Drinking Hysteria

Dear oh dear, there really does seem to have been quite a petulant Nanny type outburst from both the judiciary and the police about the so called "24 hour licensing rules".

What are they bleating today?

"Lunacy" or some such nonsense?

Were the police and judges to be believed, the new licensing laws will turn the "peaceful" state of Britain into something akin to Sodom and Gomorrah (spelling???).

Well, let us consider a few facts, before we rush to barricade the doors and windows.

1 Britain has moved on from the 1950's, it is no longer a collection of Miss Marple peaceful village; but a vibrant, cosmopolitan and, in places, decrepit place to live.

2 The licensing laws as they stand, are outmoded and need to be changed. They were introduced in 1914, as a temporary measure to stop munitions workers getting themselves so drunk that they blew themselves up. It is high time that they were changed.

3 Scotland has had liberal licensing laws for over 20 years, without any disastrous result.

4 The binge drinking "culture" is already here, and directly the result of the marketing ploys of the drinks companies; a change in the licensing laws will not worsen this in a significant way.

5 Binge drinking occurs because pubs and clubs are now catering exclusively to the under 20 age group; by excluding the older generation, the restraint on the bahaviour of the young is removed. The length of time that the pubs are open is irrelevant.

6 Local authorities are also to blame for the upsurge in binge drinking, as they greedily try to extract as much tax revenue as possible from the drinks industry; by packing the high streets with as many pubs and clubs as possible.

My message to the police and judges is look to the above points before you shoot your mouths off.

It seems that we are so used to Nanny and her ways that some of us are now behaving like her.