TWO beers and you might not be allowed entry anywhere.
Bagpipes banned from the Rugby World Cup.
The Tartan Army to be breathalysed before next week’s Euro qualifier against Gibraltar.
What next the banning of See you, Jimmy wigs? Kilts, Irn-Bru and tattie scones?
Put aside the notion that our civil liberties are under threat here, I’ll come back to that.
To be fair, before Scotland’s match against Japan, there was a partial lifting of the ban on the bagpipes.
Aye, a few pipers were allowed to blow their bags at the side of the pitch before the game.
During the match itself their drones were plugged and their bags like, their owners, deflated.
Honestly, when moronic decisions like these are made, you have to ask what the hell is wrong with some people.
How did these jobsworths ever get the job in the first place? Who picked them? The Rev I M Jolly?
As for breathalysing fans before a game, well that really is no joke.
I know I made light of it, but it is a very disturbing and sinister development.
One we should be worried about as our ever paranoid authorities not only undermine our civil liberties but threaten our way of life where we go, when we can go, what we drink and how we must behave when we go out and unless its introduction is resisted, will prove catastrophic to the licensed trade.
Road Traffic constable from Police Scotland demonstrates breathalyser equipment (PA Wire)
Pub-goers and clubbers in London have been targeted by the police and if they fail the breath test, set at a limit of twice the drive limit, they are refused entry!
The police hail it as a success and say that violent crime has gone down and that the pubs and clubs who “volunteered” for the project agree but they have to because if they say they disagree many are then targeted by the police as unfit operators.
Great, I hear some of you say but really is it such a good idea?
No, it’s the start of a very slippery slope.
Forget the effects that the smoking ban and the lowering of the drink drive limit has had on the industry and the shaping of our nation’s behavioural patterns that’s small beer to what this enforced condition could have on us, all of us, business and punters alike.
Two beers and you might not be allowed entry anywhere.
You are tracked by camera and other places are warned to refuse you through a radio network.
Once this snide measure is hailed a success, the limit will then be reduced and the areas covered expanded.
Suddenly you’ll find yourself being breathalysed before you visit a restaurant, cinema, theatre or hotel bar.
The number of legal requirements a licensee has to comply with is mind-boggling.
The lowering of the drink/drive limit has crippled many a pub, as people are terrified to take the motor.
People are now scared to have a pint with their meal in case they are judged a criminal.
They have been conditioned by fear, and that is exactly what will happen if pubs and clubs are forced to “volunteer” to have their customers breathalysed.
Customers will stay away in their droves, leaving the equally terrified licensee at the edge of the abyss.
Supermarkets will again benefit as people stay in, until the day arrives when towns are completely empty and the nanny state will then turn its evil eye on those who stay at home!
I would get my bagpipes out and play a last lament for the licensed trade if I didn’t think that I’d get a criminal record for blowing my chanter.
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