Letter Bombs and Beer Riots

There have been many notable things to happen in the news in the last few weeks and months, some have been deeply worrying and particularly troublesome for those involved. As for the rest of us watching on from the sidelines it has been another series of events that grabs our interest either because it’s exceptionally humorous or because it confirms our suspicions that most men are cowards.

 The cowards in question are the men that sent letter bombs to Neil Lennon, Trish Godman and Paul McBride QC for no other reason than the fact that they are associated with Celtic Football Club. It is no surprise to me that this kind of extreme behaviour has reared its infectious head in Scottish football. Nowadays we live in a world where more and more people find the need to express dissatisfaction or anger through the keyboard. People can tweet, status update and blog about their thoughts and feelings until there is nothing left to tell, probably because they feel that they can reach a much larger audience by telling hundreds of online ‘friends’. But it becomes just another form of school yard bullying when groups of people get together to start malicious campaigns of hate against one man. And the Scottish Governments plan to enforce a new law on sectarianism on the internet has so far only served one purpose: to legitimise the hatemongering behaviour. As enforcing laws against it means it will never go away, my guess is that the idiots who are the culprits would find another way to amuse themselves if they were just ignored. The legislation is not needed, but it will probably be enforced and with it long gone are the days when the letter sent to the points of view page is just an angry one.

On a lighter note though, I found the story that emerged from a Tesco store in Greenock last week to be particularly funny. Tesco were offering three cases of beer or cider for just twenty pounds, but due to some form of computing error the offer was going through tills at only eleven pounds. As word spread this sparked bargain fever for customers looking to take advantage of the great deal, nowhere more so than in Greenock, where police were called because of heavy congestion and traffic jams in the car park. Apart from the obvious funny side, the thing that worries me about the situation is that the Scottish Government plans, now that it has gained a majority in parliament, to set a minimum pricing for alcohol. Which will drive up the price. Soon enough the police in Greenock and all over Scotland will have to deal with riots in the streets about the common man not being able to afford his weekend binge or the common woman, scraping her savings just to put a meal and a glass of wine on the table.