Comment: Privacy, who needs it? Home Secretary Alan Johnson has unveiled the final design of the controversial national identity card.
The card will be offered to members of the public in the Greater Manchester area from the end of this year.
Ministers plan to launch the £30 biometric ID card nationwide in 2011 or 2012 - but it will not be compulsory.
Opposition spokesmen said it was a "colossal waste of money" and civil liberty groups said it was
"as costly to our pockets as to our privacy". Read more 
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