Friday 29 January 2010

The war on drink

Like most of us, I first encountered Pete Brown through his books about beer, which are at the same time informative and highly amusing. He has always struck me as someone who would be excellent company for a night in the pub. But recently my admiration for him has further increased due the outspoken stance he has adopted in combating the tide of neo-Prohibitionism.

He put an excellent series of in-depth articles on his blog comprehensively debunking the anti-drink claims of the House of Commons Select Committee, and now he has penned a trenchant article for The Publican: Make no mistake, this is a war on drink. We need to fight back. He concludes:

Make no mistake – this is a war on drink. The issue has been described as a ‘battleground’ for the general election. The problem with that description is that all main political parties are on the same side, competing over who can look toughest.

Their enemy is you and me. The battle plan is to make drinking socially unacceptable, to create an appetite that will support far more draconian measures than those currently being proposed. That’s how the smoking ban worked. It took 40 years – with drink, it’s happening much quicker.

We need to fight back. Together. And there’s no time to waste.
There’s someone who gets it. What a pity that the major organisation supposedly representing drinkers’ interests doesn’t.

6 comments:

  1. I commented there couple hours ago. Not appeared yet but I'm hopeful. ;-)

    I see the big 5k has ticked over on your sidebar, by the way. I only noticed after hearing Don Shenker's carrot juice glass clink.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree totally that if responsible drinkers don't shout loud enough, don't capture the moral and intellectual high-ground all could well be lost.

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  3. When the smokers were being picked on,the blase drinkers just shrugged
    their shoulders and did'nt give the
    froth of a freshly pulled Ruddles for their mates and hitherto drinking buddies.They were'nt
    bothered ,they could'nt give a toss, it was not their concern.
    Now they'lle be whimpering in their jugs clammering for action
    or protest. Sorry folk, you can
    press your Hop sniffers to the
    base of my spine.

    P.G.Tipz

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  4. Thanks Curmudgeon, you're a gent.

    There are things we writers can say that the industry can't say itself, and I've had a response from CAMRA that I don't 100% agree with but certainly understand where they're coming from.

    I've circulated my stuff among some people I know in various places and trust me, this is just the start of something - we will get the message out.

    PGT - I don't even know where to start in response to your attitude. So I won't bother.

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  5. P.G.Tipz

    Since this blog is devoted to the idea of overturning the ban on smoking you are barking up the wrong tree here.

    Even if you were right, it doesn't get us very far, does it?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Since this blog is devoted to the idea of overturning the ban on smoking

    The smoking ban and its effects is one of its core themes, but the blog does have a slightly wider remit than that ;-)

    ReplyDelete

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