Sir Tim Martin & Old Corruption
The Knighthood of the public face of Wetherspoons, Tim Martin, is a further sign both that the Honour System needs to be abolished and how the Tories operate a system of Old Corruption.
Martin who is reported to have donated money to the Tories is apparently getting a gong for his services to Brexit. Indeed he had a walk on part in the Farage/Johnson Vote Leave show.
Old Corruption was the political system that operated before the 1832 Reform Act where people got political preference for favours they had done, because of who they were, rather than what they had done.
Martin’s Knighthood will set off the usual crowd of Wetherspoons-phobics.
Its certainly true that Spoons does not recognise a trade union and it should. But because Martin has a right-wing public presence doesn’t mean that other large pub companies are somehow more virtuous. They are not.
Further the reality is that compared to many pubs the drinkers to be found in most Wetherspoons represent a better mix of British society than can be found in other hostelries. That was what Martin’s original model, going back 45 years, set out to achieve. The fact that the man himself has managed to tarnish it is a regrettable reality.
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