Ban the Badger!

Marvellous. From The Scotsman’s diary column:

YOU’LL never eat lunch in this town again: the landlord of the Easter Road bar and eatery, Utopia, has placed a poster in his window, warning Alistair Darling to keep off the premises. It shows a noose above Mr Darling’s head, with “Barred” above his picture and “Not Welcome In This Pub” below. It is owner James Hughes’ personal protest against new duties on beer, wine and spirits in this month’s Budget. “The poster is meant to be humorous, but to make it clear to punters that it is not us who are putting prices up, but Mr Darling,” he said. “The noose signifies that it is the government who should be hanged and not the licensed trade.” Alba does not in any way condone the idea of a necktie party for the Chancellor. He advises the tactics employed by George Washington, who raised a militia force of 13,000 men to quash the Whiskey Rebellion – that’s right, whiskey – of 1794 after riotous Pennsylvania publicans tarred and feathered a tax collector.