CAMRA get it wrong... again

From the Swindon Advertiser

PLANS are in motion to convert four closed pubs for other uses – further proof of the harsh conditions facing the licensed trade in Swindon.

Planning applications have been submitted to Swindon Council for change of use for The Black Horse, in Hinton Road, Wanborough, and The Sandgate, in Oxford Road, Stratton, as well as 12 Bar and The Falcon Inn, both in Westcott Place.

Well, hardly surprising, really. All low-food, local, community pubs with no area outside to create a shelter. Places that rely on smokers.

New figures released this week by the Campaign for Real Ale indicate 26 pubs across the UK are closing every week. Campaigners say this is largely as a result of the recession, tax on beer and cheap supermarket alcohol.

Well, the tax on beer is the same, whether we're talking pub or supermarket. Supermarket booze has always been cheaper. A mate of mine at university used to buy vodka and put it in a hip flask. Recession? Thing is, Swindon isn't actually feeling the effects of recession very much. 

I don't know if CAMRA are being deliberately stupid, or are just ignorant.

Taking the Biscuit

3rd May 2013

"For the Conservatives I understand why some people who have supported us before didn't support us again. They want us to do even more to work for hard-working people to sort out the issues they care about," he said.
"More to help with the cost of living, more to turn the economy round, more to get immigration down, to sort out the welfare system. They will be our focus, they are our focus, but we have got to do more."

7th May 2013

But the proposals, which include reducing the availability of less healthy options in shops and restaurants, were denounced as “underhand interfering”.
Saturated fat in ready meals would be replaced by healthier ingredients while the size of sugary, fatty foods such biscuits and cakes could be reduced.
It is part of the Government’s pledge to cut obesity under the “Responsibility Deal” which currently requires food companies to reduce calories and salt.

I know, it's only biscuits, but it's a microcosm of a general problem about the government NOT sorting out the issues that hard-working people care about. When hard-working people go out to Starbucks and buy a gorgeous sugar-frosted blueberry muffin, it's because they want a gorgeous sugar-frosted blueberry muffin.

What ministers really do is to allow themselves to be driven by sockpuppet fake charities, funded by government, given oxygen by the elite press like The Times and The Guardian.

If you want my advice, stick a fiver on Labour to win at the next election.