It provides a snapshot of history once in every decade but the census form could itself become a memento of the past.

Citizenship already comes with duties, including an obligation to serve on juries if summoned and complete a census form once a decade.

Now it's time to mail back your census form.

He wants to imbue it with complexity and contour and to make it more than just a box to be ticked on a census form.

This weekend next year you and every other householder should be filling in a census form, just as people have done every ten years for two centuries.