Biometrics come of age

Big brother/surveillance nation? Today I have had my irises scanned in London to enrol (voluntarily) in the "fast-track" iris recognition immigration system. Also, in passing through US immigration I have had the fingerprints on each finger of both hands recorded on the US visit programme. It used to be index fingers only - but I can only assume there were too many foreign criminals, using their third finger to pull their triggers and they've had to crack down.

US immigation always makes me nervous. A few months ago I washed my passport. It was one of the more clumsy things I've done and somehow indicative of my current state of mind. Because I have a US Visa (which is a pain to replace) I've decided to stick with my soiled document - in the face of stronger and stronger suggestions by the authorities that I replace it. My US Visa is actually the worst damaged - the photo of my face looks like a giant white balloon with two dark blobs for eyes - that they let me in at all is incredible. I don't have much going for me at immigration. In addition to the damaged passport, the visa I have is a "highly skilled migrant programme" H1B which technically is only issued to people who end up living in the US. I never did this - so it always arouses underdue attention. It is also granted to the old name of our company (it changed about 18 months ago). So I basically end up lying about the company I work for, joking about the washing machine damage and hope they don't ask too many questions about my residential status. I'm sure I'm not breaking any laws but I never like messing with any man carrying a pistol...