en.m.wikipedia.org
Most depressing thought...110 years ago today the world's first public radio broadcast took place. It was a performance by various opera singers, including Caruso, from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York.
Birth of public radio broadcasting - Wikipedia
Why depressing? Because you heard it live?Most depressing thought...
Most depressing thought...
A good example of a law having the opposite effect to that which was originally intended.Sad Remembrance
On this day in 1920, the United States was preparing for the onset of Prohibition. To mark the final night before alcoholic beverages were prohibited, one group even held a mock funeral service for "John Barleycorn" with an audience of over 10,000 people.
Really!?Sad Remembrance
On this day in 1920, the United States was preparing for the onset of Prohibition. To mark the final night before alcoholic beverages were prohibited, one group even held a mock funeral service for "John Barleycorn" with an audience of over 10,000 people.
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If you mean it didn't reduce alcohol consumption, it actually did https://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/16/opinion/actually-prohibition-was-a-success.html That doesn't mean it was a good idea, of course, but it did reduce drinking, particularly by less well off people who couldn't afford to go to speakeasies.
The only area of Britain in which the pubs were nationalised was actually Carlisle and this was due to the heavy concentration of munitions factories in that area. It was done with the intention of reducing absenteeism in the workforce and to prevent accidents within those factories There were strict licencing laws imposed in the rest of the country and some of them were not relaxed until the 1970s and 80sReally!?
Serious, now (a-hem!
Prohibition was likely a side-effect of World War 1. It was the government's concern, first of all, to avoid alcohol intoxication among the troops, secondly to save corn for the more urgent needs of fighting food shortage, and third, a moral uprise against 'the devil alcohol'.
For the first reason, Russia had already in 1914 forbidden the sale of wodka, which would turn against herself, since it deprived the government from immense tax incomes needed to fund the war. As far as I am informed, Britain nationalised all the pubs for the same reason (1917), made a paying membership compulsory and imposed a closing at 10 pm. These rules still existed in the 1970's.
France did not bother that much. The French soldier in the trenches had the right on one glass of brandy a day!
In 1919, Belgium introduced its own, creative 'prohibition'. The sale of liquor (but not of beer) was forbidden in pubs. The sale of liquor in shops was still allowed, but highly taxed, and, one had to buy AT LEAST 2 LITERS! Anyone carrying less than 2 liters of liquor on the street risked a fine! The idea behind it was that most alcoholics could not financially afford to buy that much in one sale! The law was abolished in 1983.
I suspect that a great deal of alcohol, moonshine and poor quality illegally imported booze, was consumed and was never included in the officially published figures. As Disraeli said "there are lies, dammned lies and statistics"
The argument isn't based on measuring alcohol consumption but on the decline in cirrhosis and other diseases caused by alcohol, which are pretty accurate and fell substantially following prohibition. It did reduce drinking-that isn't a reason to bring it back, but it did...Making opioids illegal probably reduced usage too, until big pharma began pushing the legal versions (but that's another story).
Really!?
Serious, now (a-hem!
Prohibition was likely a side-effect of World War 1. It was the government's concern, first of all, to avoid alcohol intoxication among the troops, secondly to save corn for the more urgent needs of fighting food shortage, and third, a moral uprise against 'the devil alcohol'.
For the first reason, Russia had already in 1914 forbidden the sale of wodka, which would turn against herself, since it deprived the government from immense tax incomes needed to fund the war. As far as I am informed, Britain nationalised all the pubs for the same reason (1917), made a paying membership compulsory and imposed a closing at 10 pm. These rules still existed in the 1970's.
France did not bother that much. The French soldier in the trenches had the right on one glass of brandy a day!
In 1919, Belgium introduced its own, creative 'prohibition'. The sale of liquor (but not of beer) was forbidden in pubs. The sale of liquor in shops was still allowed, but highly taxed, and, one had to buy AT LEAST 2 LITERS! Anyone carrying less than 2 liters of liquor on the street risked a fine! The idea behind it was that most alcoholics could not financially afford to buy that much in one sale! The law was abolished in 1983.
I believe indeed, in Norway and Sweden, you can only buy alcohol in state shops.
I remember visiting Stockholm in the 1960s to potentially buy equipment and as soon as we were installed in our hotel we were joined by our hosts and spent the rest of the night having a massive boozing session. This was because the natives were allowed to buy and consume unlimited amounts of alcohol when entertaining foreign customers, whereas they were normally strictly rationed and only allowed to purchase their supplies from state controlled outlets.
but it had some odd rules, including that you were not allowed to buy for (treat) anyone else 
Speaking from experience? Did you ever exceed your two glass limit?Same thing happens on the ferries between Sweden and Finland
