If your passport is due for renewal in the next wee while, it’s worth doing it sooner rather than later: prices are going up again, and they’ll go up even more over the next few years if the ID card system isn’t thrown into the skip where it belongs.

Looking on the bright side, the Passport Office – sorry, I mean the not-Orwellian-at-all Identity & Passport Service – seems to be on top of its game just now, because the whole process from online submission to receiving my shiny new passport took just over a week. And for now at least, you don’t need to give the government your DNA or get yourself microchipped.