Why are they trying to ban drinking while standing up?

Why are they trying to ban drinking while standing up? So what's the difference between this and this and this? Well, this is called vertical drinking and as the name would suggest, it's drinking standing up. But if you believe the news this morning, then Westminster Council, which is where I am, is in charge of where I am. They wanna ban. Hey, wanna ban drinking standing up. But why? Why? And why does it cut to the heart of anti-capitalist discourse? Well, let me explain. So Westminster Council, which are predominantly a Tory council, have for a long time been at odds with [City of Westminster info card] about the use and the ways in which the licensing laws of this area operate. They have for a long time been on the side of the residents because this isn't just entertainment district, it is also a place where people live. And for a very long time, they wanted to restrict the licensing laws to make sure the pubs close early. Now, they've always come up against Sadiq Khan, who sees this as an engine of the nighttime economy and rightly so. But what they're trying to do now is to change the licensing laws so that people are not allowed to stand up and do vertical drinking. But that in and of itself has a long class-based history. 'Cause back in Victorian times, the "drink and go" culture was tied to long, open bar counters and standing spaces (called "vaults" or gin palaces) designed for fast, vertical drinking without the comfort of chairs. Working-class patrons would step in, order quickly, consume their alcohol standing up, and leave. [UCL Discovery attribution] Where people would drink in one place and stay down to eat and they encouraged debauchery. Encouraged people to socialize and carry on drinking and move on to another pub called. Basically, sitting down when you're drinking, sitting down, you're often with your friends, you might have some food, you don't really socialize. Drinking standing up was always seen as a something for the people who wanted to, who were more public and therefore more social. They might actually conspire and heaven forbid, might actually have some revolutionary discourse. Council who are quite big Hake group of people called the Soho Society [The Guardian article screenshot] which appear just to be a group of kind of NIMBY people. What they're trying to do and happening for what their critics say is they're just trying to dignify Soho area. They're trying to turn it into a tourist trap with strict licensing laws and where people can't do the kind of outrageous, debauched kinds of things that have been going on in this place for a very, very long time. And you throw into the mix the very strong queer history and present of this area, which is obviously very much tied into its drinking culture and the kinds of things that went on here back in the day. Just look at what Oscar Wilde had to go through to recognise that the kinds of licensing, the strict licensing and the idea is really an attempt to control people, and really, therefore, it's a form of capitalist control. So the next time you stand up to have a drink, just think about how anti-capitalist you're being.