A letter on drinking
On Boris’ plans to criminalise young adults:
“Dear [Assembly Member]
I’m writing to you because I’m very concerned about the Mayor’s scheme to encourage shops not to sell alcohol to those between 18 and 21. You’re my Constituency Assembly Member, so I hope you’ll raise the issue with the Mayor.
The scheme might be voluntary, but the precedent it sets is disturbing. The drinking age is 18, not 21. The young people whom they move discriminates against are adults. If they want to buy alcohol, it’s their right. The GLA shouldn’t make decisions for them - unless they want them to behave like children.
It’s also the right of businesses to sell to whom they want. Many shop-owners are feeling the pinch, at present; some may need these sales to stay in business. And yet, they’ll feel obliged to comply, or be attacked for it. Who wants the editor of a local newspaper, hungry for lurid headlines, denouncing them as soft on yobs? Small businesses face a stark choice; lose money they can ill-afford, or get a bad name.
Nor will the scheme have many tangible benefits. The Mayor believes the drinking culture amongst young people to be deeply ingrained; so how does he think this will help? The move does nothing to address the desire for alcohol which makes binge-drinking happen. It makes it harder for people to get their alcohol - so they try a little harder to get it, and probably look beyond sources where real regulation is possible.
What the move will do is further alienate young adults. The media already demonises youth at every opportunity. This just adds to their social stereotype of young people as incurable monsters. A move against 18-21 year olds to tackle binge drinking, rather than a move against binge drinkers, suggests one thing; that all adults between 18 and 21 years of age are virtually alcoholic. That’s patently untrue, and rejects the vast majority of young adults who comply with the law. Why should they listen to their elders, when those elders just criminalise them? If the Mayor wants to address
I hope you’ll speak to the Mayor about this counter-productive and unjust scheme.
Best Regards,
[Concerned of London]“
Thoughts? I’ve an increasingly large facebook group protesting, and nothing to do with them. There’s little use in gathering an angry e-mob unless you mobilise them…
Posted in: Activism, Bad Policy, Boris Watch, The Internet
YAY! I like a good bit of campaigning!
Well, I’ve asked the members of the group to write to their AMs. May achieve very little, that, given that just under half the Assembly is Tory. However, worth trying.
Also, what’s the precise legal status of protests outside City Hall, if you know? I’ve no regard for the legislation, but it might be useful to know if it’s covered by SOCPA.
And, please let me know if the following train of thought qualifies as unqualified bullshit or otherwise: The scheme will collapse if a major supermarket refuses to cooperate. It’s therefore worth putting pressure on them. Writing letters, organising boycotts, etc. Or will that have no effect either?