I look forward to the day when I read that nanny state activists have written a report that stands up to even the most basic scrutiny. I won't hold my breath.
You're doing a great job in bringing this kind of detailed critical attention to the actions of people who want to impose their often bigoted opinions upon the rest of us. They really see any amount of misinterpretation and manipulation of facts as justified if helping to impose their paternalistic controls upon us. It is alarming how we seem increasingly deceived by, or unwilling to face down, any activism claiming virtuous intent.
On the subject of Sweden (where I live), the power of the temperance lobby here is beyond belief. One day, about ten years ago, my first daughter came home from school with a paper for me to sign which would have consented to her taking part in a one week "camp" out on one of the islands in Stockholm's archipelago.. Normally, I would have given permission for such fun without a second's thought. Then I noticed who was organising the "camp" - the Swedish temperance movement!
I took her teacher to task about this asking why an organisation which has a membership of less than one percent of the population was allowed to organise what would inevitably be a brainwashing exercise.
Sadly, the teacher didn't have a single answer, satisfying or otherwise.
Needless to say, my daughter missed out on her week of pleasant brainwashing and is still able to make up her own mind about whether she wants to drink alcohol and how she views people who do.
I find the influences of minority pressure groups that you have described over the years quite terrifying. The Scots seem to be copying the Swedes when it comes to facilitating this kind of social engineering by intolerant bigots.
As long as governments continue to allow these pigs access to the trough of public funds, I don't see how the situation will improve.
They sell scratch cards via the government gambling monopoly as one of the ways they finance their lobbying work and payroll. They probably receive nice fat grants from the government as well in the good old "pay an NGO to lobby yourself" tradition beloved by illiberal governments the world over.
The translation of the Wikipedia 'See also' reference "Svenska Sällskapet för Nykterhet och Folkuppfostran" is "The Swedish Society for Sobriety and Public Education". Just translating that to English makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up! It should also be noted that there are other ways to translate "uppfostran" which wouldn't make grammatical sense in English. For example, I'd more associate the word with how you bring up your children. That's hard to translate to just one word in English, but the true meaning shows the disdain which is clearly directed at those who don't share their Lutherian viewpoint.
If you really want to experience a country where nannystatism is woven into the fabric of society, come and live in Sweden for a few years. The summers are outstanding! The winters are cold and dark.
You would just love to see how your (high) taxes are used by your wise and elected representatives!
My long term impression is that Swedish politics has now become so woke that there is a hope that it might end up spontaneously cancelling itself and vanishing in a puff of offence! ...I can hope, at least.
Thanks for your continuing insightful and delightful commentary on the public health racket and the ever more depressing social engineering attempts by our governments. Even though I now live far away from the UK and have no bloody intention of returning, your eye is worldwide and it's great to see you keeping that international perspective.
I never understood why the temperance folks have such a desire to have a state monopoly on alcohol. I mean, wouldn't that create a massive conflict of interest? I guess they think they could control alcohol better that way, or at least have the overt illusion of control. They are a bunch of control freaks, after all.
The Swedes are masters of hypocrisy. They have taken it to the level of a Jedi mind trick. I learned this not long after moving here. All advertising for hard liquor is illegal here in Sweden and at the time I had this revelation, the company that produces Absolut vodka (V&S) was 100% owned by the government. I had reason to fly out to Texas as part of my job and the first thing I saw as I turned my car onto the freeway from the airport was bill-board after bill-board advertising Absolut vodka!
The justification for the ban on advertising alcohol has always been "it's bad for people and you shouldn't advertise bad things." My mind boggles at the kind of mental gymnastics which must be needed to sustain that kind of hypocrisy and keep a straight face at the same time!
I look forward to the day when I read that nanny state activists have written a report that stands up to even the most basic scrutiny. I won't hold my breath.
You're doing a great job in bringing this kind of detailed critical attention to the actions of people who want to impose their often bigoted opinions upon the rest of us. They really see any amount of misinterpretation and manipulation of facts as justified if helping to impose their paternalistic controls upon us. It is alarming how we seem increasingly deceived by, or unwilling to face down, any activism claiming virtuous intent.
On the subject of Sweden (where I live), the power of the temperance lobby here is beyond belief. One day, about ten years ago, my first daughter came home from school with a paper for me to sign which would have consented to her taking part in a one week "camp" out on one of the islands in Stockholm's archipelago.. Normally, I would have given permission for such fun without a second's thought. Then I noticed who was organising the "camp" - the Swedish temperance movement!
I took her teacher to task about this asking why an organisation which has a membership of less than one percent of the population was allowed to organise what would inevitably be a brainwashing exercise.
Sadly, the teacher didn't have a single answer, satisfying or otherwise.
Needless to say, my daughter missed out on her week of pleasant brainwashing and is still able to make up her own mind about whether she wants to drink alcohol and how she views people who do.
I find the influences of minority pressure groups that you have described over the years quite terrifying. The Scots seem to be copying the Swedes when it comes to facilitating this kind of social engineering by intolerant bigots.
As long as governments continue to allow these pigs access to the trough of public funds, I don't see how the situation will improve.
Haha! Wow! Which group was that?
The SNP certainly see Scandinavia as their model.
Yeah, the SNP will want to nationalise the off-licenses next! :D
My daughter's prospective brainwashers were this particularly nasty bunch of prohibitionists: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOGT-NTO
They sell scratch cards via the government gambling monopoly as one of the ways they finance their lobbying work and payroll. They probably receive nice fat grants from the government as well in the good old "pay an NGO to lobby yourself" tradition beloved by illiberal governments the world over.
The translation of the Wikipedia 'See also' reference "Svenska Sällskapet för Nykterhet och Folkuppfostran" is "The Swedish Society for Sobriety and Public Education". Just translating that to English makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up! It should also be noted that there are other ways to translate "uppfostran" which wouldn't make grammatical sense in English. For example, I'd more associate the word with how you bring up your children. That's hard to translate to just one word in English, but the true meaning shows the disdain which is clearly directed at those who don't share their Lutherian viewpoint.
If you really want to experience a country where nannystatism is woven into the fabric of society, come and live in Sweden for a few years. The summers are outstanding! The winters are cold and dark.
You would just love to see how your (high) taxes are used by your wise and elected representatives!
My long term impression is that Swedish politics has now become so woke that there is a hope that it might end up spontaneously cancelling itself and vanishing in a puff of offence! ...I can hope, at least.
Thanks for your continuing insightful and delightful commentary on the public health racket and the ever more depressing social engineering attempts by our governments. Even though I now live far away from the UK and have no bloody intention of returning, your eye is worldwide and it's great to see you keeping that international perspective.
I never understood why the temperance folks have such a desire to have a state monopoly on alcohol. I mean, wouldn't that create a massive conflict of interest? I guess they think they could control alcohol better that way, or at least have the overt illusion of control. They are a bunch of control freaks, after all.
The Swedes are masters of hypocrisy. They have taken it to the level of a Jedi mind trick. I learned this not long after moving here. All advertising for hard liquor is illegal here in Sweden and at the time I had this revelation, the company that produces Absolut vodka (V&S) was 100% owned by the government. I had reason to fly out to Texas as part of my job and the first thing I saw as I turned my car onto the freeway from the airport was bill-board after bill-board advertising Absolut vodka!
The justification for the ban on advertising alcohol has always been "it's bad for people and you shouldn't advertise bad things." My mind boggles at the kind of mental gymnastics which must be needed to sustain that kind of hypocrisy and keep a straight face at the same time!
I know, right? The hypocrisy is so thick you could cut it with a knife!
Indeed, advertising and bans or restrictions on it should both be considered what they really are: WEAK SAUCE. At least in the near term.