The Pink Police Empire
James flags this sensational article about British vacationers who are earning a reputation for pathetic barbarism and, if the citation is to be believed, are getting themselves killed at an amazing rate:
A recent report published by the British Foreign Office, “British Behavior Abroad,” noted that in a 12-month period in 2006 and 2007, 602 Britons were hospitalized and 28 raped in Greece, and that 1,591 died in Spain and 2,032 were arrested there.
It seems that standby tickets when flying from Spain to Britain would be a safe bet, with about four suddenly empty seats every day.
I agree wholeheartedly with James’ decision to clip this piece for the bulging Pink Police State file, rather than blaming the behavior on a stereotyped British repression. Says James:
Such are the perils of living in a place that’s increasingly becoming one of the most mirthless of all pink police states: a nanny whose rule is so regimented that she permits you the luxury of barhopping until the wee hours and screwing and spazzing your way across town after town.
What really struck me, though, are the global implications:
Worried about the increase in crimes and accidents afflicting drunken tourists, the British consulate in Athens has begun several campaigns, using posters, beach balls and coasters with snappy slogans, to encourage young visitors to drink responsibly.
“When things do go wrong, they go wrong in quite a big way,” said Alison Beckett, the director of consular services. “What we’re trying to do here is reduce some of these avoidable accidents where they have so much to drink that they fall off balconies and are either killed or need huge operations.
If citizens of the nanny state insist on leaving the front garden, she’s going to have to follow them, right? Eventually, we might see a world in which the sun never sets on a safe and puking Briton.
I’m not sure about that the Spain figure is actually about people on holiday. Does it take into account that Spain is sort-of where the English go to die? There are whole villages and towns that are more or less full of middle-aged and elderly English ex-pats. There are several English Mayors of Spanish towns in the South.
We are also, unfortunately, as bad at home. CCTV hasn’t done anything to reduce violence after closing time. We have one of the highest rates of violent crime in Europe (though an average murder rate) and, say, Rotherham on a Saturday night is, I’d bet, as bad as Malaga.
Shaun
— Shaun · Aug 26, 04:55 AM · #
Right, the Spanish death figure is kind of like the number of New Yorkers who die in Miami.
Anyway, the British drink themselves into a stupor back home too. They used to do this in the 1700s (remember Hogarth’s campaign to get them to switch from gin to beer)? Finally, by late Victorian times, they had kind of sobered up. But now the Victorian legacy is dissipated and their back to their old ways.
What’s interesting is the greater sobriety of the American working class compared to their distant cousins in Britain.
— Steve Sailer · Aug 26, 09:43 AM · #
Yes, Spain has a lot of British retirement communities. I doubt the nanny state is much to blame for this. Accounts of Brits getting incredibly drunk and wild on holiday abroad date back a couple of centuries. The behaviour is a lot more prevalent now thanks to cheap alcohol and low-cost flights.
— Ali Choudhury · Aug 26, 09:50 AM · #
Steve: indeed. “An American, instead of going in a leisure hour to dance merrily at some place of public resort, as the fellows of his calling continue to do throughout the greater part of Europe, shuts himself up at home to drink. He thus enjoys two pleasures: he can go on thinking of his business and he can get drunk decently by his own fireside.” — Tocqueville
— James · Aug 26, 11:26 AM · #
Seriously, this is the result of the pink nanny state??? Have you any flippin’ recollection of history? The Brits have had this reputation since at least the late 1970s, during the worst of England/Scotland’s soccer hooliganism. That phase was so bad that the UK govt. conspired with other European countries to keep its own citizens from being able to travel abroad. This was during the time of that notorious socialist busybody, Margaret Thatcher. This latest phase is likely the result of cheap airfare that allows that unwashed underclass (which the UK has always had) to vomit all over the Med, rather than at home.
— Constantine · Aug 26, 12:53 PM · #
Listen, people. James and I are the only guys pulling the Pink Police State meme along. If we could get a little more buy-in from everybody, then we might not have to depend on spurious “evidence” and selective reading. We could work our way up from pure prejudice to idle speculation. So until we get some help here at the PPS desk, I’ll continue to cherry-pick.
Anyway, who doesn’t like cherries?
— Matt Frost · Aug 26, 03:00 PM · #
And the part about old Brits going to Spain to die makes sense. It seems a poor fit for that particular count — like including medical tourists among those “hospitalized.”
— Matt Frost · Aug 26, 03:03 PM · #