Interesting Articles

A collection of opinion pieces from the press reflecting the themes of "The Pub Curmudgeon".

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We should stop panicking about Boozy Britain: Chris Snowdon argues that a sense of perspective is needed about Britain's supposed alcohol problems, and that minimum pricing is not the answer (November 2011)
Panorama’s addiction to pisspoor journalism: Rob Lyons says that the recent edition of the BBC’s current-affairs show was a one-sided showcase for the anti-alcohol lobby (August 2011)
The gestation of a dubious idea: Ellie Lee argues that it is moralism, not evidence, that underpins the advice that pregnant women should abstain from alcohol (June 2011)
We don’t need to be saved from the ‘demon drink’: The old temperance movement was made up of working men who promoted self-control, says Josie Appleton. Today booze-bashing is the preserve of a killjoy elite (March 2011)
Turning drinkers into social lepers: Tim Black says that a Coalition of the Concerned is determined that those who enjoy a drink should join smokers as modern outcasts (March 2011)
All hands to the pump: Ludovic Hunter-Tilney takes a not entirely uncritical look at forty years of CAMRA (February 2011)
Time, gentlemen: A poignant elegy on the British pub from the obituaries editor of The Economist (December 2010)
A tougher limit won't help: Yes, drink-driving is shameful, says Stephen Glover. But a tougher limit won't help - it'll simply hit modest drinkers trundling home from the pub (June 2010)
A blast from the past: Paul Chase says that the spectacular comeback of alcohol as a social problem has spawned a fundamentally misguided campaign of neo-prohibitionism (May 2010)
Admit drinking is normal: Dolan Cummings says we need a better drinking culture: one where alcohol consumption is not seen as a social problem (February 2010)
The real age drinking starts: Tim Martin of Wetherspoon's attacks the hypocrisy of ministers and other authority figures who seek to clamp down on underage drinking but admit themselves to going in pubs before the age of 18 and say it did them good (January 2010)
Don’t worry — drink and be merry: The government acts as if booze is the root cause of all our social problems, says Leah McLaren, but it’s not. Drinking is an important part of British culture, the pub is the hub of the community, and health warnings can even be counterproductive (December 2009)
A place where nobody knows your name: Nathalie Rothschild says that, as Britain’s dark, smoky, friendly pubs close down, the anti-pub - the JD Wetherspoon - is taking their place (December 2009)
Nutts to these anti-alcohol ‘experts’: Brendan O'Neill demonstrates how the sacked drugs adviser Professor David Nutt is actually seeking to promote illegal drugs as a means of denigrating and restricting alcohol (November 2009)
Binge-drinking - the problem is only with the minority, stop distorting the truth: Pete Brown points out that the current moral panic about alcohol ignores the fact that overall consumption is falling, and that penalising everyone indiscriminately does not necessarily reduce problem drinking (October 2009)
How Killjoys Colonised Britain’s Public Houses: Joe Jackson says that the smoking ban, on top of strict licensing laws and CCTV, has turned pubs from places of choice and tolerance into outlets for official meddling (August 2009)
Banning Alcohol Ads Won’t Cure Alcoholism: Basham and Luik argue that the campaign to restrict the advertising of booze in order to save the public could end up driving us to drink (July 2009)
Unhappy Second Birthday for the Smoking Ban: Pete Robinson pulls no punches in his analysis of what has really happened since the ban was imposed (July 2009)
The Life and Soul of the Drinking Classes: Pubs are precious - warts, absentee husbands and all. But unstoppable forces are killing them, says Melanie Reid (May 2009)
The Thin End of the Wedge: Rod Liddle is appalled by Sir Liam Donaldson’s deployment of statistics in the hope of making it harder to have a drink, and says a surrealist would struggle to keep up with such campaigns against our human pleasures (March 2009)
Taxing the Sinners: Tim Black argues that the Scottish proposals to eradicate cheap alcohol are coercive attempts to control our choices and behaviour (March 2009)
Send in the clowns: Pete Robinson attacks CAMRA's defeatist and hypocritical response to the smoking ban (February 2009)
Forcing Britain to sober up: Neil Davenport says that the proposed ban on pub “happy hours” is a metaphor for the government’s miserabilist disgust with fun (December 2008)
Calling Time: Pubs are now closing at the rate of five a day as soaring energy costs, cheap supermarket alcohol and the smoking ban bite into profits. So which ones will survive - and how? asks Aida Edemariam (November 2008)
The crazy world of England’s smoking ban: It’s built on anti-pub prejudice, junk science and petty authoritarianism, says Rob Lyons. So one year on, why do so few people see the ban as a blow to our freedom? (July 2008)
A pint and a half sir? You're nicked!: Richard Littlejohn condemns the government's plans to reduce the drink-drive limit as just another excuse to punish, bully and fine us (March 2008)
Time for a sober look at 'epidemic' nonsense: Charles Moore takes a sceptical look at the current hysteria about the alleged ‘epidemic’ of binge-drinking (February 2008)
I am angrier with the government about the smoking ban than the Iraq war: Rod Liddle says that the ban exemplifies all that is wrong with Labour: nannying piety, control freakery and an endless capacity for lies (January 2008)
Who are you calling fat?: We're told there's an obesity 'epidemic'. Yet there's not a shred of evidence, says Professor Patrick Basham – and this crusade is harming our children (October 2007)
Europe to crack down on "passive drinking": Bruno Waterfield reveals that EC officials are plotting to make drinking as socially unacceptable as smoking. (May 2006)
Smoking out the facts: The ban on public smoking is justified as a measure to protect workers from second-hand smoke. But how big is the risk, asks Rob Lyons (February 2006)
The winds of illiberalism blow through Chicago: Jonny Thakkar reports from the Windy City, the latest place to ban smoking in public (December 2005)
The Obesity Myth: Paul Campos sees the 'war on fat' as a witch-hunt masquerading as a public health initiative (October 2005)
Vice in a Vise: Mike Miliard issues a tirade against the tyranny of health (March 2005)
Calling time on the ‘demon drink’: Neil Davenport wonders why the UK government is so panicked by the idea of people getting drunk in pubs (December 2004)
We have ways of making you stop smoking: Dr Michael Fitzpatrick points out the striking parallels between the Nazi 'war on cancer' and the New Labour crusade against smoking (November 2004)
You've got to stub out that irritating fact: Mick Hume questions the new moral orthodoxy - tobacco intolerance (October 2004)
Big fat lies on obesity we swallow whole: Ferdinand Mount asks why politicians have become so obsessed over the past 10 years with making us leaner, healthier and soberer. What has inflated their pretensions to wean us off our self-indulgences? (May 2004)
Licensing reforms make me want to throw up: Mick Hume argues that the Government’s plans to liberalise the licensing laws could be enough to make anybody turn to the bottle. A Bill that purports to "sweep away red tape" looks set to impose more mean-spirited regulations on the way we drink now. (November 2002)
A sober politician is a danger to mankind? I'll drink to that: Tom Utley wonders whether it is self-evidently a bad thing for a politician to be drunk (July 2002)
Bar, Car, Black Sheep: Rob Lyons questions whether the drink-driving problem really merits the Government's heavy-handed, moralistic approach (December 2001)
We like drinking too much, so why do we do it so badly?: Andrew Martin looks at Britain's unhealthy binge drinking culture and bemoans the lost art of moderate drinking (December 2001)
Free Radical: Christopher Hitchens explains why he’s no longer a socialist, why moral authoritarianism is on the rise, and what's wrong with anti-globalization protestors (October 2001)
Ministers pander to a misguided populace: Matthew Parris argues that, on many important issues, public opinion is always wrong, and therefore in a democracy any responsible political leader must throughout his career spend much of his time and creative genius in finding sneaky ways to block the settled public will without becoming too unpopular for it. (August 2001)

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