Like most of us, I first encountered Pete Brown through his books about beer, which are at the same time informative and highly amusing. He has always struck me as someone who would be excellent company for a night in the pub. But recently my admiration for him has further increased due the outspoken stance he has adopted in combating the tide of neo-Prohibitionism.
He put an excellent series of in-depth articles on his blog comprehensively debunking the anti-drink claims of the House of Commons Select Committee, and now he has penned a trenchant article for The Publican: Make no mistake, this is a war on drink. We need to fight back. He concludes:
There’s someone who gets it. What a pity that the major organisation supposedly representing drinkers’ interests doesn’t.Make no mistake – this is a war on drink. The issue has been described as a ‘battleground’ for the general election. The problem with that description is that all main political parties are on the same side, competing over who can look toughest.Their enemy is you and me. The battle plan is to make drinking socially unacceptable, to create an appetite that will support far more draconian measures than those currently being proposed. That’s how the smoking ban worked. It took 40 years – with drink, it’s happening much quicker.
We need to fight back. Together. And there’s no time to waste.