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.