Now that Nanny has allowed pubs to open beyond 11pm, for the first time since the First World War, has anyone noticed any difference?Have England and Wales (note they have had late licensing in Scotland for years) been torn apart by drunken rampaging gangs?
No!
As I look out of my window today, I see no evidence of the total breakdown of civilisation that was predicted by the doom-mongers.
Cheers.
Ken
By the way, there is a very real threat to our drinking liberties; it comes from Systembolaget in Sweden.
Systembolaget is the state run alcohol monopoly, you can only buy booze in Sweden through their stores. They are designed to cut down your right to choose when and what you drink; by only opening between 9:00am and 5:00pm on working days, and a few hours on Saturday.
I lived in Sweden for 5 years, believe me Systembolaget is awful.
They feel that their monopoly is threatened by the fact that Swedes can now go abroad, and buy cheap booze (welcome to a free market economy!); therefore they have put together this little film Systembolaget.
Be afraid!
Sad and frightening indeed, but not at all surprising. I can think of few other parts of the planet as thoroughly indoctrinated in totalitarian socialism as the Scandinavian nations, Sweden being the worst of the lot (my five-day visit to Stockholm five years back was a real eye-opener).
ReplyDeleteAs you pointed out, though, the free market works in wonderful ways despite the State's attempts to snuff it out.
Norway his its Vinmonopol- i.e. state off license.
ReplyDeleteI once spent a weekend in Copenhagen staying in a hotel near the Malmo ferry- the Swedes had to get poured back onto the ship, such was their indulgence.
The same in Finland of course and the Stockholm/Helsinki booze cruise is well known.
ReplyDeleteBut that exists because of pricing rather than accessibility.
Helsinki was always open somewhere if you wanted to go out to booze. And the Finns I knew there were quite happy to do that especially on business expenses. It was only getting booze for home consumption that was a pain. On the other hand the train to St. Petersburg offered good value once across the border.
All of the Nordic countries have a culture of beating the booze authorities whenever possible. On every business trip there was a requirement for duty free shopping on the way in to the country for the people being visited and on the way back for personal use.
I became reasonably adept at travelling light and juggling heavy duty free plastic bags. It was a great way to keep customers on side!
Of the neations I worked with - the Finns were professional drinkers - or a few completely abstained but that was rare. Little middle gorund.
The Swedes would try hard but lacked the stamina and training for serious drinking and seemed able to get roaring drunk on a couple of small beers.
The Norwegians were much more reserved but happy to have a go at it every now and again as long as it did not go on too late!
The Danes - all thought they were really Germans so they don't fall into that category ... :-)