People visiting pubs may have to register before going for a pint.

[DGRossetti]

Luckily of no effect on me whatsoever. But imagine how they'll manage to keep all that data safe ...

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52977388

The chief executive of one of Britain’s biggest pub operators, Marstons, on Monday described the plan as “bonkers”. Ralph Findlay, chief executive of the 1,400-pub chain, told the Daily Telegraph: “It’s an infringement on people’s liberties and it will be very difficult to practically manage. I don’t understand why it would apply in pubs and restaurants and not every other single retail outlet across the country.”

@BlueBrian

In a fair number of venues that already means showing photo ID, so it’s not a big change. Don't know what planet you're on, but I've never been asked to show photo ID to get into a pub, and if they tried they'd be losing my business instantly.

I do, I have a baby face and am built like a 12 year old. I had my cans of gin and tonic confiscated in the supermarket when I was 37 and forgot to put my driving license back in my purse.

I'm looking forwards to taking the kids on a bar crawl on a school day, it'll jazz up our daily walk and be something entertaining to do while schools and playgrounds are too dangerous.

It’s because you don’t tend to be so close to someone for more than 15 minutes in a shop.

How on earth do you cope if you have to book a table in a restaurant or a hairdresser’s appointment?

I was thinking that, I’m sure I’ve left my name and number before when booking a table.

That's why a burner phone and fake name are good things

ffs. Have you never booked a restaurant or hairdressers? You are honestly are crazy as fuck if you’d use a burner phone and fake name for those.

It’s an infringement on people’s liberties
Neither the information commission or -um- Liberty share that view. They say that in pandemic times, certain aspects of data handling can be modified/suspended, so long as it can be shown to be necessary and proportionate. As track/trace is both those things

and it will be very difficult to practically manage
Not unless you choose to overcomplicate it. Just have a decent signing in point on entrance, and lock the info away when premises close. Maybe in a sealed, dated envelope, only to be handed over to an identified public health official,who needs records of a particular day. Otherwise destroyed after a period (min two weeks)

I don’t understand why it would apply in pubs and restaurants and not every other single retail outlet across the country
Likelihood of being close to someone, perhaps shouting over background noise, for >15mins

It's pretty obvious, really, and I suspect speaking for effect, simply because they don't want to do it, rather than real difficulty

Is this yet another thing that most other countries seem to cope with but we can't?

No, the vast majority will be fine with it... There are a truculent few that throw their toys out of the pram, like they will when (I strongly suspect) we’re told we’ll need to wear face coverings in shops etc when social distancing is reduced to 1m tomorrow, but frankly, it’s probably best those people don’t go to shops or pubs as they’re the ones likely have been disregarding all social distancing and therefore most likely to be infected.... BlueBrian and his mates can take their turn to be isolated!

Is this yet another thing that most other countries seem to cope with but we can't

People in the real world will cope fine.
It’s just on Mumsnet where they think that anything to do with the Tories is bad so they absolutely won’t be complying and it’s just a ploy for Cummings to steal all your data (that data being the same as you leave when you book a hair appointment)

It’s an infringement on people’s liberties

It’s an infringement of people’s liberties for them to be put at completely unnecessary risk of Covid by those who refuse to comply with basic measures to stop it taking off again (like it has in Arizona and Florida where restrictions were eased too far, too quickly).

@BlueBrian

Obviously not been into a city centre pub - I got asked for if and I'm nearly 50, no id, no entry in town.

However for certain types of venue, such as LGBT venues, it may cause more of an issue as a proportion of the clientele won't be comfortable in being traced to such a venue for pretty obvious reasons.

That may have been an issue in the 80s and 90s...not so much these days. Compared to the number of people going to pubs and restaurants, the number of closeted people furtively going to LGBT clubs will be vanishingly tiny!

I know that was a problem in South Korea, but hopefully not a problem in England.

We have that here, they just want a name and phone no. per table so they can track if needed. They assume that person whos name they have, can contact the rest of the party they were with.
Its no more than you would provide to make a reservation.

I get the feeling the CEO of Marstons will manage to find a way to deal with his feelings about it being an invasion of people’s liberties and open following the regulations.

I'm more than happy to give my details if asked. My only query is, I thought with pubs and restaurants opening, social distancing would still need to be in place? So why would we need to be contacted? If social distancing is not going to be in place then I assume we can go and stay at relatives houses?

Obviously not been into a city centre pub - I got asked for if and I'm nearly 50, no id, no entry in town.
You should have told them to get lost, unless they're checking your age what on earth do they need your ID for?

My only query is, I thought with pubs and restaurants opening, social distancing would still need to be in place?

Fair point...

I suppose it’s all about managing risk levels. The risks of being sat at adjacent tables without face coverings (obviously as you’ll be eating and drinking) is fairly low, but not so low as to be insignificant... so if a person on the adjacent table subsequently tested positive, they’d want to contact you and your table to be tested.

*So why would we need to be contacted?

in case it wasn’t find well and there was a known case in your bar. If there was a timed signed in/out, then you could reduce it to those who overlapped

And yes, as PP put it, if you get pinged, your night out has just cost you 2 weeks work. But then again, any trip beyond your home could do that, though less likely if you are not entering any shared vehicles or other buildings

Regarding risk, the Government need to balance everyone being completely safe with almost zero risk (very hard lockdown and unable to leave house).... with a complete free-for-all and R increasing to 3 and being back to square one again with exponential growth by September.

One of the reasons we should have ID cards.

I wonder if the trade off for reducing SD to 1m will be that masks will have to be worn more. Obviously not possible whilst eating and drinking

I wonder if the trade off for reducing SD to 1m will be that masks will have to be worn more. Obviously not possible whilst eating and drinking

Given that’s the rule pretty much everywhere else, and in line with the WHO recommendation, and given that the only reason we’ve stuck to 2m for as long as we have is due to caution from medical advisors, I’d be astonished if this wasn’t part of the quid pro quo. It would be baffling.

To do otherwise would effectively be saying “it’s all over - get back to normal!” to the public, which I know some will love, but the Government will be desperate to avoid as the last thing they would
want is for cases to rise again just i time for the school year to start - it would be a disaster!

Indeed, Matt Hancock strongly alluded to this yesterday in an interview, almost as though it were a given. It’s hard to see why they wouldn’t.

we’re told we’ll need to wear face coverings in shops etc when social distancing is reduced to 1m tomorrow

Or the ones with medical conditions who have already been harassed and filmed on buses by the stasi. #disabledlivesmatter.

welfareweekly.com/coronavirus-disabled-people-fear-becoming-victims-of-hate-crime-as-40-say-they-cannot-wear-face-masks/?fbclid=IwAR3OrN6OxP1n2ZVuAu9xa_yViYOSjhXfjN0uxTgHOwnsD5ABpjjt__i7abs

inews.co.uk/news/uk/face-mask-exemptions-people-public-transport-rules-coverings-government-450550

@HelenaDove

Surely the answer is a campaign informing people that some people are unable to wear masks. The answer isn’t for people in general not to wear masks because some people can’t...

Also, and I realise I may well be ignorant, I’m genuinely not sure why so many disabled people can’t wear a face covering (not a full-on medical
mask)? I get some may not be able to for various reasons, but most would.