That's right. We're gone.
And the reason is because we simply could not stand to live in a country where almost every liberty and right we had enjoyed was systematically destroyed in less than a decade. The seeds of our discontent were sown in July 2007 when the smoking ban took effect. We were no longer considered as adults. We had become wards of the Nanny State. Since then, we've seen ever more intrusive nannying & nudging legislation coming from both the UK & EU, and we've seen our government do everything it can to restrict freedom of speech because the politicians are seeking to control every aspect of our lives. The only solution was to escape the UK/EU monstrosity, to leave home for another country.
It would be easy to blame everything that is and has gone wrong with Britain and the EU on our politicians, unelected bureaucrats, civil servants, and every last socialist cunt working in public health and tobacco control, but the blame would be misplaced. The blame rests solely on all of us for letting them do it and not putting up any kind of fight.
We are all to blame for this because we are all too fucking lazy or we simply do not care or we expect others will do it for us. We should have rebelled against the smoking ban, but we accepted it like the meek sheep we have all become. The publicans who dared to openly challenge the ban were subjected to extortionate fines and/or imprisonment to send a message to all others. Sure, there are some pubs where the ashtrays come out, the curtains are drawn, and the door is locked once regular hours are over, but this is a pathetic response. It's almost as if we want all of this shit to happen to us so we have something to complain about. It sure does seem to me that it is easier to bitch about our lot than to do anything to change it. We should all be ashamed -- I know I am.
Don't get me wrong. I am as culpable as all of you. I did nothing too. There's nothing courageous about writing a blog. It is merely a source of information. Because if I had written what I truly wanted to write, if I had shared with you the things I wanted to do and tried to get you to help me do them, I would be languishing in jail for my efforts. Alone. Then if I were lucky, perhaps somebody would write a blog post about it and for two days a few people would be outraged and then I'd be forgotten about, because that's about all the attention most people are willing to give. I suppose that's just the way things are.
So. I've left England. And this is my final blog post for Nannying Tyrants. I want to thank everybody who has helped me along the way -- too many people to list. I hope that someday all of you will have had enough and get out of your comfort zone and fight back, or maybe you could try to leave for somewhere slightly less oppressive. Till that day comes, do take care and good luck. I think you're going to need it.
Jay