It often amuses me when I read of plans for a National Identity Card.

Due to a misspelling of my name by the clerk registering my birth, an incorrect birth certificate was issued.

It was only many years later I noticed this error but, when I applied to have it corrected, I was informed I would be expected to pay for it, even though it was no fault of mine.

As a result, I never bothered. I have also applied for and been granted two British passports in my correct name, that is my father's surname and not the name entered on my birth certificate.

Curiously, the clerks issuing the passports failed to notice the misspelling both times.

As I have no criminal intentions nor the slightest wish to turn this bureaucratic error to my advantage, I have allowed this mistake to remain uncorrected.

However, where the application for a passport is quite a simple process requiring the minimum of information, the drawing up of identity cards and the amount of information required can only result in compounded errors which would render the whole process a complete waste of time and money.

I am reminded of the story behind Prokofiev's Lieutenant Kije Suite, where the Tsar of Russia, inspecting some military records, noted an illegible entry, which was, in fact, an inkblot.

The officers in charge, unwilling to admit their careless record keeping, invented Lieutenant Kije, a fictitious soldier with a whole history of a heroic life and death.

Surely the introduction of identity cards for the whole population of the UK will result in an abundance of Lieutenant Kijes, owing to the huge amount of information likely to be wrongly interpreted.

-Richard March, Hove