Legislating from an ivory tower

It was astonishing to learn that the minister responsible for regulating the licensed trade, Alan Campbell, couldn’t remember the last time he had visited a pub. This is yet further evidence of how out-of-touch and remote from the lives of ordinary people New Labour are – something I have remarked on before. This, of course, is the party that brought us non-driving Transport Ministers and a vegetarian Agriculture Minister. If politicians do not see the point of pubs and fail to understand why people should want to visit them it is hardly surprising they end up saddling them with inappropriate and burdensome regulation.