I support having flexible opening hours; hence why I dislike scare-stories such as these:
Rapes and serious assaults will soar if pubs are allowed to open longer, said the Council of Her Majesty’s Circuit Judges, which represents 600 judges.Police chiefs also warned the new drink laws, to start in November, will lead to a holiday-resort drinking culture.
[…]
Judge Charles Harris QC told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme a high proportion of British people become “pugnacious and bellicose” and “fight at the slightest provocation” after drinking.
…because frankly I believe that they are wrong, are the side-effect of a reactionary theme in the media at the moment, and are seeding people’s expectations to look for failure.
What I hope for is two weeks of solid rain in November, until the novelty wears off, and then we can look forward to a more flexible lifestyle; being someone who often is shopping in the supermarket at 1am in the morning, it’d by nice to be able to pick up the occasional bottle of beer for later consumption, rather than having to defer shopping for booze until hours when “normal” people are allowed to purchase bottles.
As for Judge Harris? I suspect that his expectation of people’s behaviour is skewed by experience of his day job. I feel that he should get out, more.
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