I AGREE with the views of Rupert Smythe on ID cards (News Shopper, October 3).

I am not waiting for the overnment to introduce them because I've been carrying an ID card of my own for many years now.

On this card is my name, address, telephone number, next of kin, religion and blood group.

In case of an emergency anybody tending to me would know who to contact and saves the authorities the trouble of wondering who I am.

Official ID cards would curtail the freedom of terrorists, which unfortunately would curtail the freedom of us all.

But that's a small price to pay in the long term.

T W F

Orpington

CONGRATULATIONS to Rupert Smythe for his ID card views.

But as for Rachel Bradman, I have never read anything as stupid as her comments. Why is she so against ID cards?

How could it stir racial tension and a climate of fear?

I carry ID all the time, I have no fear of being stopped by the law because I haven't done anything wrong. Why would it jeopardise relations between the Government and the Islamic community?

And, why is she so concerned about anyone with robes and a beard being stopped on a whim?

Just because French police are blatant about singling them out doesn't mean it would happen here, why did she mention one race? Anyone of any race could be stopped and asked for ID.

I hope she gets her facts straight next time.

MR GOYMEL

Address supplied

I AGREE with Rachel Bradman the introduction of identity cards would be a disaster.

Apart from the “Big Brother” danger to our civil liberties enshrined from the time of Magna Carta, the only effect would be on the law-abiding citizen.

Criminals and terrorists will have no difficulty equipping themselves with false ID cards. Indeed, it will make life a bit easier because their fake cards will automatically be accepted.

Germany and France have ID cards but this did not stop the Munich Olympic Games massacre or “refugees” flowing in from Af-ghanistan to Calais.

The truth is: the EU has been demanding this measure for years but the British and Irish governments have been reluctant to challenge our right to freedom.

The EU is using the dreadful events in New York as an excuse to force this issue. As chairman of the Bexley Branch of the UK Independence Party I do not usually agree with the Liberal Democrats but I am in complete agreement with them about such a fundamental challenge to our freedom.

BILL JENNER

Chairman, Bexley Branch

UK Independence Party