This Is One You Should Have Passed On….

David Lammy clearly didn’t embarrass himself enough in that now-infamous episode of ‘Mastermind’.

Because here he is again in CiF, railing about…unrestricted gambling? Really?

It is a sign of the times that recently published researched showing that almost half a million Britons have a gambling problem went largely unnoticed.

Funny, I don’t remember you worrying too much about this sort of thing when Gordoom was touting ‘supercasino’ licenses around…

And wasn’t it Labour that sold off the Tote?

The damage done to those people, and the friends and relatives who are also affected, is readily dismissed by some with an appeal to notions of free will and individual choice. It was their choice to gamble; their problem is their choosing.

The same logic gets the gambling industry off the hook: the casinos, betting shops and gambling sites are simply responding to consumer demand.

Ahhh, I see. That damned free will we have. After smoking and drinking, it’ll be gambling that needs to be nipped in the bud, won’t it?

The garish colours splashed across the front of bookmakers' shops block the depression that lies behind the plastic advertising boards. The penniless young men glued to virtual roulette wheels while others queue are invisible to the passing public. You're prevented from seeing the desperation of men surrounded by scrunched up, worthless betting slips that represent their afternoon's endeavours.

Can I get a ‘minorities and the poor worst affected’?

Yes. Of course I can:

The government's survey data tells us that the average problem gambler is male, young, unemployed and from a deprived neighbourhood.

Perhaps there’s a correlation there between being poor, and being dumb enough to not realise you are too poor to gamble?

If so, then removing the gambling opportunity is most likely not going to alter things significantly.

Gambling laws that were weakened under the last Labour government have given gambling firms free rein over our high streets.

Just checking, David, but that was the Labour government you were part of, right?

People "demand" the opportunity to gamble away money they do not have, just like people "demand" money from loan sharks at extortionate interest rates.

Yes, stupid people. You can’t protect them from theirselves, no matter how much you try…

All TV advertising of gambling before the 9pm watershed must stop. If people really want to have a bet then they will do. Rather than abolishing the Gambling Commission, the government should be looking at stopping old-fashioned bookies' shops becoming soulless mini-casinos.

How? Slap a preservation order on them?

Most of all, residents need their voice heard. We deserve a say if a company wants to build the ninth betting shop on a 300m stretch of high street. This is not just a question of consumer demand – we walk, cycle, drive and shop on these streets every day.

And what are you expecting them to do, lure you in with their beguiling ways and bright colours?

How about letting people make their own mistakes. Like going on a celebrity quiz show despite being as dim as a 40w bulb. You wouldn’t want to see a law against that, would you?