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Catching up with myself, I thought that overall it would be less embarrassing if I started at the back with the really old correspondence and notes I haven't yet dealt with rather than starting with what I need to respond to from yesterday.

I'm glad I did, because I'm regretting not remembering and sharing this little treasure earlier: At the end of January, a friend of mine in the industry sent me a link to Home Office's overview report on regulating the alcohol industry, which was issued by the Government to support the launch of the Mandatory Code a few weeks ago.


My friend D thought the final paragraph of the report was particularly revealing:

Existing legislation
A question that looms in responses across strands and across audiences is whether the regulation
of the on-trade needs as much tightening as the Consultation Document suggests. It is stressed
that most premises are not hubs of crime and disorder. Where problems may arise, many feel that
the enforcement of existing legislation as well as voluntary local partnerships can go a long way in
addressing them. Many measures are already considered good practice and it is questioned
whether further legislation is therefore needed.



In other words - the government produces a report to back up more restrictions on pubs, and that very report concludes by questioning whether further restrictions are needed, but the government implements them anyway, and releases the report that says no further restrictions are needed to support the further restrictions they've implemented.


Marvellous.














I wanted to use a picture here. This is the space where a picture of the Dentist's Chair promotion would go, if such a picture actually existed.














And for those of you with long memories - there's no mention of the Dentist's Chair promotion anywhere in the report. I wonder when that was inserted as a soundbite? Surely we're not looking at something here that was 'sexed up'?



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