Independence for Manchester.

I live in Scotland but I'm not Scottish, so Scottish independence isn't a big issue for me personally. If it happened and it turned out that I didn't like it, I'd simply move. Being self-employed and running a business that doesn't interact with the general public is handy that way. It doesn't matter too much where I'm based as long as there's reasonably priced lab space available. Customers don't need to be anywhere near me.

Independence for Manchester is something I'd support. I'd even vote for it to be cut away and towed out to sea. Give the sensible people time to get out of the city first and then tow all its infrastructure, all its civil servants and quangoes out into the Atlantic and sink it.

Old Holborn has a list of people who would definitely not be allowed to leave before that happened. If they float after the city sinks, machine-gun them in the water. We can't take the chance of their malicious infection drifting back to shore.

Quiet Man has covered the story already. Manchester thinks it is an independent state, not subject to either UK or EU laws and fully under the domination of unelected dictators who will make up any law they choose, any time they choose. They will use a particular sort of police who are described as 'a bit special' to enforce those laws. I assume it's the politically correct version of 'special', certainly in that case. Manchester really should consider getting some proper ones.

As they consider themselves above even EU law, Manchester plan to impose a minimum pricing limit for alcohol whether they are allowed to or not and whether the people of Manchester want it or not. I think their local Man is going to need a bigger Van. At least he won't have to drive it so far to undercut the local shops.

I don't think this new control is possible, even for the Righteous. Oh, they can threaten to fire hospital staff for smoking when not on duty and to leave smokers to die in the gutter in case they spoil the carefully-nurtured stench of disinfectant, blood and faeces in their hospitals but this time they are up against the Megarighteous. The EU. We didn't elect them either but they see ordering the proles around as their sole prerogative. They don't like to have their territory invaded.

Minimum pricing is never going to work anyway. Even a dolt can see where it's heading. It's that one non-smoking carriage on the train, that non-smoking area in the pub, that no-smoking-at-the-front rule on buses. It will not stop at 50p per unit. It is one small step for a Righteous, one giant leap backwards for civilisation. There will be a second step, a third, a fourth, each one small but they will never stop.

We know the technique now and the moment it starts, we'll all start brewing our own and buying imports. Man with a Van will become Three Men and an Articulated Lorry. The only growth industry left.

Applying minimum pricing only to Manchester is an idea so derisory that it must be a Socialist one. The people of Manchester will order their groceries and booze from Tesco Direct and have it delivered from outside Manchester. It doesn't need to be shipped from outside Manchester, only the point of payment needs to be in the real world. They'll organise coach trips that don't need to go anywhere near as far as Calais. They'll take a day trip on the train. Who will be harmed by this?

All those small shops who rely on cigarettes and booze and late-night hours to keep their profit margins on the smiley-face side of the sheet. There will not be one such shop within the Puritan Zone but there'll be five in every street just outside it.

All you antismokers who delight in the new pong-free pubs, make the best of it. You won't have them for long. These attempts at alcohol control are just the beginning. We've seen it happen, we smokers. These are the equivalent of those first 'no smoking' signs with fines attached. Only in a few places at first but everywhere now.

Alcohol won't be made illegal. We'll always be able to buy it, just like tobacco. The controls will just get tighter and tighter until although it's legal to buy, we'll be fined if we try to make use of our purchases. That's the clever part of the New Puritanism. They let you buy the stuff, let you pay punitive tax and duty on it, then they fine you if they catch you with it. Much more profitable than their previous scams.

Manchester is somewhere to avoid. If you run any kind of retail business there, sell up fast. If people are shopping out of town for booze then while they're there, they'll do the rest of their shopping too. No matter what you sell, if you sell it in Manchester, the council is determined to put you out of business. Not at the behest of their electorate but on the command of unelected Righteous who you pay for through your taxes but who are not accountable to you or anyone else. That's right. Dictators.

If I lived in Manchester I'd be selling up and getting out of there now. I doubt they'll get this measure through but it will not be a one-off. Having seen into the minds of those who run the city, the only sensible option is to scarper.

Sensible people, get out of there.

Before the big saws appear at the edge of town.

Oh, one more thing. Don't move to London. They have something even worse in mind.



As Fewston said in the comments on the previous post - 'next they came for the drinkers...'