Back from Smoky-Drinky, and it was interesting.
There is a new Wetherspoons in this little town. It took over the most recent closed-down pub. I haven't been in and won't, it opens directly onto the street, has nowhere to put even the rudimentary so-called shelters the government allows for its most hated citizens, and the weather is still lousy. It's a non-smoking pub for non-smoking people. There's nothing for me there. They can have a free beer night and I won't be there.
The interesting thing was, none of the other Smoky-Drinkers had been in there either, and none plan to visit. Why visit an establishment that hates you when you can have a Smoky-Drinky where you are not hated? The price of drink is not the issue, something the pubs will never realise. It's paying to be hated that's the issue. We won't do that. This new Wetherspoons might thrive or fail. I really don't care either way. It's of no more relevance or interest to me, or to the other Smoky-Drinkers, than the pensioner's knitting circle.
Stolen Child is nearly four years old, still doesn't talk much and still can't eat solids. His problems were genetic, which we all knew, but his lack of development was the reason the SS used to take him from his parents. Actually, I still think the main reason lay in the fact that Stolen Child's grandfather told an SS drone to fuck off when she insisted he couldn't smoke in his own home while she was there. Spite and vindictiveness is the order of the day, among those who think they are important because their pay is extracted from real people by force. It is becoming ever more difficult for the SS to justify this decision, but they will never admit they were in the wrong and nobody will be disciplined. They are infallible in their own eyes, filth in everyone else's, and they'll never understand why.
Soon they will all go on strike. I'm looking forward to it. Let them strike, and if they are not missed, close their jobs. I'd like to think that's what Cameron plans but as he has demonstrated over and over again, he doesn't have the guts. More likely he'll cave in and do a U-turn, something his government have done on every policy they've announced so far. As soon as someone starts shouting, Cameron cowers. Spineless? Cameron is beyond spineless. He's a mollusc. If he put slug pellets in his garden, the slugs would make him pick them up.
The Angry Ranting Man has more to say on the subject. Me, I'm losing control of my fingers and the sun's coming up, so it's nearly sleep-time for me.
14 comments:
" Actually, I still think the main reason lay in the fact that Stolen Child's grandfather told an SS drone to fuck off when she insisted he couldn't smoke in his own home while she was there."
I think you're spot on. They do it because they can. It's just as simple as that...
Yep, who honestly cares when public sector types like this go on strike? Apart from fawning BBC news coverage and warnings of utter doom, plus some thugs with flags loitering aorund, how would you actually know?
Actually the smoking ban is only bad for crap businessmen. My friend owns one of the few remaining bars in my town. He is doing very good business because he has a nice sheltered smoking area with an open fire. It very popular.
Interstingly, after a bit of trouble at his bar, the police made it clear that if it happened again he would be shut down like many of the other pubs were, except Weatherspoons. Weatherspoons has so much trouble it requires a permanent riot van and police presence outside all weekend, yet for some reason they never get threatened with closure. Ever.
Again, my friend doesnt complain, he loves it, because all the dickheads go to Weatherspoons, and if they want to bribe the local council to keep them then they are welcome to.
It's a non-smoking pub for non-smoking people.
How to ejucate a new generation, eh?
My local paper says Weatherspoons have been sniffing around here too but no building has been earmarked. It was the headlines a couple of weeks ago. We know the priorities of life here.
Isn't the bairn back with his family yet? Somehow I thought he was.
My advice to anyone in such a trap again is to start a blog like the salvation army chap Cranmer mentions. Then try to get it into the MSM or with a high traffic blog. Shame the thieves.
Just for your interest, did you hear recently that the High Court upheld the case which you outlined on here some while back, about the autistic son taken for respite care from his father and then withheld from him, with the ensuing disastrous results?
Outrageous that it should have to have been taken so far, but a minor relief nonethless to know that there are still some sane and compassionate courts left amongst the ruins of the UK legal system ....
JuliaM - it's looking more likely with every new scrap of information that comes to light.
Single Acts - maybe the Moribund's advisers want him to stop the strikes for that reason. It would show just how many outreach consultants there really are.
Kitler - Weatherspoons is new here. They haven't tried to force the other pubs out yet.
Oddly enough, they are in the building that used to be the focus of most weekend police attention...
James H - any day now, the first non-drinking pub will appear.
Subrosa - he's not home yet, but the pressure is building.
Anon - I think that was Anna Raccoon's story, not one of mine.
Re: Stolen childs Grandad.
Mate of Mrs M! had her toddler nicked by the ss. Totally false allegations about her (now ex) boyfriend by a spiteful ex-lodger. They just took her newborn away too.
Mrs M! and I want to help, but we are parents and that's all that stops us. Ours next?
Maaarrghk!
Thing with the SS is they work from a perceived position of relative anonymity.
It isn't too difficult to to track down where they live even if they work under their maiden name and the company car is registered to the local authority.
I'm sure any spitefulness wouldn't half get tempered should anyone be sat on their garden wall innocently playing "Will you still love me" by the Shirrels on their Ipod, when they get home on an evening and spark up a conversation with "This song always makes me want to come home to a real fire, what say you?".
Strangely enough; I always thought that Weatherspoon's were doing the right thing.
Years ago, before the smoking ban. Weatherspoon's was a non-smokers pub. There was a section for smokers, and it was no smoking at the bar. As a non-smoker (not an anti), I liked the fact that there was a pub I could go to that catered for me. They seemed to prosper and everyone was happy.
Free-market solution.
Then came the ban. Every pub is a Weatherspoon's. Choice is removed. Now, I can't choose to go with my friends to a smokers pub, and they can't choose to come to a non-smokers pub with me.
If Weatherspoon's had had any sense they would have being complaining about the ban because it took away their unique selling point.
The world was already moving to the right solution before the ban came in -- choice; everyone could have what they wanted.
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