Britain
is degenerate and depraved. The crime rate is appalling. We are a nation of alcoholics
and drug-abusers. In particular, there is an epidemic of binge-drinking amongst
the younger generations. We gamble to excess. We have the sexual morals of the
farmyard.
At
least this is what the puritans, social engineers, and general killjoys would
have us believe.
None
of it is true.
Recorded
crime has been falling for 20 years. It has halved since it peaked in 1995.
Serious offences such as murder, crimes of violence, and burglary are down
significantly.
David
Cameron has an addle-pated notion that excessive drinking must be curbed by jacking up the prices. Other worthies
pontificate about debauched all-night drinking with drunks littering the
streets as in the 18th Century.
The
facts tell a very different story.
Alcohol
consumption has been falling consistently for the past 15 years. Total
consumption is 16% less than it was only 8 years ago. The average annual
consumption per head is less than 8 litres, the lowest for many years.
As
for booze-raddled youth, a recent survey reveals that less than 50% of the 16 –
24 age-group had a drink in the previous week as against 70% ten years ago. The
number of children between 11 and 15 has fallen by nearly a third in the past 5
years.
Overall,
convictions for drunken behavior of all kinds have halved in this century.
Now
drugs-abuse.
Its
rise is a threat to the very fabric of society, according to the wowsers.
And
yet drug use is now at its lowest rate in nearly 20 years. Every kind of drug
is declining in popularity, especially heroin and crack. Despite the
commonly-held myth that just about everybody thinks it cool to smoke a spliff, even
cannabis consumption has fallen dramatically in recent years despite the ‘personal
use’ blind eye turned by the authorities these days.
Gambling
is also on the decline, despite the growth of on-line betting. Total takings in
the gambling sector have been falling year-on-year. Racing is in dire straits financially.
Bingo halls are closing by the week. In the 1960s there were 16,000 betting shops;
now there are just over 9,000. The gambling urge seems to have been largely
subsumed into the National Lottery.
As
for sex, we may be entering a new era of puritanism. Teen-age pregnancies are
at their lowest level for more than 40 years despite the incentives for ‘benefit
mums’. And hookers are having to reduce their prices drastically. Even
Hollywood is having to clean up its act as audiences tire of sex scenes.
So
what are the reasons for this ‘new morality’?
My
take is that at last we are seeing an overdue backlash against the extremes of
the Swinging Sixties, that most promiscuous and squalid of decades. Drug use, drunkenness,
gambling debts also have severe consequences on getting a mortgage, credit, car
insurance – and a job. Hippies are no longer seen as ‘cool’ but as losers, and
drink-driving has become socially unacceptable as well as criminal.
Might
the time have now arrived for politicians and do-gooders of every stripe to get
off our backs and allow us whatever legitimate enjoyment there is still to be
had?
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