Why do 30 year-olds keep getting ID’d in Britain?

It’s not because of our youthful looks.

Many places in the UK operate a “Challenge 25” policy to ensure that under-18s aren’t buying alcohol and other restricted goods, but it’s a policy that frequently comes under fire for its indiscriminate application and high rate of false positives. Many feel that the policy removes autonomy from cashiers and adds stress and inconvenience to perfectly legal attempts to just damn well go shopping.

For my US readers, I know that this is normal practice where you live — but here it’s seen as a massive imposition. It has started happening a lot more frequently, and we’re just not used to it.

It’s all come about because we Brits can’t hold our drink — so everyone’s being punished for it. And yet, there are some very good reasons why we increased scrutiny on sales of alcohol and other restricted goods. It’s part of a wider public health strategy focussed on curbing harmful habits — of which we have many.

I was inspired to write on this subject by a golden bit of local reporting on happenings in the posh part of town. Twenty years ago, the news from Manchester was all about guns and gangs; thankfully all we have to report on these days is middle-class pensioners getting angry in the supermarket queue.