Booze, Cars and Wetherspoon's

So, Wetherspoon's think it is a great idea to open a pub on  the M40 service station near Beaconsfield. No doubt it is for them and their shareholders. A spokesman for the company commented: "But we are not naive. We know that giving drivers the chance to have a pint off the motorway is an unusual offer. But equally we do not live in a nanny state. We expect drivers to act responsibly." 

I hope the Chairman of this despicable company, Timothy Randall Martin, will be given the opportunity to repeat the "we do not live in a nanny state" line to the parents of the first child killed by one of his less responsible clients. I'm sure it will be a great comfort to them.

I can think of some interesting variants that might be put into the mouth of his hireling. How about: "But we are not naive. We know that giving drivers the chance to buy an automatic rifle off the motorway is an unusual offer. But equally we do not live in a nanny state. We expect drivers to act responsibly."

A reasonable response from a government that had even a shred of decency would be: "We do not live in a nanny state. But we do expect companies to act responsibly." But I'm not holding my breath, because, let's face it, they don't.