Another excellent opinion piece from Tim Martin of Wetherspoons, pointing out the hypocrisy of those in authority acknowledging that going to pubs before the age of 18 had actually helped their socialisation and transition to adulthood, but now doing their level best to ensure that today’s youngsters can’t do the same. This really is a classic example of a policy intended to solve a problem actually making matters worse.
Government ministers, like policemen, judges and everyone else used pubs before 18; they know and permit their children to use pubs before 18 like the rest of us, because they generally prefer the supervised environment, yet their entire policy is based on persecuting pubs for what they themselves did, and for what they condone today on a personal level.It’s a great pity more industry leaders aren’t prepared to speak out in the way that Tim Martin often does.