Two reports within 24hrs have announced that drinks licenses ‘handed in’ have doubled over the past 3 yrs, the latest by legal analysts Sweet & Maxwell.
Well ‘tiddley-boo’!
How can one be surprised at that bit of news?
We had a government that wanted social engineering, thus brought in the smoking ban, sucking up all the slobber that ASH et al could muster, who denied that “the greatest law ever passed by any Labour government“ (to quote one imbecilic female ex MP) had any impact on closures. We all know, of course, that this statement is a complete lie but then some people are so blinded by their own self-importance and self-esteem that black is white and white is black!
The licensed industry has itself to blame for sitting on its collective greedy arse and thinking of all the millions of ‘clean air drinkers’ waiting in the hills to invade the pubs & clubs. Yeah, righty ho then. They were so boggled by this ridiculous piece of spin that they were quite happy to let the best customers they could ever wish for disappear off the face of the earth. Of course, now they are screaming foul play at those ever so naughty supermarkets for all the special offers of 3 x cases for £18, but supermarkets have always used cheap booze as a loss leader. Good judges. People are always going to drink!
The BBPA (they are the people/organisation that are supposed to fight on behalf of licensees) made such a calamitous noise in protest at the impending smoking ban that nobody heard them and now quietly and casually announce that “around 1,300 pubs shut in 2010”. Not a precise 1,314 or 1,289 pubs closed, almost as if was too tiresome to bother with precise figures so it’s ‘around’ 1,300 closures. The problem is that every closure creates more disharmony, every closure causes disruption within the family, every closure causes financial pressures and quite a few cause the need for rehousing.
I think we have got to the stage now where we should ignore the pubs altogether! Shut them all down immediately after all, no government has bothered about the 8,000 that have already gone thanks to the lunatic brigade who wanted a totally smoke free environment, so what does it matter if the remaining 56,000 disappear off the face of the earth? Who cares about the loss of revenue to this or any other puppet government, for puppets are what they be!
Let’s put another half a million people on the dole from the pubs and subsidiaries.
Let’s make another 30,000-40,000 people homeless with an urgent need to be rehoused at the diminishing tax payers expense.
Let’s reduce the amount of National Insurance and Income Tax the puppets are getting yearly from this industry (our friends at the TPA could probably give a loss figure).
Let’s reduce the tourism to this country because all these other nations will no longer have a need to come over and ‘taste’ the good old British pub-because there won’t be any!
Let’s become a nation of wistful thinkers…”well, we had it all once son, but now the landscape is desolate. We’d best nip to ASDA in the morning and stock up kid, the beer situation is getting a bit low“
So, when we have finally got rid of all those boring pubs and all those poor (literally, most of them) licensees are sitting at home, in a tent on a field or a hostel for paupers, jobless and wondering how any government could be so cruel to its people, 25% of the population will still be smoking!… What!… Why?
Because people enjoy smoking, because people are not bothered by the rantings of a few lunatics who run around with the ‘screaming abb-dabbs’ at the merest whiff or sight of smoke. It has never ceased to amaze me how these people willingly ignite bonfires & fireworks every November 5th-how are they not dead?
So, people will still be smoking but the puppets will be getting even less revenue than before because the people have now learned that enjoyment includes nipping across the channel to restock with tobacco products once every couple of months-after all, you can, if you so desire, go once per annum and bring back your years supply all in one go! Why pay £12 here when you can pay £4-£4.50 over the water. That is why I suggested a couple of weeks ago that Osborne accede to Arnott, Duffy et al and make cigarettes £100 for 20. They might as well as fewer people will be buying kosha fags from kosha shops after the last budget where the above named pair of lunatics salivated profusely at the thought of 2% above inflation-as if THAT is going to reduce smoker prevalence. What it is guaranteed to do is to drive more people toward the smuggling trade where vast profits are being made. I’ll bet CamerCleggs are dead jealous of the money THEY are MAKING!
So, after a long trawl through the mechanics, there is no pub industry, all tobacco products are coming in from day trippers, 20,000 little shop keepers have gone out of business as well and the country is far worse off than it could ever have imagined. You see folks, governments, especially puppet governments, are ‘licensed to kill’ but they are so thick or so wrapped up in what they consider to be the greater good, they just can’t see the obvious.
Just to refresh your minds that the smoking ban, apparently, has nothing to do with closures, this absolute gem sits at the bottom of the attached article:-
“Bars, pubs and nightclubs are being undercut by supermarket alcohol deals which encourage people to drink at home rather than go out.”
Funny isn’t it, “Bars, pubs and nightclubs…” always used to be full of smokers!