At 6ft 1in and more than 15st, he is the epitome of the new wave, another piece of genealogical evidence that the door is closing on those who in the past walked through so breezily by showing credentials which spoke chiefly of innate wit and effortless craft.
"By law, employees have to be able to leave a building without showing credentials," Long says.
"If you have to show credentials to access data, that's not what open data is.
They blocked off entry to the schoolyard and required all those who entered to write down their names; journalists were asked to show credentials.
Athletes arriving for trial events have reported large numbers of heavily armed riot police officers, frequent checkpoints and repeated requests to show credentials not only to gain access to athletic venues but also to exit or enter their living quarters.
At the beginning of each interview, interviewers showed credentials as research assistants at the University of London, informed respondents that their answers were anonymous and would remain strictly confidential, and that all responses and data were going to be used for the purposes of scientific research only.
It wasn't the band, it was John [Lydon], who was so not out there to entertain you, showing his credentials.
"Mr Weber was the complaining witness against a driver exhibiting road rage in the underlying incident, so showing his credentials could not be construed as attempting to influence any action against him," Mead said in an email.
If Alice needs to use the library, she only needs to show this credential to the librarian.
She honed her quiz show credentials in the spring, when she was narrowly defeated by Carol Vorderman in a fundraising celebrity edition of Millionaire.
In his studio, surrounded by airplane models, aviation books, jump suits, air show credentials and slides of planes and clouds, Mr. Ferris, a chipper 71-year-old with a short military crew cut, commands his drawing boards as the snows swirl outside.
