Our thanks to Nigel for this. He writes:

“This reminded me that the temperance movement was very strong here [J4MB: the North West]. Just as in America its most powerful advocates were women and women’s groups, usually church societies and groups. Just such a temperance Billiards Hall was in the centre of my town though it was a “market hall” in my youth and is now a Bar and Restaurant (Turkish). It was still a Billiard Hall (but not “dry”) in my mother’s childhood in WW2.

The point being that the abject failure of Prohibition in the USA and the withering of the movement in Britain (partly because of the partial success of “licensing” laws) and its “killjoy” image seems to mean feminists don’t laud the many women who were in fact remarkably successful in making the US Dry and controlling alcohol consumption and sales here. Citing men “forgetting their duty to their wives”, “wife beating”, financial abuse by spending all the money, promiscuity and sexual licence…. familiar “calls to action” still used to get the white knights on side.”

—————————-

If you’d like email notifications of our new blog pieces, please enter your email address in the box near the top of the right-hand column and click ‘Subscribe’.

We shall shortly be posting this piece on our X channel.

Our YouTube channel is here.