For those who think the smoking ban accounts for lower beer sales, remember that the latest figures show not only an 8% drop in bar sales, but a 6% drop in supermarket sales as well.
Yes, the recession is playing its part, but...
beer sales started their downward trend in 2005 when economic growth was at its peak.
It seems whatever happens under a Labour government (beer sales up or down, traffic up or down, etc etc) will be printed as bad news in the Daily Mail, Torygraph, Express, Star, Sun, Times, Metro, Standard and all the other local press and media these foreign oligarchs own.
Stirring up nationalism, racism and xenophobia at home while buying our politicians with freebie holidays on foreign billionaire's yachts is so shameless you really do wonder how people like Rupert Murdoch, Lord Rothermere and others sleep at night. This sort of 'British' corruption may be done in a very polite fashion compared to the blatent continental type, but I am not sure it is any better.
Why do we not hear about Blair, Brown and Cameron's regular meeting with these media oligarchs? Because these oligarchs own the media that is why, but it doesn't make it any less corrupt.
See my previous post on state funding to find out how we stop this expensive silliness that damages our politics and costs the taxpayer billions in corruption - a simple ban on all donations over a £1000 a year and a tick box on the ballot paper to give people the choice to donate £3 a year to local political parties (or nothing at all if they tick nothing) as advocated by the Power Inquiry.
This is simple stuff and would put determining policies back in the hands of the electorate, not the rich elite. For the first time ever, low turn-out would hit parties financially - the incentive to drive up turn-out would be strong unlike at present where there might actually be an incentive to LOWER turn-out with negative tactics (favoured most by the Right). Add in a fair (proportional) voting system to fair funding - where every vote counts equally, and power really would be returned to the people - anyway enough dreaming - back to the reality of continual grind against the distorted system we have that delivers perpetual Tory and Labour governments that the majority vote against.
It seems whatever happens under a Labour government (beer sales up or down, traffic up or down, etc etc) will be printed as bad news in the Daily Mail, Torygraph, Express, Star, Sun, Times, Metro, Standard and all the other local press and media these foreign oligarchs own.
Stirring up nationalism, racism and xenophobia at home while buying our politicians with freebie holidays on foreign billionaire's yachts is so shameless you really do wonder how people like Rupert Murdoch, Lord Rothermere and others sleep at night. This sort of 'British' corruption may be done in a very polite fashion compared to the blatent continental type, but I am not sure it is any better.
Why do we not hear about Blair, Brown and Cameron's regular meeting with these media oligarchs? Because these oligarchs own the media that is why, but it doesn't make it any less corrupt.
See my previous post on state funding to find out how we stop this expensive silliness that damages our politics and costs the taxpayer billions in corruption - a simple ban on all donations over a £1000 a year and a tick box on the ballot paper to give people the choice to donate £3 a year to local political parties (or nothing at all if they tick nothing) as advocated by the Power Inquiry.
This is simple stuff and would put determining policies back in the hands of the electorate, not the rich elite. For the first time ever, low turn-out would hit parties financially - the incentive to drive up turn-out would be strong unlike at present where there might actually be an incentive to LOWER turn-out with negative tactics (favoured most by the Right). Add in a fair (proportional) voting system to fair funding - where every vote counts equally, and power really would be returned to the people - anyway enough dreaming - back to the reality of continual grind against the distorted system we have that delivers perpetual Tory and Labour governments that the majority vote against.
They are drinking 20% less in pubs because of the smoking ban. Without that sales may have remained flat, which you may or may not see as a good thing.
ReplyDeleteAnd drunks tend to fight more, get into accidents more, they don't go round killing people. That's mainly down to spate of blacks murdering people left, right and centre in London and other once great cities.
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