According to the local press boozing in public places is to be prohibited in Swanage. If this is enforced uniformly it has to be the daftest idea of the year. It will make it illegal to have a glass of wine with a picnic. Step outside the Carnival beer tent with a glass in your hand and it can be snatched away by a policeman. In our larger towns and cities one of the great pleasures of summer evenings is sitting in the park listening to a concert enjoying a picnic and a bottle or two of wine.No doubt its all aimed at stopping kids drinking too much and looked like a GOOD IDEA in the rarified confines of Westport House. Then again perhaps it will ony be applied to the young and those of us who can pass the grey hair test will be left to our own devices. The more rules and prohibitions we concoct about anything the more attractive we make it to the young.
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Posted by Keith Roker to swanage view
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So no drinking on the streets at New Years Eve? No more wheelbarrow races in Regatta week? No yard of ale on the beach? No cold beer if you go out fishing in the Bay? No picnics on the Downs? Can you drink outside your beach hut? Outside the Mowlem, the White Horse, or the White Swan?
I think we must refer to the orignal order. I saw it published in the Advertiser, and I'm sure it was qualified, saying something like giving the police powers to stop rowdy behaviour associated with drinking in public - not quite the 'blanket ban' described in the Advertiser/Echo. (Any if they're going to ban blankets, what about duvets?..where will it stop?.
Is this not aimed at gangs of youths making themselves a ruddy nuisense, (how do you spell Nuisense?) And acting in a threatening way? We have seen some of that, and it is not desirable when youngsters are about.
Dancing Ledge.
Dancing Ledge, like many other tabloid victims, thinks the collective noun for youth is gang.
If this measure is applied only to the young, in case they become unruly after a few drinks, but not to the older generation, it is on a level with the wild west law against selling whisky to red indians. The law was introduced because of a campaign about people sitting around drinking in shopping streets and making a nuisance of themselves. Its quite different from the situation here where we have a bbq and picnic culture and people drink all over the place.
Partly this is an unintended consequence of the law about under 18s buying drink being tightened and applied rigoursly. A generation ago 16 and 17 year olds sat nervously at the back of pubs sipping an illicit half-pint and keeping their heads well down. They were both participating in the adult world and being kept under control.
What happens now is that they obtain, by whatever route, all manner of booze which they knock back with careless abandon. If we make them drink in the equivalent of speakeasyies this is what will happen. Driving them off the streets is completely counter productive, except of course to spare their elders the sight of teenage faces.
Perhaps like in Germany you should be able to buy and drink beer, but not spirits, in a pub from age 14?
I am not quite sure how you would describe a collection of rowdy youths half p****d out of their tiny minds? if not a gang? Then what? A Bouquet of alcoholic teenagers?
Anyone got any suggestions? A bit of humour would no go astray!
A tipple of teens? Your turn.
Dancing Ledge
I spoke to the Legal department at Purbeck District Council...I understand that this order will give the police power to take action if they .."believe the drinking is causing or is likely to cause nuisance or annoyance to the public, or likely to lead to disorder" ...I would have thought the police had such powers already, but perhaps they presently have to wait until offences are actually commited before taking action. So I guess private picnics are OK, but fairs and festivals might be rather different.
John Mowlem's solution to insolent youth was to wait until one of his company's ships was in the bay then take a stroll round town with the captain who would be told to beatup anyone who had offended the boss.
How about a tantrum of townies.
Huddle of hoodies?
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