A comment on this Guardian thread, about the prospect of extending the insane Tube drinking ban to – even more insanely – cover all public transport expresses confusion over why this is a problem:
“I haven’t lived in the UK for some time but where I live in Europe I frequently see people drinking in public and have never seen any trouble of any kind.”
Unfortunately, he goes on to wonder why things are worse in the UK. This isn’t the point – the UK is exactly the same as the rest of Europe. Our problem is that we have an unusually high concentration of paranoid nutjobs who think anyone found Having Fun should be arrested, stirred up by the Daily Hate Mail’s propaganda lying that crime and Anti Social Behaviour (whatever that may be) are serious problems.
The truth is that crime is falling, that drinking is fun, that binge drinking is not a serious problem, that you are incredibly unlikely to be the victim of drink-related violence, that even if you are it is unlikely to do you much harm, and that the number of people seriously harmed through drink-related violence every year in a country of 60 million people is sufficiently low that only the statistically illiterate or the paranoid and gullible need worry about it.
[there is one exception, an example of a crime from which a large proportion of the population have suffered in which alcohol is a trigger factor in large proportion of cases: domestic violence. However, this doesn’t fit the nonsensical ‘terrorised by ASBO yobs’ narrative beloved of the tabloids; nor is it visible; nor is it increasing; nor is it more prevalent in the UK than eslewhere…]
A & E staff on a Saturday night beg to differ, I think.
I imagine that gender reassignment staff think there are a lot of trannies and auditors think there are a lot of people who care about accounting standards, too.
A&E Staff would see the result of alcohol fueled injuries even if alcohol was banned – after all, they currently see plenty of examples of illegal drug overdoses – the law doesn't respect logic!
I've lost count of the number of times i have been threatened on public transport by drunk morons and/or Asbo youths. I am not kidding. It isn't fun being female and faced with that. It isn't fun at the A&E dealing with an increasing issue with drinking.
I cannot stand the Daily Hate. I don't agree with the smoking ban, i am in favour of extended licencing hours. But we DO have an issue in some areas. We have a problem with crime on London Transport. It is increasing not decreasing. And alcohol is a factor.
alison – dirty martini & verity blogs :)