I dunno… You read a little article about the sad fact that lots of pubs are closing, and some bastarding Liberal Democrat comes out with one of the most illiberal things I’ve heard in a long time.

“Whenever a pub is proposed to go to a different use, be closed or demolished, the local community needs to be consulted.

“At the end of the day, who owns the pub? Legally it’s the pub operating company or the landlord. But morally, surely, a community, a village owns a pub that’s been there for hundreds of years.”

‘moral ownership’? What the fiddling fuck? Let me guess, that’s like the ‘moral ownership’ of a conservation area – where some local busybody can make sure that nothing they don’t like is built, but without compensating those who are losing actual money because of their interference.

Legal ownership means that if the owner wants out, they can get out. If they want to turn their pub into a giant jungle gym, they should be able to. If they want to tear out the bar and replace it with pictures of a 1947 Ford, they should be able to. If they want to close it and turn it into flats, then it’s a shame but they should be able to.

Under this proposal, will the community also own the corner shop? Or the tea shop at the corner? Both are important for a village, to be sure. Why not go the whole hog and collectivise the businesses in every village, just to ensure that nothing closes.

Of course, there may be some kulaks who disagree with having their legal property appropriated by a village council, but you can’t make an omelette without breaking a few skulls, can you?

Fuckin’ Liberal Democrats. We should really sic trading standards on them…