Spectator.co.uk – The puritan, as devotees of Baltimore’s finest know, is greatly exercised by the fear that someone, somewhere, might be enjoying themselves.
Ed Miliband is a puritan.
And a hopeless, nagging, fish-faced puritan at that. A ninny, in other words.
The Labour leader has a rare gift. He knows, you see, how you should spend your money. What’s more, if you fail to spend your cash in the proper Miliband-approved manner he thinks he should be – nay is! – entitled to coerce you into changing your miserable behaviour.
Of course he is not alone in that. Many politicians are far too free and easy in these matters. But there is a special teeth-grinding awfulness to the way in which Miliband seeks to coerce this fine country’s citizens that never fails to annoy me. Miliband may not think the stars are god’s daisy chain but he still reaches levels of simpering ghastliness that make me think he’s a kind of political Madeleine Bassett. (Which, I admit, is peculiar since he looks and sounds like Gussie Fink-Nottle.)
He’s at it again with his desire to combat the “untold damage” supposedly caused by Fixed Odds Betting Terminals in betting shops. Nor does he lack allies. Tom Watson popped up in the Guardian earlier this month to tell us exactly how much this untold damage cost.
As is so often the case, much of the reporting on these machines – which chiefly offer the chance to play roulette, blackjack and other “casino” games – is hopelessly inaccurate and stupefyingly innumerate.
It is true that a lot of money is spent on these machines. But since total betting shop revenue has not increased significantly in recent years it seems probable that FOTBs are simply replacing money that would previously have been wagered elsewhere.
Newspapers are full of heartbreaking stories about the damage these supposedly-addictive machines cause. Failing to refer to them as “the crack cocaine of gambling” contravenes a number of journalistic by-laws.
