I see that Nanny is getting her knickers in a twist over booze again.
The Home Secretary, Alan Johnson, is proposing new measures (subject to parliamentary approval) to be implemented against retailers and pubs etc.
"All-you-can-drink" promotions are to be banned, and compulsory identity checks on those who look under 18 introduced.
Speed drinking competitions will also be banned.
All very amusing, but this is merely a headline grabbing exercise which will not make one jot of difference.
1 The supermarkets, in order to curry favour with Nanny, already have an id scheme in place whereby people who look under 25 have to prove their id. In fact some idiotic supermarkets try this id game on with people in their 40's.
2 Unless I have missed something, it is perfectly legal for people to drink at home etc. Therefore people will simply "stock up" before going out.
3 The majority of "cheap" booze (which Nanny hates) in the UK is bought from supermarkets (not pubs or off licences). It is noticeable that, whilst Nanny is happy to try to destroy the pub trade, she doesn't dare lift a finger against her all powerful friends in the supermarket business.
4 Pubs are not the enemy of civilised drinking. In pubs, that are well run, people learn how to drink without making "c**ts" of themselves (or face a battering and banning from the landlord and regulars). Nanny should be encouraging the survival of well run pubs.
5 Poorly run pubs that are centres of trouble making can, at the behest of the police/council, be shut down. The law is already there to be used against sources of trouble. There is no need to add more rules.
6 Councils make large sums of money from late night clubs and pubs, they don't want to shut them down (hence some town centres turn into vomit strewn ghettos at night). The councils already have the powers to improve the quality of town centres at night. Instead they have pro actively encouraged to spawning of late night clubs, yet publicly moan like hell about the effects of these clubs.
7 The more that the state demonises drink, the more popular it will become.
8 Politicians are serial abusers of booze, fags and other substances. It is not their place to lecture us on what is good/bad for us.
In short, this is a headline grabbing manoeuvre that will achieve nothing.
Drunken yobbery can be curtailed very simply by tattooing the foreheads of the yobs with the phrase:
"I am a drunken yob"
Then banning them from buying booze in any outlet, pub or club for a period of time.
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ReplyDeleteD
I wonder if the real reason Nanny wants to destroy the British Pub is because people go there and talk about things.....I wonder how many regulars talk about Nanny and EuroNanny and what needs doing about her....I suspect this is the reason Nanny hates pubs so much, plus of course she can't control the conversations nor thoughts of those regulars that put the world to right stood at the bar.
ReplyDeleteI doubt if any of the things mentioned (all you can drink ect) are even done any more. I worked for a few years for Thwaites and none of their pubs did any of those things and I beleive that was pretty standard for the big pub chains.
ReplyDeleteI think they are picking a problem that has already ceased to exist so they can point out what a good job they have done later on.
Sainsburys have the 25s policy and they refused to serve my wife who is 29 and, i'll have to say, looks well over 18. I went down and explained that it is legal for adults (18-25) to buy booze but they were just smarmy smiles and "just doing our jobs". I tried to tell them their job was not to refuse to serve adults but they didnt seem to understand.
Ken, you suggested, "Drunken yobbery can be curtailed very simply by tattooing the foreheads of the yobs with the phrase:
ReplyDelete"I am a drunken yob"
Then banning them from buying booze in any outlet, pub or club for a period of time."
Brilliant idea, but no chance of it happening, it would contravene their 'uman rights', and even if parliament did pass legislation to allow this kind of punishment to be legal here, the European Court of Human Rights would very quickly poke its unwanted nose in, topping it and awarding the 'victim' a large sum in compensation, regardless of how much misery he/she had inflicted on others.
Many smokers warned that drink would be next. Noooo that can never happen, not drink, everyone likes a drink, came the response.
ReplyDeleteEncouraging smoke free venues was a good thing, turning smokers into pariahs with nowhere to go was pure, undulterated spite. You didm't care, didn't affect you so why should you. Anyway you didn't like smoke so it was a good thing to ban it everywhere whether you went there or not.Now it is the drinkers turn. Who next I wonder. Perhaps this will stop the "slippery slope, what slippery slope" merchants, but I doubt it.
If you will not defend freedoms, even those you do not require yourself one day you will lose your own. Guess what, I don't care, I hope you end up living in an alcohol free desert. A comfortless, friendless barren wasteland devoid of human interaction. It is what you deserve.
its just another way towards upping the taxes. The supermarkets are too bigs and have lots of political power and the pubs don't have the same representation level.
ReplyDeleteIts just like the other story this morning... a Tax on chewing gum, cigs and "snacks" to cope with litter created. The councils already provide the staff to clear it up and this is just another way to get more money out of us with Stealth taxes.
" . . . people learn how to drink without making "c**ts" of themselves (or face a battering and banning from the landlord and regulars)."
ReplyDeleteKen,
You've hit upon one of Nanny's pet peeves: the notion that a sensible society is largely self-regulating, and that embarassement and shame are very effective methods for dealing with troublesome behavior.
Young people, in particular, have an exaggerated need to rebel against authority, as well as to crave approval and acceptance. In a world of adolescents run amok, and little or no adult interaction, you get, well, the sort of behavior we see all too often today. What a lot of "youfs" need is not therapy, ritalin, prozac, teen centers, or any of Nanny's other ministrations, but rather a room full of people reminding them of what a silly ass they made of themselves the night before, and how they'd be well advised not to do so again. And the more mockery and disdain, the better. Somehow, this seems to cut through all the emotional bullshit rather quickly, as most young people prefer not to be seen as drunken fools, and manage to grow up instead.
What Nanny doesn't like about this method is that:
1) there's no ker-ching for her, and
2) it reminds people that, by and large, they can handle routine problem behavior, so long as she keeps her nose out of their business.
Nanny doesn't want that at all.