Rescuing Democracy in the United Kingdom from our current Elected Dictatorship

Spin, not face-to-face confrontations with the voters, is the Government's chosen method of communication. Ordinary people are dangerous. Ordinary people might ask a question which throws a politician 'off message'; the Cabinet member might reveal himself or herself to be a human being like us, and not a programmed android. Worse still, he or she might tell the truth. Ann Leslie - Daily Mail, September 16, 2004

 

WWW silentmajorityspeaks.com

"You're wrong about 24-hour drinking, Mr Blair - and I should know!" writes Tony Booth, reformed alcoholic, who just happens to be the Prime Minister's father-in-law. His article in the Daily Mail, November 19, 2005, ends: I was lucky - alcohol could so easily have destroyed me, but it didn't. Others, by the simple law of averages, will not be so luck once round-the-clock drinking becomes the norm. Marriages will be wrecked, children will be neglected and family bank accounts will be drained - all by the Demon Booze. Some will succumb to disease, others to violent injury. A tragic few will even die, either directly or indirectly because of the increased availability of booze. I wouldn't want that on my conscience and I don't want it on my son-in-law's either. I still hope he'll do the right thing and call time on these ridiculous and dangerous licensing laws before it's too late. Take it from someone who really has supped in that last chance saloon, Tony: with these new laws, only misery lies ahead.

24-hour drinking blasted by world expert

by Robin Yapp, Science Reporter, Daily Mail - August 19, 2004

One of the world's top experts on alcohol issues launched a fierce attack yesterday on government plans for 24-hour drinking. Ministers say letting pubs stay open will create a 'Mediterranean' approach, with alcohol consumed with meals and in moderation.

But Professor Robin room, director of the highly-respected Centre for Social Research on Alcohol and Drugs at Stockholm University, declared the policy doomed to failure. He says that if the Government really wants to tackle drunkenness and alcohol-fuelled violence it should be restricting access to alcohol, with tight regulations on when it can be sold. Drink should also be made more expensive.

Professor Room warned that none of the measures in the Alcohol Harm Reduction Plan, published by Tony Blair's strategists in March, will help. The professor is the co-author of an authoritative book - sponsored by the World Health Organisation - on how to tackle alcohol-related problems in society.

He said last night: "There is almost total correspondence between the measures in the strategy and the measures listed in the book as 'ineffective'. They are all there: school, education, voluntary advertising codes, even a half-hearted discussion of alternative entertainment for youth. What it offers is a recipe for ineffectiveness."

Professor Room, whose detailed warning will appear in a forthcoming edition of the journal, Addiction, added: "The historical control policies in England, including 11pm closing, have tended to keep problems with drinking relatively low by international standards. But that has been slowly eroded over the years, and now has been eroded much further by this step to 24-hour drinking. Scientific literature from countries that have extended opening hours show that where hours are increased, the number of problems increases."

Police have already condemned the plans for 24-hour drinking, saying there will be an increase in fights, robberies, assaults on officers and rape. Doctors specialising in addiction have warned that the change will fuel the spiralling problem of binge-drinking and increase the toll of health problems linked to alcohol.

Tory leader, Michael Howard, launched a fierce attack on the 24-hour plans last week, accusing the Government of recklessly encouraging 'yob-culture' and covering up evidence of the damage such moves have done in other countries.

Backing his claim, Professor Room said: "A study of 24-hour drinking in Reykjavik in Iceland showed that the number of accidental injuries, injuries from violence and drink-drive arrests have all increased. You also have to consider that these things are happening at times which mean you have to put more police on the night shift and have problems with the public transport needed to get people home."

He said research shoed that reductions in the hours when alcohol was on sale led to reductions in both alcohol use and alcohol-related problems. The professor said ministers should also consider increasing the price of alcoholic drinks, which now cost just half as much in real terms as then did in the 1970's. His book, No Ordinary Commodity, says: "The cost of restricting the physical availability of alcohol is cheap relative to the costs of health consequences related to drinking, especially heavy drinking."

The backing of the World Health Organisation gives Professor Room's words great authority. Scientists working with the WHO, the United Nations' specialised agency for health, must meet rigorous standards because their findings are often used to shape policy among UN member countries.

Binge drinking costs Britain £20billion a year, including £7.3billion through drink-related crime, £6.4 billion from 17 million working days lost to hangovers and £1.7billion spent by the NHS on the results of alcohol misuse. Drink is linked to half of all violent crimes and is blamed for pushing the overall number of violent offences beyond the one million mark for the first time last year.

Chris Fox, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, warned in May that 24-hour drinking risked an explosion of disorder in city centres that were already almost 'no go' areas. He said forces 'cannot deal with binge drinking - it is beyond police capability."

The alcohol treatment charity Addaction said last night: "The measures the Government has outlined do not go anywhere near far enough to deal with the huge problem of binge drinking and alcohol dependency. It seems the Government is not prepared to take on the industry. We are very concerned that it will be impossible to enforce controls on anti-=social behaviour when 24-hour licenses are dished out willy-nilly."

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