I've been a bit negative about the Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty's views on sociology and economics. But credit where credit is due; he has a good piece in today's edition on high street gambling. OK, it's a bit in the Guardian's let me tell you a human interest story style, but none the worse for that.
There are some things that I don't feel very liberal about and one of these is the state conniving in the ruthless exploitation of human weakness of will for private profit, made all the worse by the deliberate fostering of self-destructive addiction. The high street betting shops, tobacco companies and purveyors of cheap booze are all in the same moral boat as far as I'm concerned. A failure of imagination means I simply can't understand how the owners of these industries can sleep at night.
If you are unlucky enough to have witnessed the misery caused by addiction to gambling, tobacco or alcohol visited on the family and friends of the addict then you'll understand where I'm coming from.
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