Violence On The Streets We went out with the staff last night for a bit of a pub crawl (thanks for the invite), and a fairly pleasant, and beery night was had by all. I retired at about half past midnight, not because I'd had too much to drink, oe because I wasn't enjoying myself, indeed I'd reached that point of inebriation where I'd happily bop along to more or less anything. We left the pub, Johnson's, because the atmosphere took a sudden, and violent turn for the worse. In a scene that was most likely repeated in pubs and clubs and on the streets in towns the length of the country, there was a fight. At the start of the fight, two lads had each other by the throat, there was a lot of pushing and shoving, the bouncers were summoned and one lad was escorted from the bar, the wrong one, the lad who seemed to have started the fight had escaped the bouncers attention. Moments after the bouncers had gone back downstairs, the fighting flared up again, I didn't see the start of the second fight, but within moments a man staggered past bleeding profusely from a head wound, having been struck with a glass or bottle. The fighters were ejected, including the injured man (but again, not the bloke who had started all this trouble), and the fighting continued on the street outside until the police arrived. The Police claim that up to 90% of all officers available for duty on weekend evenings are now tied up dealing with alcohol related crime in city centers, you want to know why the police can't investigate your house being broken into ? They just don't have the time. Why is it that young men have to fight after a few beers ? I hate fighting, I'd really rather run away than fight. Worse than fighting though is this almost automatic use of weapons, using the pint glass in your hand and smashing it in someone's face, or striking them with a bottle, it is cowardice of the lowest order. City centre pubs and clubs, and the companies that own them, keep trying to distance themselves from the trouble that spills out onto the streets. Some MP's have called for a bill to add an extra form of tax to these establishments to pay for the massive costs run up by the police and te National Health Service. Of course, these companies are seeking to protect ther massive profits and are lobbying heavily against these proposals. But why shouldn't these people have some further level of responsibility ? In the three pubs we visited last night there were 15 and 16 year olds getting past the door staff and being served alcohol, now I'm not being hypocritical here, we've all done it, I've done it. (I am reliably informed that some of the bar staff at one of Ilkley's pubs are underage, so you're not likely to get asked for ID there then). The difference today though is the the tide of violent, alcohol fuelled crime that besets every city and town in the country, tying up the police force and filling casualty departments to capacity and beyond. We used to go out drinking, but we kept ourselves to ourselves, not everybody did though, there were some lads from the village who would get into a fight every weekend, they seemed to thrive on it, petty rivalries between village and village, town and town, county and county. I've been out eating and drinking in some of the world's major cities, Paris, New York, Barcelona, Sydney, Rome and Hong Kong to name a few, but nowhere around the world (except perhaps in New Orleans) have I encountered anything approaching the level of alcohol related stupidity that the Brits get up to. What is it that forces us Brits into booze binges and violence ? Why can't we eat and drink like the civilized French, or Catalonians, or Romans ? I don't have the answers for this one, helpful comments please................