Stolen

Sad, isn't it, how full the world is of people who steal things?  Some of it goes by that name, such as the theft of items off the supermarket shelves, the picking of pockets or stealing of bags on the street, or the car hot wired and driven away.  Some of it gets cloaked behind the idea of 'perks of the job' - from the odd ball-pen or box of paperclips that might walk from an office, to the inventive list of expenses submitted by . . . who knows? perhaps your Member of Parliament.  Some of it is corporate and therefore sort of legal, but it still feels like stealing to me.

And then, of course, there is the theft of identities, which is a growing and invidious problem.  It isn't new, but it is more widespread and more important in this day of electronic identity and commerce.  It can happen so easily;  just click in the box on that worrying email purporting to come from your bank or ISP, and all of a sudden you've either been stolen or cloned.  More traditional and old fashioned methods can also be employed, however.  Paper documents continue to be of interest.

With that in mind, I wonder whether I should be worried.  I've just been done for speeding, and I had to send my driver's documents off to the court (six points, if you're interested).  I made sure I sent them in a secure way, but they came back by ordinary post.  More to the point, they came back in an envelope that had been opened and quite clumsily re-sealed.  Everything inside was still intact, documents included - but that's not to say they've not been copied, I suppose.  Should I be worried?  I don't know.

Truth is, we are who, and what, the documents say we are.  But if someone else has stolen me, I shan't find that out until too late, I suppose.