There is an internet campaign to ban Chancellor Alistair Darling 
from every pub in the land following the 4p per pint tax increase in this month’s budget.
Musings of a Reactionary Snob is one blogger giving this his full support. But I think banning him is taking the easy way out, that voters should have the opportunity of coming face to face with him and giving him their own personal message of financial hardship.
So just imagine in the unlikely event that Darling is gasping for a pint and has walked into your pub, what would you say to him about today’s economic gloom, with more than half of voters believing their families are worst off? You can include the Seymour household in that, hit particularly by rising fuel prices.
I managed to catch the audio of the News Report.
See the link above.
[…] Why Darling shouldn t be banned from pubs Why Darling shouldn t be banned from pubsThere is an internet campaign to ban Chancellor Alistair Darling from every pub in the land following the 4p per pint tax increase in this month’s budget. Musings of a Reactionary Snob is one blogger giving this his full support. But I think banning him is taking the easy way out, that voters …Read the full post from Ellee SeymourTags: political via Blogdigger blog search for opportunities. […]
I know what Heather Mills’ reaction to him would be.
Surely it would make more sense to let him into the pub, get him blind drunk, pin him down and shave off one or both of his extremely annoying eyebrows?
http://lettersfromatory.wordpress.com
Ellee,
most pubs are empty most days these days, they only fill up at the weekends, so we’d probably miss the chance to see Darling.
We cannot all afford the luxury of intemperance!
But I suppose it might do him good to go on a crawl of empty hostelries.
It would be nice if there was any system whatsoever for ordinary people to effectively give feedback about the consequences on them of government’s actions.
Only people with power can make their opinions matter and government consultation systems favour the selected few and lobbyists.
Rob, I agree. The point is whether anyone in government will listen. Look at all the protests about post office closures, it falls on deaf ears.
You can email any ministerial office, lobby your MP or write to the press expressing your views, but at the end of the day, you want to feel you are being listened to by those that can make a difference and that your views do matter. That’s why I like David Miliband’s blog, at least you can express your views on foreign affairs, and I think it is the best ministerial blog. Pity Alistair Darling doesn’t do the same.
I think there is little hope of him showing up in a bar. More than likely he’ll confine himself to the Commons’ bar.
Now that is an interesting idea, I am guessing he wouldn’t venture into a pub in case he got lynched..
I’d suggest that Patricia Hewitt would be more deserving of a ban, considering she was the health minister who brought in the smoking ban which has had a bigger effect on the pub trade.
Well, I am going to bore you now, and I am not in the UK, but if he walked into my favourite bar I would give him a long lecture on the financial problems of single people!
I note that Cameron drinks in all the right pubs these days!
A thoughtful post, Ellie.
Many publicans got in touch with the campaign (that I am taking a back seat in) and said that the 4p on a pint was the straw that broke the camels back. This, due to breweries upping prices etc, converts to between 10 and 30p in real terms. Pensioners won’t go to a pub that gets significantly dearer especially if they have to smoke outside. Furthermore, when Somerfield is advertising 12 bottles of Stella for £6, it is understandable as to why many will stay at home.
Pubs are integral to the well-being of many communities. To put 55p on whisky but do next to nothing at all about alcopops, buckfast and the like shows that this hsa nothing to do with binge drinking.
RS
RS, I wanted to give a different slant on this issue, and agree with the sentiment behind it. In fact, so does Prince Charles. You’ve probably heard that today he is taking Hilary Benn, the Envi Sec, to a local pub to demonstrate how its survival is so important to communities. I understand 27 pubs are closing each week:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/article3649052.ece