It's only one step

But it's a very significant one. The Home Office has delayed awarding the big contracts on ID cards until after the next election, the Register (my favourite techie source, reports. (Hat tip Costigan). I wouldn't say, like Costigan, that the battle is over. Far too much can happen between now and then - even the possibility that the Conservatives could get into power and then find a reason for changing their minds. Stranger things have happened than a Conservative government finding a sudden liking for things that centralise power. And stranger things have happened than them saving the necessary cash by axing a few wards and blaming somebody else. So a step has been taken but we need to maintain vigilance and pressure.