Just got back from a nice lunch, (see above),.. the chip and pin thing, which came in on valentines day, leaves the unfortunate waiter or waitress, with the unfortunate job of asking the customer, if they would like to leave a tip.
Now....
I just watched a waitress asking a lovely 80+ year old lady for a tip, on a machine that she clearly did not understand, by which she gave a 15% tip, as she was embarrased.
When asked the same question of myself , shortly afterwards, I retorted with a negative, as the staff member had asked for a tip.
In the UK, we tip at our own discretion, and not at the mercy of corporate banking, and also , it is unfair on the staff, to have to ask for a tip.
That said, I did leave a cash tip on the table, but I think it should be of our own choice as to whether to leave one or not, even though, most of the youngsters working in establishment, are working very hard.
It is not fair for our genorisity to be exploited in this way, we are nice people that like people.

and of course, tips left this way have to be accounted for, and thus are taxable. Why should the Inland Revenue take a fraction of a service tip? I will never leave a tip this way, it's a couple of quid on the table to go straight into a pocket, not for the treasury to steal and squander!

I remember being mortified at school to discover the French had a "service et compris" clause in the bill at a restaurant.You don't go into any other kind of establishment and expect to have to pay a higher price than the cost of the goods and the staff are salaried albeit sometimes poorly. We're not allowed to tip Nurses so why is it an automatic thing to tip waiting staff?
If the waiter/waitress is genuinely pleasant and smiles, I always leave a bit extra. They often have to put up with rude people. I couldn't do their job, I'd be like Julie Walters "Soup of the day" sketch