HERALD THE SUPER-CASINOS!
Discussion
We live in a society of finger-pointers and accusers. If you use your mobile-phone from now on in the car, you will be fined and have your licence endorsed. If you smoke in public places, in the not too distant future (in England), you will be fined and vilified. If you speed, you are an enemy of the State. Pretty soon, it will be illegal to wet-shave!
Yet, for all of the 3,200-plus new laws introduced to the Statute by HM Government (Blur and cronies), our Healthcare, Education, National Security, Social Welfare and even national Sports are suffering untold agonies. People go to hospitals to die not to be cured. Our children go to schools to obtain passes (soon up to the age of 18 years, to stop the over-crowding at our universities that accept continuously diminishing standards)unsure of whether there is any work for the multitude of BAs in Business Marketing Management that are emerging. Our Immigration policy is in tatters and our politicians lie to their back teeth about their misdeeds, even turning the blame back onto the rest of the population. We cannot go anywhere without fear of somebody attacking us and, apparently, we are a key focus of militant, fanatical religious groups in the Middle East, who want to bomb us out of our virtually non-existant public transport.
Yet, a light is on the horizon. The Super-Casino.
If Blur's lot get their way, we shall son be infested by a raft of legally-ratified gambling joints that will lead to a further breakdown in the remnants of our society, greater numbers of bankruptcies, more cases of alcoholism, more human degradation, an influx of pornography associated with gambling entertainment and Lord alone knows how many money laundering operations. Forget the traditional Sicilian Mafioso, the Russkis are here and they have even fewer qualms about shooting their mouths and barrels off than the leather-skinned olive-munchers.
In Chancellor Brown's tenuous grasp of the economy (three trillion Pounds in debt? Get a grip!), he professes to be unconcerned. Well, I am not surprised. Several billion Pounds will be delivered in taxes from UK-legal gamblers and once that lot is installed, it will be the devil's own to remove them.
So, for all of the shortfall in taxation from quitting smokers, from fines generated, from an endless array of "think-tanks" and "quangoes" and the fact that more than a third of UK employment is paid for by the rest of the working population, the gambling arena will shore up the holes.
Can we expect to have better roads? Can we expect to have fewer speed cameras? Will driving standards improve? Will healthcare take a step towards curing people? No. No, to them all. But Blur, Brown and muckers will have sorted their tax income shortfall to pay for more outfall elsewhere.
I think I shall head back to The Nile....what do you reckon?
Yet, for all of the 3,200-plus new laws introduced to the Statute by HM Government (Blur and cronies), our Healthcare, Education, National Security, Social Welfare and even national Sports are suffering untold agonies. People go to hospitals to die not to be cured. Our children go to schools to obtain passes (soon up to the age of 18 years, to stop the over-crowding at our universities that accept continuously diminishing standards)unsure of whether there is any work for the multitude of BAs in Business Marketing Management that are emerging. Our Immigration policy is in tatters and our politicians lie to their back teeth about their misdeeds, even turning the blame back onto the rest of the population. We cannot go anywhere without fear of somebody attacking us and, apparently, we are a key focus of militant, fanatical religious groups in the Middle East, who want to bomb us out of our virtually non-existant public transport.
Yet, a light is on the horizon. The Super-Casino.
If Blur's lot get their way, we shall son be infested by a raft of legally-ratified gambling joints that will lead to a further breakdown in the remnants of our society, greater numbers of bankruptcies, more cases of alcoholism, more human degradation, an influx of pornography associated with gambling entertainment and Lord alone knows how many money laundering operations. Forget the traditional Sicilian Mafioso, the Russkis are here and they have even fewer qualms about shooting their mouths and barrels off than the leather-skinned olive-munchers.
In Chancellor Brown's tenuous grasp of the economy (three trillion Pounds in debt? Get a grip!), he professes to be unconcerned. Well, I am not surprised. Several billion Pounds will be delivered in taxes from UK-legal gamblers and once that lot is installed, it will be the devil's own to remove them.
So, for all of the shortfall in taxation from quitting smokers, from fines generated, from an endless array of "think-tanks" and "quangoes" and the fact that more than a third of UK employment is paid for by the rest of the working population, the gambling arena will shore up the holes.
Can we expect to have better roads? Can we expect to have fewer speed cameras? Will driving standards improve? Will healthcare take a step towards curing people? No. No, to them all. But Blur, Brown and muckers will have sorted their tax income shortfall to pay for more outfall elsewhere.
I think I shall head back to The Nile....what do you reckon?
i wish you were prime minister talking excellent sense like that my friend!we as a nation should behave like the french farmers used to and let this government know how pissed off sensible people are.please god let them voted out at the next election.that is ,if they have the balls to call an election
Cleo, how right you are. The whole thing is quite depressing, and I don't see how things will change, short of mass civil disobedience. It is almost as though our governance has been taken over by some monster whose tentacles pervade every aspect of our lives, and over which we have no control but which requires us to feed it increasingly. Every few years we get to choose what colour coat it wears but not to dictate how it behaves. We are deemed too stupid to understand the complex decisions it must make, so cannot be permitted to have our say, other than a simple "red, blue or orange". This decision is meaningless because the decisions that really affect our daily lives are not open for debate. I can't remember anyone asking me how I felt about going to war in Iraq, immigration policy, super casinos, speed cameras, multi-culturalism, health and safety etc.etc. Who are these people who decide that now I must not say "eskimos" but "innuits", not "Bombay" but "Mumbai" and that I must despise anyone who smokes/drinks/speeds/talks on a phone whilst driving or comforts a stricken child in the street because they must surely be a paedophile. We are governed by an unhealthy cocktail of big business interests, corrupt polititians, ivory tower intellectuals and a self serving establishment interest, all propped up by an ever increasing army of private consultants interested only in protecting their own future fee income by making everything as complicated as possible. I may join you on the Nile Cleo, or I might make for a Third World banana republic - at least the sleaze and corruption there would seem honest by comparison.
I smell a bit of cut-and-paste reasoning, but hey ho, it's late and American Chopper finished...
While emotionally I can see the case against super-casinos, it's not terribly logical IMHO _if_ you accept the Lottery, betting on the horses or dogs (or any other sport) and so on. People regularly bet £20+ on the lottery, and that's as close as your local supermarket or corner shop. Think about it.... odds for the lottery are 54 to 1 (that's for ANY winning combination). Roulette is 36 to 1 just for a single number bet, and close to evens for a bet on red or black. Odds are even better for common casino baccarat.
So logic suggests that the lottery is more likely to cause more people to lose more money.
I'm not sure I agree on the drink issue either. In Las Vegas free drinks for gamblers are common. I understand it will be against the new UK regulations. Likewise hyper-oxygenated air to keep gamblers awake and more AFAIK. So, it could be argued that 24 hour pub opening is far worse for more people.
I also suspect prostitution follows both poverty and wealth, as does drug abuse and organised crime. Will super casinos make it worse? Probably, but only time will tell. Not that using Manchester as a guinea pig for the rest of the country (as Harriet Harman admitted on Question Time) is exactly a nice thing to do....
Trouble is, down the road of "banning stuff that might be bad for a few people" lies SPECS cameras, CCTV everywhere, no hands-on science in schools and the rest of the nanny state.
Ian
imfinlay - are you a member of the Cabinet? 
It's not just the roulette, it's the 1-arm bandits.
A punter may well go into his or her supermarket and place 20 quid on the lottery,
then do a bit of shopping and go home (not go back in the shop thinking, ahh I'll have another 20 quids worth, no - make that 50 quids worth.
Enter a casino and the same punter will put 20 quid in the bandit
and because he or she (surrounded by other mugs) thinks the next 'pull' will be the 'lucky one'
he or she will continue, and continue...
Scenario one he or she is back home putting the tea on, 20 quid out of pocket, later checking those high stake numbers, then ripping up the ticket, watch a bit o telly and off to bed...
Scenario two he or she will be skint!
This Government is the worst in living memory.
Everything they 'touch' is a mess.
Watched 'Dispatches' last eve, investigation about UK control orders on terrorists.
It was funnier than 'Fools and Horses'.
What a bunch of total incompetents we have running the country.
The 'so-called' terrorists in question ('extremely dangerous' individuals according to the Home Office, having been incarcerated) and now on control orders.
To give a flavour, they were tagged - but as one pointed out he couldn't cross an invisible line within in his house at certain periods BUT was allowed out within his 'zone', and could travel 'freely, ALONE' on bus and BETWEEN THREE tube stations and a shopping centre...
As this detainee put it: "If I wanted to, it would be easy for me to bomb or commit an act of terrorism", he says.
Laughable, if it were not so serious.
The sooner this shower is gone the better.
It's not just the roulette, it's the 1-arm bandits.
A punter may well go into his or her supermarket and place 20 quid on the lottery,
then do a bit of shopping and go home (not go back in the shop thinking, ahh I'll have another 20 quids worth, no - make that 50 quids worth.
Enter a casino and the same punter will put 20 quid in the bandit
and because he or she (surrounded by other mugs) thinks the next 'pull' will be the 'lucky one'
he or she will continue, and continue...
Scenario one he or she is back home putting the tea on, 20 quid out of pocket, later checking those high stake numbers, then ripping up the ticket, watch a bit o telly and off to bed...
Scenario two he or she will be skint!
This Government is the worst in living memory.
Everything they 'touch' is a mess.
Watched 'Dispatches' last eve, investigation about UK control orders on terrorists.
It was funnier than 'Fools and Horses'.
What a bunch of total incompetents we have running the country.
The 'so-called' terrorists in question ('extremely dangerous' individuals according to the Home Office, having been incarcerated) and now on control orders.
To give a flavour, they were tagged - but as one pointed out he couldn't cross an invisible line within in his house at certain periods BUT was allowed out within his 'zone', and could travel 'freely, ALONE' on bus and BETWEEN THREE tube stations and a shopping centre...
As this detainee put it: "If I wanted to, it would be easy for me to bomb or commit an act of terrorism", he says.
Laughable, if it were not so serious.
The sooner this shower is gone the better.
No, I'm not a member of the cabinet, nor did I vote for them or their policies.
I have a lot of internal conflict over this. Let's use "safe speed" as a parallel. I believe I can, as an intelligent adult, decide what is a safe speed for given road conditions and my vehicle. Hence I support the "safe speed" campaigners against mindless speed limit enforcement and so on, as well discussed in these fora. However, I would suggest that a 17 year old with 3 months' experience probably can't make the same decision. Hence I would like to entrust the BiB to properly police driving standards and so on.
So, with gambling, I can go into almost any pub and blow £100 on the slot machine (I don't though...). I have a friend who does this, and then goes back for "just one more go". But he's an adult and it's his money. Same with casinos - do we treat adults as adults, and legislate to protect them from unscrupulous operators, or stop ALL adults pursuing a lawful activity by manipulating the market?
I really don't know the answer, and I suspect there isn't a "right" answer per se. Either way, someone loses. But should we restict the actions of the many for the weaknesses of the few, or should we educate and protect all and pick up the few who fall?
Ian
i don't really get the fuss. if you want to go to a casino today, it's not exactly mission impossible to do so, is it?
i can't see how the introduction of 'super-casinos' are in any way going to change gambling habits, bar a minute minority. i think this is another social armageddon to the extent '24 hour drinking' was.
i can't see how the introduction of 'super-casinos' are in any way going to change gambling habits, bar a minute minority. i think this is another social armageddon to the extent '24 hour drinking' was.
Edited by tamore on Tuesday 6th February 13:32
As I recall, nobody actually wanted these Super Casinos, apart from those we stand to make money out of them (Government, the operators and the local authority they are based in). Seems a bit of a dubious reason for pushing ahead with them in spite of all the moral and social grounds opposing them.
Whilst being totally opposed to a nanny state, I am not comfortable with the idea that the weak and vunerable do not need protecting from those whose sole purpose is to extract money from them.
Whilst being totally opposed to a nanny state, I am not comfortable with the idea that the weak and vunerable do not need protecting from those whose sole purpose is to extract money from them.
Right on !
I heard a radio programme last week with a guy speaking about his childhood in a family with gambling addiction. I quote "I had to go to school in dirty ragged clothes, lie about christmas, birthday presents and holidays (cus there were none)". The government already know that the country is floating on a sea of personal debt, and they honestly belive super-casinos are going to help the situation !!
I think this is the last straw for this bunch of Westminster idiots, as to sanction this they must either be imbeciles or 'on the take' in some way.
I heard a radio programme last week with a guy speaking about his childhood in a family with gambling addiction. I quote "I had to go to school in dirty ragged clothes, lie about christmas, birthday presents and holidays (cus there were none)". The government already know that the country is floating on a sea of personal debt, and they honestly belive super-casinos are going to help the situation !!
I think this is the last straw for this bunch of Westminster idiots, as to sanction this they must either be imbeciles or 'on the take' in some way.
Edited by Roley130 on Wednesday 7th February 13:30
Edited by Roley130 on Wednesday 7th February 16:08
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