tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5524682876220396502.post8955495985154422821..comments2024-03-27T06:56:10.255+00:00Comments on Broad Oak Magazine: What exactly is liberty?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5524682876220396502.post-40274326541437864902012-10-12T17:26:49.454+01:002012-10-12T17:26:49.454+01:00I remember trying to get a drink in Harlech on a S...I remember trying to get a drink in Harlech on a Sunday in the 70s. You had to pretend to be a resident of the hotel (which gladly connived at this pretence).<br /><br />And we only had to do that because the bus driver resolutely refused to sell us a ticket to get to South Wales, even though he was driving there that day.<br /><br />It's not the licensing hours per se that raises the eyebrow, though the "continental hours" thing seemed to me, immediately at the time, an obvious ploy for political popularity; it's the steady shift towards the supermarkets and all sorts of other outlets. The pubs and off-licenses haven't benefited, much the reverse in fact.<br /><br />The need for businesses to grow forever to increase dividends forever, means that they have an agenda for ever-increasing consumption. The McLibel case revealed how McD's catgorised its customers and sought to "develop" them, the best being the "Super Heavy User". The drinks industry, pace its hypocritical exhortations to "responsible" drinking, clearly works on the same lines.<br /><br />More honest would be to take the approach of the old landlord at the Little Lark in Studley (Warks.) who had a sign on the wall saying, "Please drink harder and faster, thank you." Still not quite so extreme as "Drink Canada Dry", I suppose.Sackersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17284329249862764601noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5524682876220396502.post-64991190935119157492012-10-12T09:31:58.210+01:002012-10-12T09:31:58.210+01:00Up to a point.
When I was a student, the pubs ope...Up to a point.<br /><br />When I was a student, the pubs opened at 5pm and closed at 10pm, except on Sundays when they didn't open at all.<br /><br />And nobody, but <i>nobody</i> would sell you a pint if it was a "public holiday" in the town.<br /><br />I don't accept that relaxing this sort of nonsense was a concession to commercial greed.Weekend Yachtsmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04262853091154005651noreply@blogger.com