Reading Roars!

The press has devoted ample coverage this week to the controversial issue of late drinking in England.

My feeling is that late drinking would result in an increase in anti-social behaviour.

As the Reading Chronicle opines in its Comment:

November 24 - when the government’s ill-conceived licensing laws come into force - will herald another lurch towards yet more drunken lawlessness on our streets.

We have enough drunk morons already, causing harm to each other and damaging property. So why does the Government believe that Continental-style drinking would emerge from the licensing changes? It is madness.

Seven years ago I was in Spain for 10 months, studying at a Madrid university. While in Madrid, I witnessed masses of young people getting drunk every weekend (Ok, I was one of them). I saw that the young Madrileños consumed as much as alcohol as their British counterparts in a single session (Spanish youngsters, too, binge drink). Yet, I cannot recall seeing a single violent incident. Not one. There were no hostile gestures. There was no thuggery. No windows smashed. No need for the cops to home in. The atmosphere was fun and friendly. People would leave one circle of people to join another, even share the same drink. It was all very good-natured and civilised.

I do not see this in Reading. Every Saturday night there is a fight. Guaranteed. The epicentre of this drunken nonsense is Friar Street and, in particular, outside the Ice Bar.

The Times reports that Opposition MPs will try “praying” to delay implementation of the licensing laws. Well, I join them. I pray too. NO to late drinking.