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News and Comment June 2010

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5 June - Bexley council encourages the police to act the fool

Today’s Times repeats the report from The News Shopper dated 26 May about pubs in Bexley being willing to serve amateur thespians who were acting drunk. When I first saw the story ten days ago I decided it didn’t have a strong enough Bexley council connection to be featured here but I have had my arm twisted by regular readers who have pointed out that the performance was re-enacted at Bexley’s civic offices so the council’s fingerprints are all over this crime against common-sense too. To send am-drams into pubs and get them to slur their words was a mad scheme likely to be ridiculed and it is good that The Times thought it sufficiently idiotic to give it space. It surely cannot be in any way illegal, even after the 3,000 odd new ways to be a criminal introduced by our last government, to serve someone who is pretending to be drunk? Just imagine what any half decent barrister would make of that if the police or Bexley council took action against any licensee because he was serving alcohol to someone who was completely sober.

Embarking on stupid and totally over-the-top courses of action has become the hallmark of too many public bodies. It was revealed this week that Bexley council has used anti-terrorist powers against residents 13 times in the last two years, none of whom were ever suspected of being terrorists. Allowing a dog to foul a park is most definitely anti-social behaviour but it is not in the same league as packing your shirt full of explosives and getting on a bus. Bexley council, intelligent as ever, seems to think it is.

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