. . . to all you Facebook users out there, who are heartily sick of the technophobic press constantly trying to get another furlong out of the dead horse that is "Facebook will steal your identity", to know that Her Majesty's Government will do a far better job of it.

25 million records lost, and this is the fourth breach by the same department. The same crowd who brought in that wonderful "tax credit" system - remember that? Where they overpaid millions, and ended up having to run adverts asking people to check their sums and return any money they shouldn't have got.

I'll bet that hotline phone was ringing off the wall.

Now, not content with having lost 15 million records on CD plus numerous laptops, HMRC have lost 25 milion records burned - contrary to their own regulations - onto CD, and sent by unregistered post.

(And TNT?!? Oh, please. One attempted delivery of some computer components and nearly a week of hassle with this bunch of pricks told me they couldn't be trusted with a postcard, let alone anything of value).

In parliament yesterday, Alastair Darling told everyone that he didn't think the records were in the hands of any criminals and that the CDs were passworded, and didn't contain vital information. Wags at The Register were quick to point out that Mr Darling wasn't so quick to publish his NI number and bank account details if he was so sure of their safety . . . and that the security on the CDs was probably something like "pa55w0rd"

True or not, despite Darling's desperate attempts to salvage his job, they simply don't know where these records are. Saying criminals haven't got them is, at this point, wishful thinking.

What utter hypocrisy from a government that is constantly bleating on about terror, paranoia and identity theft. I personally think there are many good reasons not to have a National Identity database, but if you need a clear one, here it is: the last place your personal details will be safe and secure is a database handled by imbecilic clowns in government.

Run a national database? They couldn't run a bath.