now, just wait until you see what’s in store if we all continue as we are.

We should be just grateful that there are people willing to put themselves on the line for the sake of the rest of us.