If inflation is negative, and there's a civil service pay freeze...

... how can you justify putting up the cost of a passport by 7.6%?

Actually, you probably could, if you were to claim that you were using market forces to persuade us not to travel overseas, thus reducing carbon emission levels caused by aviation. Alternatively, you could improve the response time of the Passport Agency, providing more local offices.

Unfortunately, the reason is that the recession is causing a drop in the number of passport applications, thus increasing the cost per unit. This is something of a puzzler, given that one presumes that, as with the rest of the civil service, the number of staff is being cut.

Naturally, the responsible Minister, Phil Woolas, claims that the price increase will maintain "the high standards in customer service and document security British citizens have come to expect". It will also go some way towards filling the gaping chasm that is the United Kingdom's current account deficit.

Sadly, it is just another example of this Government's aversion to honest taxation. I expect, not wholly unreasonably, to fund the necessary activities of the State by means of taxation. What I don't expect is to be nickel and dimed to death by a myriad of small but annoying charges. In the case of passports, the cost has gone up by £44.50 since 2002, an increase of 134.8% in just seven years. Yes, I know that biometrics are expensive, and I know that the Government want to be able to trace my every movement, my every conversation and my every thought, but do I have to be the victim of an extortion racket whilst they're at it?

Oh yes, and a word to the wise. Don't leave getting a passport until the last moment, as same day renewal has increased by 13.6% (to £129.50) and one week renewal by 16% (to £112.50)...