A non-runner
THE gambling crackdown proposed by the Government is reckless, misguided and politically stupid.
If enacted it would do grave damage to racing, a sport in which we lead the world, and hamper the enjoyment of millions of ordinary people who like a flutter.
Sun readers would not forget those responsible.
It is also the ultimate sledgehammer to crack a nut, given that problem gambling afflicts a microscopic minority of all those these plans would impact.
We don’t doubt the Government’s good intentions.
Addicts of course deserve our sympathy.
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But there are clinics specifically to treat them.
To impose affordability checks on all punters betting even small sums would be absurdly excessive.
They are likely to swerve them by turning to unregulated and possibly dodgy black-market sites.
Racing would lose tens of millions of pounds, with reduced prizes, fewer horses and job cuts.
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This is a bad idea even for a Tory Government worryingly in thrall to every nanny-state health lobbyist and quango.
People get hooked on drinking, shopping and much else.
The Government doesn’t check their income before they buy a pint or a pair of shoes.
Ministers must rethink.
No one wants finger-wagging politicians breathing down their neck while they bet a quid or two.
End the hate
WHAT would the hate marches have to do to get banned?
They are already eruptions of anti-Jewish racism, with calls for genocide and bloody revolution and blatant support for banned terror groups.
And they are crippling the police, consuming 26,121 Met shifts and nearly £19million since October 7.
The bill nationwide is more than £25million.
Not that you’d know where all that went, given the tiny number of thugs being nicked.
Their unchecked anti-Semitism has caused almost half of British Jews to consider emigrating, a survey reveals.
That shames Britain.
And it shames the politicians and police who continue to let these intimidating racist marches blight our streets.
Would they be allowed if the target was any other minority? Would they hell.
Wealth service
ONE toxic side-effect of pumping record sums into the NHS is the explosion of middle-managers on six-figure salaries.
It is depressing to see these clipboard merchants mushroom to 837 from 662 in three years.
That’s on top of 726 other senior staff on special deals likely to net far more than a “mere” £100,000.
What’s the point of all these executives whose wages far outstrip those of doctors and nurses?
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Do they make any measurable difference to patients on apocalyptic waiting lists?
We all, sadly, know the answer.
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Adam Sonin
