They ain't there because, frankly, the whole idea of a national ID card is really unpopular (for several reasons). Last time a government tried to introduce one (under the conservatives) they were given a good spanking in the court of public opinion; this time, STAND and the other e-civil rights groups are running big grass-roots campaigns to oppose the propaganda coming out of the Home Office (who are claiming they've had lots of mail in favour of it, and who seem to be misrepresenting opposition as support!).

Here's a big clue: because the British civil service is not politically appointed, it tends to be immune to the sort of committee-rigging that's currently going on in the US under the Bush administration. But by the same token, departments can decide (for their own reason) that something grossly unpopular with the electorate would make life easier for them ... and the proposal will surface time and time again under successive governments, whatever their political stripe, because the civil service doesn't change policy every time there's an election.

"The idea is simple - if something like the National ID Card needs a groundswell of public support, then we post a leaflet on our site and... we get people across Britain to print out the leaflet and pass it round their neighbourhood."

Sounds great! But the only files I could find on their site were opposed to the National ID Card. Where are the ones to help build this groundswell of public support that the ID Card proposal needs?