To think people should stop taking photos

[Lexijayde44]

I'm not saying there are not some idiots hanging about in groups being stupid. By all means they deserve the police dining them etc etc. What I'm not comfortable with is locals taking pictures of other locals and putting them on Facebook page to tell the other locals what they are doing.

New rules do say you can sit on a bench for a quick rest. Theres no crime eating something whilst outdoors etc.

A family two parents and three kids were sat on a picnic table. nowhere near anyone. The kids were eating crisps. Someone photographed them. Put them on Facebook. They are now getting called all the names!

Firstly are we allowed to take pictures of other peoples kids now? I find it weird and inappropriate.

Secondly is it ok to throw People to the lions on Facebook?

Thirdly who are we to judge without facts? There is no crime in a five minute stop on a long walk. You can have a snack on you. How does anyone know the ins and outs of a person's health? I take snacks out with me because when my blood sugar levels drop I feel awful pretty quickly. I'm anemic and my energy is really poor.

I've seen people taking photos of so many different things in this crises. If you would t like someone taking pictures of your family and especially your children I would like to think you wouldnt do it to someone else!

I agree just turtles and with peoples mental health at the moment you could tip someone over the edge.
I would have no problem with a snack or if you are living in a country area and have included a walk a sandwich on a rug wouldn’t bother me either.
A man who lives on the outskirts of our village challenge someone walking their dogs and telling them they are not supposed to drive out to where we live. Dog walker lives in our village! Has done for about 7/8 years.

We should be kind to each other not looking for demeaning people on Facebook.

All the school sneaks have come into their own. Their behaviour is just as unattractive now as it was back then.

Nanny it's legal to take photos in a public place and if that happens to include children then that's legal too. It's not legal to deliberately take (for example) pictures of children in swimsuits in the fountains in Hyde Park to go home and 'enjoy' later. Obviously impossible to tell who is taking what photos at a glance.

I'm always tempted to say on those FB posts that I fully agree that it's appropriate to report behaviour we disapprove of to the authorities, and therefore I've reported their name, borough and the photo to CEOP and the police as the poster clearly enjoys taking photos of unsuspecting children in public places. Just to watch them shit themselves. I wouldn't actually do that though (or even threaten it) but I think they would quickly reacquaint themselves with the concept of privacy if someone did.

No-one should be sitting eating at a picnic table. How do they know who was there before them? Someone with the virus then they are touching the table then putting their hand in a bag of crisps then in their mouth so now they have it. No common sense whatsoever if you are sitting in a public place eating.

Also anyone can legally take a photo of anyone if they are in a public place.

YANBU. Particularly amuses/irritates me when the person who has taken and posted the photo is complaining about people being out of their homes...when they've obviously also been out to be able to take the photo. If you were in the park for your daily walk, maybe the people you're trying to shame were doing the same thing! Of course groups sitting on blankets or organising football matches aren't following guidelines, but the majority of posts on the local FB group are clearly of people going about their day the best they can.

It's repulsive behaviour. They're like those people who enjoy giving unsolicited 'advice' to strangers about their babies. They're the 'jobsworths' who pretend to keep ridiculous rules under orders from their organization, but who in reality just like policing other people's behaviour. They're the old Head Girl and Head Boy who never amounted to much more than mediocrity, and whose glory days in the heights of that privileged position have only seen life go downhill from there. Pathetic.

When this is over they'll be despised far more than the actual flouters.

The reality is this: the government has always known that not everyone would willingly abide by these strictures, and have planned for this. They've expressed pleased astonishment that so many of our citizens are so stoic and unexpectedly compliant. We are conducting sensible risk assessments, and being responsible about social distancing. The police have published images of empty roads on one of the busiest holiday weekends of the year.

The fact is, the British public have shown we do not need policing by these halfwitted, self-appointed prefects. Including the tabloid rags shaming people for daring to go DIY shopping. These people need to get back in their box - sharpish.

Not ok to take pictures, but I doubt even small kids can't go the hour allowed for exercise without a snack. Feed them before you leave the house and when you get back and drink while walking.

I am sure everyone is just following the rules.... However, if everybody decides to sit and eat crisps we will have a crowd. The whole point is to allow people to go out and keep social distancing. There is clearly lots of people out there taking advantage of every loophole and making it really difficult for some people that need to be careful to go out. Is the good old slippery slope. Don't want to be reported? stay home and eat crisps in your garden....

Exactly Candyfloss99. If people are going to sit at public picnic tables and eat, they may as well use the playground equipment/outdoor gyms.

Totally sick of it. For the first few weeks we had to really avoid being photographed on our seafront! Prof photographers were out in force sitting down, trying to get low angles that made it look like the people were closer together along the promenade when they were actually several metres apart. Or photographing people 'sitting' on the beach ( anyone who dared pause for a second) when in reality the beach was deserted.
The local police luckily are far more sensible, and have had to hand out just a handful of fines so far and have constantly praised the locals for using the outdoor spaces responsibly. Not that you would believe that from the Daily Fail .

I have a friend of a friend. who is relishing in going on public transport and complaining about it being too crowded, photographing 'busy' london parks and anyone sitting and shouting that they're going to kill us all.
The first thing I think of is - stop getting on the f-ing tube then! ( he has an alternative which takes a little longer) and stop going to parks you know will be busy at times more likely to be busy and adding to it! He's mostly WFH, alone, so has tons of flexibility around schedule. But I suppose he wouldn't be able to rant then...

Whenever I see one of these photographs I want to ask whether it was really essential for the photographer to stop to take them. You get the distinct feeling that they go out purely in order to take photographs to publish and salivate over, not out of any wish for exercise, which means they aren't out for the right reasons either.

However, if everybody decides to sit and eat crisps we will have a crowd

But, let's face it, everybody is not going to sit and eat crisps. This is a total non-argument.

We should not be looking at our neighbours.

We should be looking at the government. Like hawks. They think we are distracted by spying on our neighbours, which is what they want. Focus on the government.

As for the police, they should be going after the scammers, the looters (has none happened yet, with all those deserted business premises?), and the vigilantes; not the law-abiding public.

We're all secret snidely grasses underneath it all.

Not me... tbh, having twice been 'reported' for something in my life, this is now what I feel & conclude

I cannot trust people
People are nice to your face but secretly like to hurt you
I must never trust my neighbours
The police don't follow the guidelines set by government
I must never trust the police

My instincts are rather "Over my dead body" would I ever report anyone for anything, now.

I think the problem with all of these things is that it requires common sense which can't be capture in a photo. So three brothers playing frisbee in a deserted park are clearly doing no harm but in a photo look like a group of mates hanging out. A family walking around a very quiet nature reserve stopping to have a drink aren't doing any harm but in a photo might look like a family on a day out in a crowded tourist spot. A husband going for a run might meet his wife who was returning from a doctor's appointment and to a passer by they look like a couple living apart meeting up for a date.

Yes the massive group of teenagers on motorbikes driving fast through the village doing wheelies in the car park are being twats but we need to reserve judgement when we can.

I wholeheartedly disapprove of anyone taking photographs of children that do not belong to them!

nannyedd Your disapproval is irrelevant. It is not illegal to photograph anyone in a public place, whatever their age.

@ZeroSumTrap TO be fair to people while I'm not going to be reporting petty things like how long someone sat on a park bench for I would definitely report something serious (like a child in danger or someone who I thought was involved in serious crime) whether or not I was certain of what was going on. It's not my job to do a full investigation - that's for the police or SS, if I have concerns I'll probably be nice to the person's face then report to the relevant authorities.

Nice to see level headed people on here. I was worried the world was going mad.

I do agree a picnic bench is not a good idea. Not a risk I'm going to take. But I absolutely do not judge anyone who needs to stop. Pregnancies can make people feel weak, faint sick etc. Health issues can cause a huge amount of side effects. Sometimes people just need a sit. A child will get tired and want to sit.

Ofcourse not everyone is going to flock to eat their crisps on a bench. The government have said quick rests. Not sitting for ages. If kids don't touch anything such as benches, gates, railings etc then they won't catch a virus due to eating crisps.

It's all about common sense and balance. I feel bad for people living near the sea. It's a lovely walk and as long as you are walking and keeping away from people it should t be a crime to enjoy the waves and the view as you walk along. This whole nice areas to walk, instantly becomes you being a piss taker is also irritating!

Nobody should be photographing anyone full stop. It's weird. It's inappropriate and it's down to the police to inforce rules. As long as you are social distancing and not meeting others outside the home then you are very unlikely to get the virus. Simple

The people that do this are absolutely pathetic. Likewise the professional photographers lurking outside of shops to snap people purchasing gardening supplies or whatever.

I too hate the public shaming that's going on on Facebook, Next Door etc. It's madness and I hate all the judging without facts.

I had a friend call me in tears because someone took a picture of her shopping and she was terrified she was going to end up being shamed on the news/Facebook etc. it may have looked like she had a lot of shopping but she was shopping for her family of 4, plus her elderly parents and her vulnerable disabled brother.

There is way too much bullying and shaming going on in my area too. Photos and comments on fb etc of people apparently infringing the rules. To be fair admins have been quick to remove inappropriate photos but it's the motives behind posting that are worrying.

There are all kinds of reasons why people might be behaving as they are, e.g. teenage couple in the park may not be meeting in defiance of lockdown - I know several families where the teenager's boy/girlfriend is isolating with them. And obviously there are all sorts of health reasons why people might need to rest/eat/drink during a walk or on way to/from a shop.

Of course there will always be a few people who don't stick to rules, but it worries me more that the reaction to this is often so vicious. Someone posted a comment on local fb last week under a post about teenagers on bikes in a local car park "if they get coronavirus and pass it onto their parents who end up dying, I won't feel any sympathy, they are getting what they deserve." This is the level of "community spirit" in my area. I don't think that kind of thing is all down to boredom or fear.

We've also had shaming of people not going out to clap on Thursday evenings. There was fb post last week something like "Poor show X Road, only 3 houses clapping, rest of you are a disgrace to your country and don't deserve to use the NHS if you get ill". Who knows whether those others are workers having a rest off shift, ill, dealing with young children, or maybe they just don't feel comfortable about enforced clapping? When it becomes coercive it stops being such a nice thing to do.

There is some good stuff happening where people are looking out for their neighbours, but there's so much nasty bullying and shaming and people not just lacking empathy but being actively cruel, it makes me despair at the society we live in, and what we're going to end up with after this is over.

I'm not saying people shouldn't worry if there's a big party in their local park, but mostly this is a couple of people vaguely breaking a rule when we're not entirely sure what the rule is anyway. Just give people a break - most of us are doing our best!

Big Brother is watching you!

Your disapproval is irrelevant. It is not illegal to photograph anyone in a public place, whatever their age.

Why does that make nannyedd's opinion irrelevant? You are aware that not all of us make our decisions on what is and is not good based on whether or not it is legal, surely?