Yesterday, it was revealed that Liverpool faith schools will be introducing scanners which read children's thumb prints when they buy school meals ( http://tinyurl.com/ygetv5). No-one from the school was available to comment, but one parent said: "To me, the electronic scanning of seven-year-old children's thumbs is not in their best interests.

"About a month ago, we were first told a new cashless system would be coming into operation.

"If you really do not want your child's thumb scanned, they can input a six-digit number instead. So why use the thumb print at all?

"The previous system worked well for years, so I cannot think of a valid reason to introduce this."

This evening, Merseyside Police are said to be "seriously considering" taking fingerprints from drinkers and clubbers before they enter bars and clubs ( http://tinyurl.com/yy78rk).

The paper claims that this is 'a bid to stamp out alcohol-related crime', and 'all revellers would have their right index fingers scanned by a computer and their details and photographs stored on a database.

'Biometric details of individuals along with their name, address and date of birth would be recorded as they enter licensed premises, the data being shared by all pub landlords and club managers in the city, so known trouble-makers could be tracked.'