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A high price to pay for drinking culture A VERY disturbing
statistic has emerged showing the increase in alcohol-related crimes linked
to the change in licensing laws.
To be fair the police are the ones who have to bear the brunt of all this
aggravation. I would not like their job.
There are few things more frustrating or indeed pointless than trying
to reason with a drunk.
The politicians who pushed through the changes are most likely tucked
up safely in their second homes or drinking clubs while the public do
battle.
If this seems like an exaggeration and smacks of scaremongering then think
about this for a minute: According to a report 12 of the 43 police forces
in England and Wales say that between them they are facing 13,500 anti-social
incidents every month that are fuelled by alcohol.
I don’t think they are lying, do you? Who actually wanted longer
opening hours?
Objections were just swept aside and not enough thought was given to the
consequences.
You cannot impose a continental-style drinking culture overnight.
The chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales said they warned
of the dangers of changing the licensing hours without changing the drinking
culture.
Telling the binge drinkers to slow down and relax a bit and enjoy their
alcohol rather than chucking it down their necks to get drunk as quickly
as possible was never going to work in Britain.
After all they do have a reputation to preserve.
How the politicians could not see this is beyond me but then the drinks
industry is a very powerful body.
You can’t help but wonder how many of them have friends in high
places.
The results of a review ordered by Gordon Brown are due out soon and that
might prove interesting.
I enjoy a drink as much as the next man but for the life of me I cannot
understand the enjoyment in getting hammered as quickly as possible and
not remembering much the next day while still trying to convince yourself
you had a great time.
It just seems to me like self-destruction on a grand scale and the medical
profession predict health problems.
I can’t help feeling that there will be a high price to pay somewhere
down the line. |
