The world is more anal thanks to US foreign policy

British High Commission, Ottawa Documents Required

...or is it just the British Government's greed..

So this is either a reaction to 9/11/2001 or its the Blair government wringing every penny out of overseas citizens. Alex was born in 2003 - I applied for and received his British passport before the end of the year and renewed mine at the same time. I provided all the usual documentation including my original Birth Certificate - hand scrawled in Littleborough in 1971 - I've never used anything else. Everything is fine - I get a passport, Alex gets a passport, we travel, its great.
Now pretty much exactly 2 years later, I apply for Emma's British Passport and provide all the same information that I did when I applied for Alex's.
A few days later I get a note back telling me that for her passport, I need to provide my Long Form Birth Certificate which shows MY parent's names etc.
What a pile of steaming shite.
I've never had one and have no idea why it would be necessary to even own one.
So I follow the instructions and see that I'll need to cough up 20 quid or so to have the honour of owning one.
I'd love to see what my money goes towards.
I also have to pay for the extra courier costs. Arrgh