Also, BTW, here are some reasons why I don’t like it when people drink in public. But, before I launch into my diatribe, I need to preface it with the following:

Beatroot, “drinking in public” doesn’t mean “sitting on a picnic blanket in the park”. Virtually no one does that, so getting all huffy about being included in the “public” part of “drinking in public” doesn’t really wash. There, let the ‘tribe flow forth…

Drinking in public means, among other things:

– Singing a retarded football song in public at 1-4am, yelling obscenities or otherwise just talking loudly because you are brilliant and everyone should hear what you have to say.
– Humorously smashing your beer bottle in the street or throwing your beer can at whatever will generate the most noise.
– On the tram, I end up sitting or standing next to someone that would rather drink than take a bath.
– Puking in public, although this certainly applies to people moving between bars and also people on their way home.
– Sleeping it off in public. Extra points for doing it on the tram or bus.
– Acting like an obvious jackass while trying to hide the fact that you’re drinking in public.
– Menacing in public.
– Asking for change so your semi/permi-homeless, alcohol-saturated ass can let the good times keep rollin’.

I haven’t even touched upon the more complex but obviously positive things like how manufacturers of benches would go out of business if it weren’t for people sleeping on, under or around them, not to mention sitting out in front of your block drinking on, around or under them at all hours.

Also, how are Poland’s uneducated and old supposed to make a bit of extra cash without manning 24-hour alcohol stores? What if you need a bottle of Ukranian brain detergent at 4am but couldn’t because the shop had closed six hours earlier? Shock horror!

Which brings me to my conclusions:
– 24 hour alcohol shops… cause of, not solution to problem. Your average alcoholic or teenager-with-1mm-long-hair can not be bothered, for various reasons, to stock up before closing time.
– Cops who are too lazy to park their cars near problem areas or otherwise walk (OMG!#!$@!$%) through areas where problems are persistent.
– Kids aged 12 through approximately 26.
– Lenient sentencing and punishments. Note that I am not an advocate of jail time, rather I’m an advocate of making drunks pay a fairly large fine on the spot and/or community service. I’d think that, oh, 100 hours for the per citation, cleaning up graffiti, garbage, etc. This goes for most traffic violations, too. I don’t think it will rehabilitate anyone but at least some of the vapid graffiti tags and trash (cigarette butts especially) would get picked up, benefiting the rest of us.

I’ll let you know when I’m running for office so you can vote for me.

This maybe makes sense from a British perspective, from the (majority) Polish perspective it makes more sense to have laws covering as many areas of life as possible but to use common sense in enforcing them. And Poland is hardly alone in this.

“I may assume politely and somewhat tentatively that Britain is more civilised than Poland”

I certainly wouldn’t assume that.
I’ve only been in Britain on the way to getting to or from Poland but from what Brits have told me over the years, Poland lowlifes are a garden party compared to lower income Brits.

How do you know what I’m smoking! :-)

As far as the Tube booze ban goes, if no one should be ‘harmed’ by the new law, why would you care that the law exists? I mean, if there was a law “thou shalt not breathe out violet fumes of iodine”, I would not give a flying beret about it, as I (usually) breathe out transparent CO2. The regulation would not concern me, so I would let it be, if it could make any being happier.

As there is a law prohibiting booze on Tube, I infer the former (or future) existence of drinkers on Tube, affected by that law. There must have been some premises behind the Mayor’s lawmaking. Either there were some people inccorectly using metro as a drinking den – or there will be such people (in which case the law would be preventive).

In a utopian state whether a citizen is drunk [or not] is shown on forehead-mounted displays. The readout is in Uniform Intoxication Units standardised for every human. The utopian police can read the display and know for sure whom to penalise for drunk acts in public and whom not yet.

In a overwealthy state, no Uniform Units exist — and one man’s beer is another man’s poison. BUT there are heaps of money begging to be spent. So there are lots of police who can inspect every citizen’s level of decency, level of intoxication or level of, generally, things.

Neither Britain nor Poland is utopian or wealthy. I may assume politely and somewhat tentatively that Britain is more civilised than Poland – meaning there probably should be more Brits than Poles who are ashamed of litter or canine droppings left at places, or who do not smoke in public, do not get offensively drunk in public and who use Spanish kava only to befriend their friends in most innocent of ways.

In Poland police would have to work a lottie lot more to separate the innocent wheat from the nasty chaff, to hunt down litterers, droppers, public smokers, get-nasty drunks. There are not enough taxes to secure that kind of police service. If you want my taxpayer’s opinion if I want to pay more taxes for your “Kava with my GF”, then I say boo to you, only in strong words.

The way out if it, of course, is not to ban drinking — not even to ban getting drunk (for I know guys who can get drunk in a merry, not dangerous fashion). It is to penalise for possible or actual effects of being drunk (a piss on the monument, scats on the grass, puke on the pavement). But this is a theory, or practise which takes years to remodel people’s thinking. In the meantime, to cut down costs of removing litter, dung, smoke and pukes, there is that law — which you see stupid and I see having its reasons.

His “promoting cancer”, “speak for yourself” and so on comments show that my English seems to be pretty pathetic…

1/ Going to be upheld.
2/ Is clear enough for the enforcement officers to act without hesitation or fear of being wrong.
3/ Is going to stop the [bad] things from happening whilst not stopping too many [good] things happening at the same time.

Any law that simply states it is illegal to drink in public will never meet the above criteria and was therefore drawn up by an ass and passed by more of the same.

If they arrested everyone drinking in public there would be no men left in the Polish villages, for a start. And if they can drink in public without being arrested, then everyone else should be able to do the same.

A well drafted law about dealing with the nastier consequences of drinking (in public or otherwise) would of course be welcome.

But you are opposed to being drunk and disorderly in public?

Are you making that distinction?

Or are you unilaterally opposed to anybody drinking alcohol in public places, even if they drink responsibly without becoming a nuisance to the public ?

The latter is certainly the way I interpreted your comments.