... a 'qualifying group' which basically means you go along as a 6 or less, or a household, but then you are not allowed to ( @davidallengreen @SeethingMead you're going to love this) *mingle* with anyone else. It's illegal to mingle! What does mingle mean? /7

Is saying hello to someone at a gathering "mingling"? What about holding the door open for them? I know it's late but this is all I can think of now - children of the 80s, join me! /8

There are some brand new terms, perhaps never before seen in law, in the exceptions:
- "Support group" /9

- "significant event gathering"
[this has replaced 'life cycle event" as perhaps that wasn't a term enough people understand, but this is all rather wide isn't it?
Would it apply to a finishing school party?
Kind of reminds me of this
/10

And then there is "sports gathering"
Doesn't this exclude privately organised sporting activities, i.e. organised by individuals, such as 5-a-side football games? /11

"Relevant outdoor activity"

God this is all so convoluted /12

Weddings and wedding receptions are allowed - no more than 30 people though as promised in the guidance /13

Good to see, as promised in the guidance, for the first time in six months protests are permitted as long as they complete a risk assessment and follow guidance

Weirdly, 'political body' has stayed in this bit but come out of the overall exception. I guess the govt... /14

... think that all political bodies do is organise protests, or that the only valid in-person activity over 6 people they organise is protests? /15

According to Westlaw, this is the first appearance of the word "mingle" in English legal history. Probably. /16

As before, you can 'link households'. For those who have forgotten, in short one of the two households must only have one adult (and however many children). The other household can have any number of adults. The linking means you can meet with more than 6 from 2 households /17

I really must go to bed now. I'm sorry the government did this so ridiculously late and have launched the most complex and convoluted set of lockdown regulations on England yet. I don't see how these are enforceable in any real sense - so many complex exceptions /18

Good night, I hope above doesn't seem frivolous - it isn't meant to, it's just exasperating and you have to laugh sometimes. Please do follow guidance which (thankfully, for the first time in 6 months) reflects the law. Let's look out for each other /19 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-meeting-with-others-safely-social-distancing

Just to add - you can’t rely on the PDF the govt published last night alone. It amends (adds to) July regulations. So you have to insert/delete as you are going to see full list of exceptions to regulation 5
Original: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/684/regulation/5
Amendments https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/986/pdfs/uksi_20200986_en.pdf /20

Very helpful combo document made by @dracos. Haven’t checked for accuracy but looks good https://dracos.co.uk/made/rule-of-six-changes/