Back in September, Emily Ryans of CAMRA created a very laudable petition on the Number 10 website saying:
We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to reject proposals from the British Medical Association to vastly increase taxes on alcohol and restrict pub opening hours; and to protect the interests of the responsible, sensible majority of moderate drinkers.What drinker or pubgoer could object to that? Yet it only achieved 2,824 signatures. When we consider that CAMRA has over 100,000 members, at least half of whom must be Internet-literate, that is frankly pathetic. It was given a certain amount of publicity in What’s Brewing, but it never appeared on the front page with a direct link to the web page.
The proposition in the petition was entirely reasonable and moderate and did not challenge any of CAMRA’s shibboleths. But it’s hard to escape the conclusion that far too many members are still preoccupied by tilting against the windmills of Lager, The Supermarkets, The Tie, The Pub Companies and The Keg Menace and completely fail to appreciate the existential threat to every single thing they hold dear.
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I did think the petition could be worded better and this would have got more signatures. Also the email sent out asking people to sign up to it was a bit vague and looked amateurish. Do not think the majority of CAMRA members or even the directors fully understand the dangers of the BMA and their associated fake charities.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe, sensibly, CAMRA members just understand that signing these No 10 petitions is just a colossal waste of everyones time and that no one takes them remotely seriously in the Government. I'd be very surprised if they ever even get anywhere near Ministers desks - certainly I know the responses are generally drafted by junior admin staff in departments, the same ones who deal with the letters in green ink from all the nutters.
ReplyDeleteSoon the drinkers of Britain must unite ,take to the streets and start lobbing bricks through guvmint building windows and demand that all pubs are exempt from taxes or any kind of guvmint interference whatsoever and that landlords are kings in there own pubs....
ReplyDeleteI was disappointed with the small number of signatures as well. CAMRA is a campaign and its members should be signing things like this, irrespective of any slight imperfections in the wording. There's not much point in belonging to a campaign if you're not prepared to spend a couple of minutes campaigning occasionally, although CAMRA should have pushed it more, both on the front page of What's Brewing and on the website's home page.
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