Stop arguing. It's blue!

When I got home two days ago my new passport was waiting for me. 

This is an example of the new-style, non-EU passport now being issued following Brexit. And to settle any ongoing argument, it's definitely blue and not black! You need to look at it in proper daylight to be sure of this. And not any kind of artificial light, when you might swear that it's black. It's the kind of blue - a shade that used to be called Navy Blue - that can seem very dark. 

This is my passport, just out of its envelope, in late-afternoon natural light:

And this is it, in morning natural light:

It's blue. Now let's consider the rest of it.  

For a start, it's the same size as the older EU passport that was coloured burgundy. I suppose it would have to be, in order to fit the machines they can use to 'read' the passport at airports or wherever. The front cover has been reworked to say BRITISH PASSPORT, with no reference to the EU. The back cover has an embossed design consisting of national emblems: the English Rose, the Welsh Daffodil, the Scottish Thistle, and the Irish Shamrock. 

Inside, the layout has changed so that (apart from any next-of-kin information one might insert in the Emergency section at the back) everything is in the front end of the passport. But it's all more elaborately done, with sundry devices and designs on all pages to make it much harder to fake or forge the passport, or any part of it - rather on the lines of modern banknotes. 

Obviously, I can't show the pages that give details about me, and quote the passport number! 

Everything is much as before, only printed smaller (which won't bother a machine, but a customs official who hasn't been to Specsavers recently might easily have to squint). 

Curiously, the inside-front-cover request to all and sundry to render assistance to the British passport holder, couched in language that recalls the days of Empire, has been retained in all its glory. Even more curiously, the personal information is - somewhat confusingly, I think - set out in both English and French. This is flattering to the French, but surely the days when French was the prime language of diplomacy and international travel are long past. Or if you must use a language other than English, then wouldn't Spanish be the better worldwide choice, if not Chinese? Actually, I do wonder why a document that has leapt fully-formed from Brexit's loins, and ought to be consciously promoting and prioritising Britishness, and sovereign-territory independence, isn't entirely printed in English. (Perhaps it would provoke a diplomatic incident if it wasn't, our Gallic neighbours being touchy on certain matters)

As for my own personal details, they are all present and correct, and much the same as they were in the last passport issued to me in 2010. There are photos of me in both colour and monochrome. May all who examine my passport have joy of them. I still dislike the dire picture that HM Passport Office gave their approval to. I don't think it resembles the real living me at all. But maybe I just don't see myself as others see me! 

The colour photo appears on a new page devoted to 'Official Observations'. This is presumably where such remarks as 'International Drug Smuggler' or 'Jihadi Bride' or 'Wayward Adventuress' or 'Cad and Bounder' might appear. In my own case is the bland comment 'There are no Official Observations'. Phew. 

Despite the mugshots being a libel and slur on the radiant and beautiful Melford visage - honestly, an absolute travesty - I am nevertheless very happy and relieved to have this most important identity document in my hands. 

I'm all set now for an emergency dash abroad. Ah, there is of course the ongoing pandemic...oh well. Everywhere south of the Channel Islands would be too hot for my liking anyway.