(My pub used to be full of old'uns at dinner times)
It seems that Lancashire, Wales and the Midlands have suffered most, seeing a 27% drop in sales in the last year alone. Well, seeing as 40% of my local pubs have vanished over the past 5 years, the above figures are hardly surprising are they! The smoking ban has wreaked a terrible havoc in its near 5.5 year existence yet people (who hardly ever use the pub) still bang on about how nice it is to go into a smokefree place for a drink. In almost 4 weeks time you can imagine all the once a year 'Hoorah Henry's' marching into their local-if it's still there, and ordering their celebratory Christmas drinks, "I say, barperson, 3 xxxxxx, 2 pints of xxxxx and 3 bags of nuts, same as last Christmas-surely you remember!" It wouldn't occur to these woodentops that the barperson wasn't working there last year or even that they might be in a different pub as the usual haunt had closed sometime between the two dates for as far as they are concerned they are there and that's all that matters.A billion pints eh? Think of all the revenue government has lost from that little lot, dear oh dear me. Yet there is such a simple answer to it all.
The above report, quite bizarrely, coincides with:
If we selling one billion fewer pints than we did 4 years ago, how is it that we have a drinking problem whereby the government feels it necessary to impose a minimum pricing structure? Surely, if there was a drinking problem, it was 4 years ago - but the smoking ban has sorted that out by evicting smokers from the pubs!Options for a minimum price on alcohol are set to be announced by the government this week, as Prime Minister David Cameron launches a long-awaited consultation.
Of course, the pubs losses have been the supermarkets gains
But despite the obvious shockwaves caused by the above news there is a much greater piece of news to report upon and that is the new Health Minister being concerned about the elderly and their apparent loneliness! Well upon my soul, for upon my instigation, the worlds very first "Triblogology" was created by myself and others over twenty months ago on this very subject, you might like to read parts 1, 2 & 3 - I'm absolutely sure that Jeremy Hunt will be intrigued!
And please check out the superb video in part 3.(with thanks to Paul Kearns & John Baker for their technical knowhow)
Jeremy Hunt quoted
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READ: "For the first time local authorities will identify areas where older people suffer most acutely from loneliness to allow them to tackle the growing problem of social isolation and its harmful effects", announced Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt.
READ: Five million elderly people only have television for company as they see friends and family less than once a month, the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said, as he announced new measures for councils to tackle the problem.
I think you get the general idea from the above, we have, in the past 5 years, bred a nation of lonely souls and it is all courtesy of the smoking ban. Thank you Anthony Charles Lynton Blair, who once appeared in court (I'm told) under the name of Charles Lynton (hmmm, devious even then!) for creating this plethora of aged misery, one can only hope that at some ageing stage of your exotic life you suffer similarly-perhaps in splendid isolation in prison for your war mongering!READ: Maps showing solcial isolation across the UK are being drawn up in a bid to tackle 'fastest growing health problem in Britain ", said Jeremy Hunt
You see folks, with an ageing population and with that population living longer we need all the recreational outlets that we can muster-yet we purposely close one of the simplest and most effective social elements within our culture - our pubs & clubs and you cannot hold a conversation with a TV set-unless of course you are already in the nut-house! I don't quite know how Jeremey Hunt intends to sort this mess out but I can assure him that providing meals on wheels is no answer.
Mr Hunt said: “Tackling loneliness, by giving people better care and improved services, is another step towards making the UK one of the best places to live in Europe for older people.
Is it now? But he doesn't mention anything about any of our elderly getting out to socialise and meet others in the same situation! I wouldn't want to set my day by someone I hardly know nipping in at 10am and again at 3.30pm, I'd want the ability to be able to go out and socialise properly, in a pub with a fag or two. Now that is socialising!
“We need a measure of loneliness to shine a light on this problem and to know what we are dealing with. Once we have this solid evidence, local communities will have new tools to come up with the right, targeted solutions to the problem.”
The right solution? Easily sorted then Jeremy, move the smoking ban to the Business sector and away from the health fanatics, because they are simply killing of thousands of elderly people through loneliness, then amend the ban to accomodate choice and bingo (!) you have solved the loneliness problem for thousands of elderly but active pensioners and you give the pubs & clubs fresh hopes for survival. It's a win/win situation all ways round.
Put another way Jeremy, would you rather 'conk out' with a pint in your hand or being miserably alone in your little OAP accomodation-where you might not be found until 10.30 am the next day?
Enjoy a miserable death-it's a wonderful life!
Both Labour and Conservatives have been warned over the issue of Loneliness in the Country,Labour were told and knew when they forced the Smoking Ban onto the country that our Pubs and Clubs would die a death and so it has been Proven,they were told that Loneliness would follow and so it has been Proven. It is time for Action not more False claims and cover ups, it is time for Taxpaying smokers to have a level playing field when it comes to a Social life and end this Discrimination and Bullying smokers face in this country.There is No proof or Evidence that SHS kills or harms and the fact is No lives have been "saved" as a result of the smoking ban but we do know of Deaths caused by Loneliness as a result of the Smoking ban.
ReplyDeleteThe loneliness issue breaks my heart. I have worked with older people at various times and to hear some of their stories of isolation makes you wonder how we can call ourselves a civilised country. People, older people included, need to able to be with their mates sometimes, outside their homes. otherwise, it's solitary confinement for them.
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