ID Cards

Now that the part that has to happen in the Commons appears to be over, would I be safe in wondering what the big deal was about introducing ID cards in Britain? Maybe I'm just so used to having to carry a form of government id (which I use mostly in place of signing my credit cards and, most recently, as proof of address to get my reader's card at the British Library), that I'm blown away by the idea of an entire country walking around without any way to prove their identity. Mostly, I'm not thinking in a police way, but this is a country in which credit card fraud is MASSIVE...wouldn't a little photo identification have helped? Being American, of course, I can barely fathom the idea of leaving the house WITHOUT my little driver's license. Also, if people in this country think that their government doesn't already have all of that data on file, then I'm surprised. Doesn't the NHS already know all about your health records? What's more personal than that? And your address, length of residence, phone number, etc. are all available on the voting register. And you've probably told at least one of the parties your voting preference. And if students are now required to show id before going into a party at the union, then wouldn't some offical proof of age be handy? Anyway. I do know that a majority of only 25 is pretty significant.