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Ann Widdecombe: Send Binge Drinkers To Court (PICTURES)

The Huffington Post UK  |  By Posted: 17/04/2012 06:18 Updated: 17/04/2012 06:18

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Widdecombe
Ann Widdecombe, the former prisons minister and Strictly Come Dancing contestant has found a novel way to deal with binge drinkers

Ann Widdecombe, the former prisons minister and Strictly Come Dancing contestant, has found a novel way to deal with binge drinkers - bringing back "the concept of shame" by sending offenders to court.

She told the Radio Times about her idea to deter anyone found "incapable."

"If the police carried out the occasional big blitz in the city centres on a Friday night, drafting in extra manpower and pursuing every single person who was drunk in A&E or incapable on the streets, then people going out specifically to get drunk would risk finding themselves in court on the Monday with their names and photographs in the papers," she said.

The former Tory MP told the Radio Times magazine that the police should also pursue people who end up drunk in A&E.

"I went out with half a dozen young women in their twenties to see how they 'enjoyed' themselves on such evenings and why they did it," she said.

"The group included a scientist, a nurse and two teachers ... Nobody I interviewed considered getting drunk a matter of shame and I ended the programme as baffled as I began."

The solution, according to Widdecombe?

"Drinking to excess in public has to become socially unacceptable in the way that smoking is now."

It's not the first time Widdecombe has branched out in her post-parliamentary career. The Tory politician has starred in Celebrity Fit Club, acted as agony aunt for the Guardian, and guest hosted the BBC's Have I Got News for You.

See below for a slideshow of her best moments:

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Eight years after taking part in Celebrity Fit Club Widdecombe made waves when she appeared on BBC One's Strictly Come Dancing in 2010, where she was compared to a "dalek in drag."
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Ann Widdecombe, the former prisons minister and Strictly Come Dancing contestant, has found a novel way to deal with binge drinkers - bringing back "the concept of shame" by sending offenders to court...
Ann Widdecombe, the former prisons minister and Strictly Come Dancing contestant, has found a novel way to deal with binge drinkers - bringing back "the concept of shame" by sending offenders to court...
 
 
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spaventa
0 Fans
09:02 AM on 04/21/2012
Whatever the doubtful merits of Ann Widdecombe's 'solution' to binge drinking, the fact is that binge drinking is only a fragment of the problem. Our culture is saturated with alcohol with results probably for crime, certainly for health. I don't think her 'solution' is way-out but it's marginal to a much wider social problem.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
clownzozo
Magician, Novelist and an Angry Old Git
167 Fans
 
04:43 PM on 04/20/2012
As much as I admire Anne Widdecombe, surely part of the solution is to remove the alcohol licences from pubs and clubs that serves, or allows drunks on their premises.
Those who tank up on cheap booze before going clubbing would find their entry barred, if they were considered to be drunk.
Half the problem would be solved.
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tc-byrne
Victoria Concordia Crescit
27 Fans
06:17 PM on 04/17/2012
Lager louts to trendy binge drinker to the concept of shame now thats evolution,Wow thats real brain storming Ann.
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Marben
11 Fans
01:58 PM on 04/17/2012
She's absolutely right. We've always had laws to deal with drunken behaviour and the police used to enforce them but now they've gone soft and drunks are now treated as "victims". Instead of giving binge drinkers a wake-up call, they're treated like errant children instead of adults. If they all had to spend a night in the cells and appear before a Magistrate the next morning, they would think twice before they did it again. It would also help if the licensing laws introduced by New Labour were repealed.
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ronnieince
57 Fans
01:48 PM on 04/17/2012
It is very simple - being drunk in public is already a crime - increase the fine to a fixed penalty of £500 , give the police orders to enforce the law .

If they had a blitz on pubs at closing time and nicked everyone drunk excessive drinking in public and the higher fines would pay the policing costs - the reality is no Government really wants to deal with the problem
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treborlocin
163 Fans
12:41 PM on 04/17/2012
do you have to be thick to be an MP nowadays it sure looks like it, i havent heard any good ideas from any party for years.
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Norman Mitchison
92 Fans
 
12:32 PM on 04/17/2012
Bet she`s on `Strictly Come Drinking` if there ever is one!
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vividrick
I came, I saw...I had a cup of tea!
493 Fans
12:04 PM on 04/17/2012
Way, way way too much revenue from booze industry for the Government to turn down, neglect or put any sort of clamping down.
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bagpuss250
23 Fans
11:29 AM on 04/17/2012
"Widdecombe Fair" should carry-on fooling around on T.V., & the Catholic Church etc. She had her days in Maggie's mess up of the country. ( sorry for any spelling mistakes)
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Drivenmad
1 Fans
10:45 AM on 04/17/2012
There will be a lot of your ex colleagues from the house of clowns in the courts then Ann
Judging by the performance of most of them now, they must be perminantly drunk.
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waddytog
97 Fans
10:26 AM on 04/17/2012
take alcohol out supermarkets, corner shops and bargin booze type shops, and yes, airports.
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Kraptonfactor
They're coming to take me away ha ha, hee hee, ho
200 Fans
12:00 PM on 04/17/2012
And put it where exactly, waddytog? These people are drinking in pubs and clubs. Do you suggest banning alcohol altogether?
If people want to get off their faces when they go out they will do so on any substance that is available, even if you banned alcohol they would turn to drugs instead.
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waddytog
97 Fans
12:47 PM on 04/17/2012
banning alcohol altogether would not be a bad idea.
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Makalha
Opinions are not facts.
110 Fans
12:14 PM on 04/17/2012
So those who enjoy maybe a wine with their meal or a tot at night have to go without because some people abuse alcohol ?
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waddytog
97 Fans
12:46 PM on 04/17/2012
no, the public houses will have an off licence like they always did have.
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hmpdjb
13 Fans
10:14 AM on 04/17/2012
She will be recruiting thousands of extra Officers, then?

What a totally ludicrous idea - she is, to law and order, what she is to ballroom dancing - totally out of step, has poor balance and is better suited to the Turkey Trot rather than the Fox Trot -
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Tony Barker
5 Fans
10:41 AM on 04/17/2012
Down the years Ann W. MP, has always had good principals. She is right, penalize those who become inebrated beyond capability and this would do the job better than putting the price of alcohol up for those who drink responsibly.
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Huffington reporter
49 Fans
09:00 AM on 04/17/2012
The government are "waging war" on drinking and smoking but are quite happy to make money out of it!
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gazamartin
1 Fans
08:44 AM on 04/17/2012
It's time she went to the Ex Politicians Rest Home.
Another "has been" making remarks that are just so ridiculous.
Most of these so called "revellers" would love to see their names and faces in the newspaper. They would have bets to see who could be named the most.
Sit down and shut up Ann. Your embarrassing yourself.
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Edgar H
Keep the Press free!
94 Fans
08:33 AM on 04/17/2012
Banned smoking......

Now it's drinking....

It's agood thing most Police are to lazy to do anything - most have turned a blind eye for years to anything except racist and homophobic crime.
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