Glass attack victim's anger at police

The Publican 26 March, 2009

This IS shocking - and it is completely out of order that police do not appear to take this sort of thing seriously unless serious personal injury is part of the event. But to mix it up with accusations of 'nu labour' being complicit in the way police respond, or to 'the country's gone to the dogs' is utter rubbish. GET REAL.

Injustices like this have always been part of the make up of events surrounding venues where alcohol is served. People should wake up to that and not romanticise about a revisionist wonderful past where Dixon of Dock Green types plodded along every street in the land keeping law and order, clipping youths around the ear and sending them back home having learned a lesson about morals and correct behaviour.

Remember Mods, Rockers, Teddy boys, Punks, Skinheads, Suedeheads, oh lawd, and heavens knows how many others before them stirring it up.

A year ago I had a band smash my pub up, two grand's worth of damage, chucking swarfega over customers, closing early and losing three hours' trade and all the police could say was it's a civil matter because they were invited on the premises.

It's the only time we've had anything like that happen ever since we opened in 1995, none of the police had a clue about our seamlessly positive record, none knew the pub, and essentially they treated me and my staff as suspect for not running a solid business rather than the pathetic juvenile toff band leader who clearly had planned the event under false pretences to create as much disruption as possible. HE even said I should be glad of the publicity. I could have kicked him to kingdom come as a demonstration of how 'civil justice' can be meted out but you know where that would have got me.

That wasn't Nu Labour was it.