Much as I hate to echo the Hugh McKinney, of the National Family Campaign I have to wonder what on earth the Home Office is up to with its new plans to legalise "mini brothels".
I wonder whether any ministers know what is going on outside the Whitehall bubble? Have they been to Harringay lately (precisely the kind of place where your enterprising pimp will be sizing up a string of lets, two to a flat)? Or maybe they just think it unlikely that one of these places will open next door to them?
And while of course I'm being marginally NIMBY, what about the poor women the subsequent explosion of the sex trade will enslave?
I simply do not understand the mind-set of a government which will go to the wall over Iraq or incitement to commit religious hatred, yet opts for harmful half-measures over an issue where they could make a real difference.
Licenced, large-scale brothels, regularly inspected, along with a crack-down on "illegal" forms of prostitution would save tens, if not hundreds of thousands of young women from a life of rape, abuse, addiction and early death. Instead, in a move that seems mostly concerned with sweeping curb crawling under the carpet, they will effectively trigger an explosion in abuse and crime.
No doubt the impact of this perverse policy will be played down. After all, there were hardly riots on the streets following the liberalisation of licencing laws. However, reassurances can be hit and miss: the government also predicted only 5,000 to 13,000 Eastern Europeans would settle in the UK, but 175,000 came in the first year alone. Not a problem in itself, but an indication how complacent government assessments can sometimes be.
When a fight almost broke out in the Salisbury the other night between some Russians and English guys I asked the Eastern European barman what it was all about. 'Don't know,' he said, 'though the Russian did try to sell me his girl a bit earlier'.
So while I'm happy to get my pint pulled, I'd rather not have the sex slaves next door thanks.
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
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3 comments:
Without feeling the need to follow a link with Daily Mail at the start... me and the missus were just saying this morning that the new legislation effectively produces a deeply unattractive cost base for prostitutes meaning that as you say chain pimping will be the main benefactor not feminist free enterprise.
Yes, Daily Mail! I was in a hurry and knocked it out at work... the Mail seemed the most to the point. A first for TETT!
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