In what way is it unworkable? Retailers already have to check age for selling some products. In this case it would be easier, rather than having to calculate if the birthdate on the ID means they're over 16/18/21 etc, they merely have to check if it's before or after 1st January 2009.
Yes, but retailers don't
actually verify age for a significant number of people - I'm over 60 now and nobody asks me to prove it. Laws like this one will change this, it's all well and good in theory but it's going to get annoying in practice.
It adds to the list of laws which politicians make in order to gain votes, the one about smoking in cars being one for which there have been almost no attempted prosecutions, and it's only good because it will have some effect on reducing smoking deaths over time because some people will be put off smoking because of it.
However its headline claims don't stack up, it's mis-reported in the media as others have said as a "smoking ban", and it's another example which makes me think that the Conservatives don't actually stand for anything any more, apart from doing things to gain votes in a hopeless quest.
But at least we can agree to disagree here, I don't like it but it's mainly political noise and it will die down and be forgotten in due course.