MP's CALL TO AMEND THE BAN

Obviously I welcome this move by MP David Nuttall to try and get an amendment to help struggling pubs that are dying because of the smoking ban and my fingers are very firmly crossed that someone will listen and actually take the common sense approach.

His 10 minute rule goes before the House of Commons tomorrow. I don't want to be negative but it appears the anti-smoking bigots are already getting the guns out to drown out the noise of anyone speaking up for us.

As one who does like pubs, but enjoys cafes and restaurants more, I wonder if anyone at all cares to bring back the choice there as we never hear of amendments coming that way. I'm still mourning the loss of my favourite Italian Restaurant that went a few months after the ban was imposed.

I think that now after three and a half years of social exclusion, it will be an uphill struggle and the coagulation Govt has not shown itself too willing to be fair about this. They are the same kind of fart sniffers as those who steal tax payers money to feather their own nests. They claim to care about people.They care only for profit.

I also worry that as much as MPs might want to suport David Nuttall, CaMoron and Cleggy won't be able to oblige because they are slaves to the EU and the commissioner has recently announced a move to ban smoking across the whole of Europe. Yes. The commissioner that we can't vote for but who dictates to us because that Scottish prick Gordon Brown gave Britain away with the Lisbon Treaty.

I could be wrong. I often am. Let's wait and see. Tomorrow, after Mr Nuttall's address to Parliament, we could see the first day back towards freedom and inclusion for our minority group so maligned and slandered by those with so much to gain financially from the misery they continue to impose.

And in David Nuttall's own words on his blog which is worth a read and comment of encouragement.

A London Eye

The last time I ventured within the M25, my car was broken into in a hotel car park, doing over £300 worth of damage, and stealing a valuable classic Pentax SLR camera. So I’m not really inclined to repeat the experience any day soon.

Tandleman makes regular visits to London, and has remarked in the past how the pub scene there, at least in the inner areas, seems to be much more vibrant than in the country as a whole. But London is very different from the rest of the country, and really is not representative.

The much more intensive provision of public transport, and the much higher proportion of middle-class residents of inner-urban areas are both likely to result in a much healthier pub trade than in the rest of the country. Only in London is it not considered unusual for a middle-class family to eschew a car.

It seems to me that Pete Brown’s Cask Report is very London-centric in its outlook, with its claims that cask beer attracts an upmarket clientele, and that some licensees are put off serving cask because of the lower margins it commands. That last point just does not resonate here at all – almost without exception, the reasons pubs don’t serve cask are (a) they see it as too much bother, and (b) they believe, rightly or wrongly, that there is insufficient demand for it.

This also leads to a more general problem in politics as so many “opinion formers” live in London, yet in numerous ways it is not representative of the rest of the country, transport of course being a prime example. We have seen this with the congestion charge that seems to work in London, but has been decisively rejected by electors in both Manchester and Edinburgh.

Campaign with a Capital C

There have recently been a few ructions about the undemocratic proposal by CAMRA’s National Executive to remove the right of members to set the annual membership fees. I am a member of a professional accountancy institute, and that august body allows its members to vote on fees each year, so why it is such a problem for CAMRA I struggle to understand.

In this month’s issue of What’s Brewing, Colin Valentine, the CAMRA chairman, says “We are not a drinking club. We are not an appreciation society. We are a Campaign with a capital C.” But for many members the first two are precisely how they regard CAMRA. As I have described here, it has been extremely successful both in creating a social network of beer enthusiasts, and in promoting the appreciation of “quality” beer.

However, looking at the other side of the coin, in what campaign, as such, has CAMRA ever achieved success – setting aside the infamous Beer Orders which proved to be largely a disaster for the pub trade and the brewing industry?

It has also, of course, signally failed to campaign effectively, if at all, against the biggest legislative assault on pubs in its lifetime, not to mention doing little to confront the rise of the neo-Prohibitionists.

The question must be asked, what precisely, beyond the general appreciation of good beer and good pubs, is CAMRA campaigning for today? Possibly this is something that the current strategic review being carried out by ex-MP John Grogan will help to resolve, but don’t hold your breath.