Photo: Press
London's nightlife has been dealt yet another blow.
The UK has never quite been the bastion of liberal freedoms but there was a sense of fairness in this past, a sense that things aren't that bad in terms of our social affairs. There were plenty of places to go out, our immigration stance was allowing people a chance of a better life and the ability to put some grub on the table for their families in poorer countries.
The police, meanwhile, were markedly better than the American's in how they treated arrestees. But all this mildness has been gradually disappearing - 2016 seems to be changing the UK’s character to a country that is making more and more people want out.
For instance, a four ft wall is to be built around the jungle camp Calais de-humanising immigrants - and is doing no favours for the UKs reputation internationally - it’s embarrassing for me to meet people from other countries who see that’s how this country treats people who are desperate. How do I explain that I have to just sit here and do nothing about it?
Also, spithoods, which are a primitive, cruel and degrading tool to protect officers are being introduced making just after Tasers came in uninvited and have already proved lethal.
On top of this, Fabric has now shut. Now, a nightclub is obviously not as serious as the immigration problem but it adds to the overall sense of disconnect between ordinary people and the ruling elite who make undemocratic decisions about how people should live.
You could argue that the increasingly vigilant stance on immigration was a democratic decision as it was a vote - but it wasn’t. The leave campaign was gaining momentum in large swathes due to the lie about extra funding for the NHS. We all remember Nigel Farage’s cold back tracking and the sense that that was one of the main things that swung it - how absolutely necessary it was for a second referendum that never happened.
Brexit, like the Fabric closure, like the increased violence of police, gets gradually shoved in whilst every ones busy worrying about how to pay their bills because, food and fuel prices are rising uncontrollably compared to wages. It’s not democracy. It’s disenchantment and a sense of helpless ness being stewed..
But that isn’t the only problem. Closing a nightclub on the basis that it was unable to control people using drugs is not the answer. Everyone who goes out in the capital knows fabric was one of the most vigilant places to get in - they had thorough searches. The thing is young people out for a good time will all find away. And as Irvine Welsh told me in an interview last week people aren't on drugs because of music, art or a book. It's down socio-economic conditions that don’t allow people to fill their potential. Working class jobs disappeared due to free trade policies put in by Thatcher and students graduating from Universities are increasingly finding a saturated market with no work available. Drugs are a means of escape.
Cutting off a nightclub where people can go to get away from the brutal socio-economic conditions the country is creating isn't going to reduce the number of deaths. It's only likely to make young people angrier, and more at odds with society, and more likely to want to melt away in the background somewhere. These counselors should be concentrating their efforts on improving opportunities for youth and making a generally more happy generation rather than making it increasingly worse.
This capital will also likely suffer huge economic blows as a lot of tourists come to London especially for Fabric and to see the amazing work it's done fostering the world's greatest electronic music scene. Sad to see it go.
The answer would have been to have drug testing kits like the one used in Secret Garden Party and Sonar Festival. These stop fatalities because they let consumers be aware of what they’re taking so they avoid overdosing on very strong chemicals. People aren’t going to stop taking them, so let's make it safe.
