Keir Starmer’s request that the government publishes the evidence supporting the idea of a 10pm pub curfew is entirely justified. It is unclear how this step can have any impact on the spread of the virus, while it is self-evident that it will cause damage to the licensed trade and restaurants. The Scottish approach is more convincing, since a temporary total closure is much more likely to be effective.
Having said that, I have to admit to a degree of schadenfreude about the news that Greene King is to close a number of its pubs:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-54451739
The reasons for my malevolence lie on the border between proper economic/cultural analysis and pure spite.
The proper part relates to disappointment with the expansion of the company across the country and indeed around the world, since I strongly favour food and drink companies (I will avoid the term ‘brands’, because that is part of the problem) with a strong local connection. If consumers thought about this aspect more before buying, then the country and our localities would be better for it. In this respect, anyone still buying Doom Bar because of its alleged connection to Cornwall needs to have a hard look at themselves:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-33175395
The fact that Sharp’s brewery is owned by Molson Coors is also related to the cultural problem with Greene King, itself taken over by CK Assets Holdings, based in Hong Kong and registered in the Cayman Islands. It’s not even a drinks company but a property developer.
The spiteful part is that a series of ales that formed an important part of my developmental years have declined terribly in quality in recent years, although it is clear that the quality of a beer has, unfortunately, got very little to do with the economic success of the company that produces it.