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Sydney's fun police have put out the light of the nightlife

theguardian.com

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Re: Sydney's fun police have put out the light of the nightlife

#151

Post by exodust »

kintamanimatt wrote: post #94
exodust wrote: post #92

SOHO has closed! Didn't know. Last time I was there years ago, the whole club was high on MDMA. Personal space dissolves into nothing, your dancing becomes super smooth, your inner-calm is completely zen. Nobody is drunk. Nobody fighting. Nobody dosing off. People are fresh and energized until sunrise. Walking out into the sunrise is a good feeling. The drunken trashy streets are just places to avoid and navigate you…

As fun as MDMA is, it's horribly and cumulatively neurotoxic. Mass weekly usage would be a short term gain at the expense of a lot of long term health issues. MDMA and alcohol intoxication don't seem to be best friends either IIRC.

Yeah, true, I wouldn't recommend MDMA when drunk.

But after a couple of beers, fine though. Or even after a shot of tequila and a beer chaser, and maybe even another shot and another beer, even then some E would go down nicely!

But I was referring more to a possible world where if drugs other than alcohol were legal, we'd see less blind drunk people causing problems. Can't wait for the stats to come out of USA for how pot legalization influences alcohol related crime and health issues. I suppose we'll need more time for those stats to come in.

Re: Sydney's fun police have put out the light of the nightlife

#152

Post by vacri »

Khaine wrote: post #142
vacri wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could come down to Melbourne, it's got a very healthy nightlife and music scene. It has a little bit of wowserism happening at the moment (no new licenses for bars open past 1am anymore, for example, and some more restrictions on 'music pubs'), but as far as I'm aware, no legislation about timing requirements on mixed drinks (which sounds truly crazy). The main article reads like a horror story for nightlife. It'…

Actually its more people of the far left who are trying to do away with alcohol. First they went after smoking, with that nonsense about plain packaging. I fail to see that if something is legal, why a company shouldn't have the right to brand and market that product appropriately. Now they are looking doing away with alcohol. Just you wait. In 10-15 years they will be calling for prohibition due to all the 'damage'…

> First they went after smoking, with that nonsense about plain packaging.

Plain packaging is nowhere near the first against smoking; it's more like the start of the end-game for it. The government has been very open about wanting to get rid of smoking altogether, and has been so for decades. I was at high school in the late '80s and remember a bloke from Quit saying that they were funded by cigarette taxes, and his job was to put himself out of a job. Punitive taxes and advertising bans long predate plain packaging, as do bans on smoking in hospitality venues.

Alcohol isn't going to go away any time soon for exactly the same reason negative gearing isn't - too many pollies like it for themselves. Alcohol is also a major industry in Australia, unlike tobacco. Similarly, mainstream Australia identifies strongly with a tipple - for example, we like to boast that one of our PMs held a world record for skulling beer. I've never heard any such patriotic murmurings on the topic of tobacco.

Re: Sydney's fun police have put out the light of the nightlife

#153

Post by Khaine »

vacri wrote: post #152
Khaine wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually its more people of the far left who are trying to do away with alcohol. First they went after smoking, with that nonsense about plain packaging. I fail to see that if something is legal, why a company shouldn't have the right to brand and market that product appropriately. Now they are looking doing away with alcohol. Just you wait. In 10-15 years they will be calling for prohibition due to all the 'damage'…

> First they went after smoking, with that nonsense about plain packaging. Plain packaging is nowhere near the first against smoking; it's more like the start of the end-game for it. The government has been very open about wanting to get rid of smoking altogether, and has been so for decades. I was at high school in the late '80s and remember a bloke from Quit saying that they were funded by cigarette taxes, and his…

Yes, and that end game has been ratcheting up for 40 years.

At one stage practically everyone smoked. Now, so few smoke.

Its not like they are going to rock up tomorrow and ban alcohol. They are going to do it like boiling a frog. So slowly that it becomes fait accompli.

Re: Sydney's fun police have put out the light of the nightlife

#155

Post by chris_wot »

Khaine wrote: post #147
chris_wot wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you propose to prevent that minority from causing problems for the rest of us? I quite enjoy a drink myself, so I'd be interested in your solution.

Sadly I don't have one. I wish our media was less vapid, and "think of the children"-ish. I mean the fact that yesterday the police spoke to a restaurant[1] over there wine list is absurd. 1 https://www.broadsheet.com.au/sydney/food-and-drink/article/...

Oh, I totally agree that that was ridiculous overreach. The police didn't do themselves any favours whatsoever on that one. It's like some members of the Constabulary have no idea how to judge what is a serious issue and what isn't.

Re: Sydney's fun police have put out the light of the nightlife

#156

Post by chris_wot »

girvo wrote: post #51
chris_wot wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your chances of being assaulted in Newcastle before the lockout laws were very high. I doubt you would be having much fun in the Emergency Department, getting stitched up.

Other countries, who drink more than us Aussies do and have zero lockout laws don't have the problems we apparently do with violence.

Which countries are you referring to?
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