Curmudgeon News Index

2001: January

2000: December | November | October | September | August | July | June | May | April | March | February | January

1999: December | November | October | September | August

Detailed Index

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Curmudgeon News is a monthly digest of news items on the kind of topics that interest this page - and Curmudgeon's thoughts on them. It is mainly (although not exclusively) concerned with:
  • general developments on the beer and pub scene in the UK
  • questioning scare stories and exaggerated claims about the dangers of alcohol
  • the various threats to individual liberty and lifestyle freedom that are made under a guise of health and safety
  • scepticism about the politically correct scientific orthodoxies of our time such as passive smoking and global warming

Curmudgeon recommends Junkscience as an excellent website that reports on the abuse of science to support fashionable causes.

Another interesting site that covers similar ground from a specifically pro-smoking perspective is FOREST News. You don't have to be a smoker (and I'm certainly not) to be concerned about the implications for individual freedom of the campaign against it. Today tobacco, tomorrow alcohol - you have been warned!

Note: This section of the website has not been maintained after January 2001.

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Detailed Index

January 2001

  • Bass Takeover Blocked
  • No Fall in Christmas Drink-Driving
  • Gene Tests Reveal Drinkers' Limits
  • Bar Staff Humiliate Cancer Woman
  • "Metric Martyr" Awaits Verdict
  • Half Teenagers Can Find Bootleg Beer
  • Stricter Curbs Urged on Hard Core Drink-Drivers
  • Handgun Crime Soars Despite Dunblane Ban
  • Mobiles Turn Kids into Milksops
  • Ban on US Cigarette Sales Demanded

December 2000

  • Alcohol 'Improves IQ'
  • You're Fitter with Bitter
  • Go-Slow Shoppers Face Fines
  • Lightweight Solution to Drunkenness
  • Tough Tobacco Warnings Approved
  • Men Stick to Junk Food and Beer
  • Ecstasy Linked to Brain Damage
  • One Third of Cigarettes Now Imported
  • Police Suffer Crash for Every Car

November 2000

  • British "Intolerant of Children"
  • Go-ped Drink-Rider Faces Ban
  • One in Twenty "Hooked on Drink"
  • Drink-Drive Deaths Continue to Fall
  • Rail Restrictions Increase Risk
  • Vegetables Fail to Cut Cancer Risk
  • M60 Opens on Day of Chaos
  • Brown to Scrap Betting Tax
  • Dome Admits Anti-Car Policy a Failure
  • Blair Intervenes in New Year Hours Row

October 2000

  • Tories Plan Drug-Driving Bans
  • Anti-Smokers Demand Censorship of Thunderbirds
  • Club Operators Oppose Licensing Reform
  • Cheapest Pint Producer Attacks Big Brewers
  • Scientist Condemns 'Ignorant' Greens
  • New Gun Laws Threaten Olympic Chances
  • Right to Roam May Harm Wildlife
  • Anti-Obesity Tax for Burgers
  • European Tobacco Ad Ban Overturned
  • Greengrocer Charged Over Pounds and Ounces
  • Beer as Brain Food

September 2000

  • Intensive Exercise is Bad For You
  • Drunken Cyclist Gaoled
  • Hours Reform On Hold
  • Fat Plays Vital Role
  • Pub-Free Bastion Falls At Last
  • Car-Free Day Has Little Impact
  • Police Launch Recruitment Drive
  • Britain Paralysed by Fuel Protest
  • Council Kicks Out Toll Plans
  • Chocolate is Good for the Heart

August 2000

  • Firms Told to Sack Heavy Drinkers
  • Hague the 14-Pint Man
  • Drink-Drivers Sent Back to Classroom
  • Council Licensing Powers Opposed
  • Could Virus Make You Fat?
  • Ton-up For Straw
  • Whisky Cake Driver Escapes Ban
  • Child-Free Demand Equal Rights
  • Cannabis Driving Risk May be Small
  • US Smokers Punished

July 2000

  • Happy, Sexy and Fat
  • Police Win Powers to Close Thug Bars
  • Drink-Drive Double Standards
  • Voters But Not Drinkers
  • Thousands Convicted by Faulty Breathalyser
  • Blair Son Drunk and Incapable
  • Drunken Thugs Face Driving Ban
  • Irish Government Orders Lower Pub Prices
  • Tesco Bring Back the Pound
  • UK Worst for Petrol Prices
  • Smokers Defy Health Warnings
  • Perfume Causes a Stink

June 2000

  • Can Cask be Cool?
  • Car Scrap Plan Misfires
  • Pub Couple Cleared over Death of Drinker
  • Political Correctness Gone Mad.....in Stockport!
  • Bass to Attack Wetherspoon
  • Couch Kid Epidemic
  • Kiwis Reject Smoke Ban
  • Evolution in Reverse
  • Don't Drink (Water) and Drive
  • Tobacco Ad Ban Up in Smoke
  • Bargain Basement Beer
  • A Spoke in Labour's Bicycle Wheel

May 2000

  • £500 Fine for Street Drinkers
  • Unhealthy Eating Makes a Comeback
  • Trendy Bars Can Damage Hearing
  • Alcohol Deaths Soar (Allegedly)
  • Probably the Healthiest Drink in the World
  • Thailand to Ban Smoking on TV
  • Roads in Worst State on Record
  • Don't Eat and Drive

April 2000

  • Life For a Life?
  • B-Test Blitz for Reds Fans
  • Kids in Pubs Free-for-all
  • The Honest Lager
  • Red Card for Rowdy Pubs
  • Drink-Drive Confusion
  • The Bootlegger Will Always Get Through
  • The Big Chill

March 2000

  • Drink-Drive Limit Cut Shelved
  • Exercise Linked to Stress
  • A Budget for Smugglers
  • Chancellor Ignores Duty Cut Advice
  • Smugglers Target Manchester Kids
  • Bus Bumps Get Humps Dumped
  • Hoist by His Own Petard - Vol. 2
  • Help Cows, Drink Beer
  • Majority Oppose Extended Drinking Hours
  • 24-Hour Opening on the Way?
  • Police Quizzed on Alcohol Consumption
  • Poor Taxed More than Rich
  • What Price Competition?

February 2000

  • Health Danger from Traffic Exaggerated
  • US State Seeks to Outlaw Obesity
  • The Large Majority
  • Prominent Pub Bites the Dust
  • Heart Attacks Blamed on Drink Binges
  • Drug-Driving Probe
  • Government Urged to Revise Pregnancy Drink Advice
  • Recovery Time for Train Drivers
  • Passive Smoking Risk Overstated
  • Families Save £1,000 a Year by Car
  • Dirt Could be Good for You
  • Driving Test Age to be Raised?

January 2000

  • Record Waste of Police Time Hailed Great Success
  • New Stealth Tax to Hit Small Brewers
  • Police Demand New Drink-Drive Powers
  • The Electronic Red Flag
  • Smoke Ban Landlord Sells Up
  • Nanny State Body Abolished
  • Price War to Hit Pubs - Not!
  • Metrication by Force
  • A Great British Retail Success Story

December 1999

  • Was it Poor Diet rather than Passive Smoking that Killed Roy Castle?
  • Six Rural Pubs Lost Every Month
  • Cycle Lanes are Dangerous
  • British Motorists Worst Off in Europe
  • Prescott the Motorist's Friend?
  • Big Brother at the Checkout
  • No Evidence of Excessive Soft Drink Prices

November 1999

  • Canada Rejects Lower Drink-Drive Limit
  • Britain Has Fastest Rising Tax Burden in Europe
  • Smoking on the Increase, Despite Nanny's Advice
  • Will Drinkers be Next?
  • Soft Drink Prices Irrelevant to Drink-Driving
  • EU Plans Increase in Minimum Driving Age
  • Supermarkets to Slash Beer Range?

October 1999

  • Pubs Give Way to McDonalds
  • Subverting the Nanny State
  • Tobacco Ad Ban Delayed

September 1999

  • Shebeens - Growth Area of the Drinks Trade
  • Hoist by His Own Petard
  • Why Jail 90-Year-Olds?

August 1999

  • Do We Have Too Many Police?
  • Dead Drunk

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