UK: killjoy police given power to steal drink

[cd27]

The always excellent Henry Porter exposing new labour for the dictators they are,

Booze bans ? the new frontier of joyless regulation | Henry Porter | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

"Give local authorities a power and they abuse it. We have seen it with RIPA terror laws and the creation of largely useless CCTV systems: now the right to drink in public is being systematically attacked across the country by local authorities using powers to stop people having a good time in a park or a picnic with their friends.

These powers, brought in by yet another poorly-drafted piece of Labour legislation, the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001, are being used by councils to prevent the very people they serve from enjoying themselves. It has been acknowledged by the Home Office, never the first to leap to the defence of liberty, that they are being abused. Last year they issued a guidance, which stressed DPPOs should only be used to tackle problem areas.

The advice states, "These powers are not intended to disrupt peaceful activities, for example families having a picnic in a park or on the beach with a glass of wine. Our advice is that it is not appropriate to challenge an individual consuming alcohol where that individual is not causing a problem."


guilty until proven innocent

[cd27]

A sensible conclusion,

"Public drinking can be nuisance but on the vast majority of occasions it is simply a matter of people exercising their lawful right to drink what is lawfully theirs, and councils have no business depriving people of that right. The confiscation of alcohol is theft and this programme of joyless illegality needs to be stopped in its tracks. In the meantime, all those who have an eye for liberty and want to drink responsibly in public should avoid Brighton, a wonderful town which just needs to push its petty–minded officials into the drink."

[The OD]

The British Labour party is a right wing, neo liberal joke of its former self. People like Gordon Brown and Tony Blair and the enemies of a free society.

I felt sorry for the Brits until I realised that at least they have a Prime minister who can speak without appearing like he just swallowed a gammon steak whole without even chewing...

[cd27]

agree that they are right wing in the fascist (socialist) sense of giving the state more power over peoples' lives and in the sense of taking greater control of the economy, control freaks

[patslatt]

The always excellent Henry Porter exposing new labour for the dictators they are,

Booze bans ? the new frontier of joyless regulation | Henry Porter | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

"Give local authorities a power and they abuse it. We have seen it with RIPA terror laws and the creation of largely useless CCTV systems: now the right to drink in public is being systematically attacked across the country by local authorities using powers to stop people having a good time in a park or a picnic with their friends.

These powers, brought in by yet another poorly-drafted piece of Labour legislation, the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001, are being used by councils to prevent the very people they serve from enjoying themselves. It has been acknowledged by the Home Office, never the first to leap to the defence of liberty, that they are being abused. Last year they issued a guidance, which stressed DPPOs should only be used to tackle problem areas.

The advice states, "These powers are not intended to disrupt peaceful activities, for example families having a picnic in a park or on the beach with a glass of wine. Our advice is that it is not appropriate to challenge an individual consuming alcohol where that individual is not causing a problem."


guilty until proven innocent

Under a new Irish law,the Gardai under any circumstances can confiscate drink being consumed in public.

[pd_phoenix]

Under a new Irish law,the Gardai under any circumstances can confiscate drink being consumed in public.

its an on the spot fine in Ireland for consuming alcohol in public in Ireland, at college the Gardai use to be in unmarked cars and catch fellow students as they walked to the nightclub, I think they made a fortune during RAG WEEK €70 a pop

[essexboy]

The Gardai always confiscated poteen which was admittedly illegal and local papers carried pictures of 2 or 3 strong country lads (sorry, officers of the law) smashing a still.

How did they dispose of it? An old guy in our village told me that in the early 50s when the place had 5 Guards he was called to the barracks because they were fighting amongst themselves. They disposed of the poteen by drinking it and tempers flared after several drinks.
I am sure other villages could tell a similar story.

(Today the place has 3 Guards who are rarely seen but the barracks is nominally open).