passport

With so much fighting going on about people who want to get into the country, we didn't realize how hard it is to get out. Chaos at the U.S. Passport office has left thousands of travelers stranded stateside, many of them holding useless airplane and cruise tickets -- a situation one critic calls "reverse Ellis Island."

Banks and other businesses are to be sold access to personal information stored on the Government's ID cards database.

Ministers want to raise hundreds of millions towards the £540million a year cost of running the controversial scheme.