CHEERS...

It`s a curious day the first day of September. Summer seems to be on the wane, despite which we are optimistically setting off to Cornwall for a week on Saturday. At midnight last night, the duty on fuel went up by 2.3p a litre in line with the Government`s policy of sticking it up every few months under the guise of saving the planet. It doesn`t work, of course, but it does provide the Exchequer with yet more of our money for them to squander on meaningless stunts.

And one of the more meaningless ones was the introduction today of the Drinking Banning Orders - the Booze Asbos - by which local councils can apply for the Orders to be imposed on anyone over the age of 16 who is caught causing a nuisance in a public place as a result of being drunk. Or words to that effect.

Now I read the other day that there has been serious academic research carried out into the reasons why Britain seems to have more cases of drunken behaviour than most other countries. The conclusion was that people drink because they are unhappy; full of frustrations about all kinds of things and so they turn to drink as a means of escaping the reality of life. Not surprising really, as there is much to be disenchanted with in New Labour`s Britain which shows all the classic symptoms of a failed society in the aftermath of a lost empire.

There are simply too many examples of that failure to list them all here but they would include illegal wars, recession, unemployment, political sleaze, spin and deceit, dumbed down education system, the surveillance society, sneaky backdoor tax hikes (fuel, etc.,) the invasion of our traditional values and way of life, unfettered immigration, the benefits culture and more and more the imposition of rules by the remote, self-serving EU (as witnessed today by the introduction of a mad rule by which people can be prosecuted and fined for buying traditional 100 watt light bulbs.)

And so I am forced to conclude that it`s really the Government that needs the ASBO for all the damage it has done and continues to do to the country`s reputation and way of life, especially today of all days, when summer is on the wane and a gloomy winter lies ahead. I could go on, but you get my drift....and I could write more, but I`m off down the pub. Cheers.