Well I don't care how they frame it, Brown has given Blair and his project a massive raised finger..and good for him! I could never understand the logic of 'regenerating' a poor and run down town centre by providing sophisticated gambling facilities in it. The theory was that it creates employment for a large number of people. It also creates the opportunity and temptation to bring more financial hardship to families already struggling to maintain employment and a standard of living.
OK I realise to some people I will be seen as a 'nanny state' ist and a moraliser but this was one of Blair's super schemes for which I could never see the remotest moral logic. Brown was helped earlier in the year when the House of Lords threw out the proposal for 17 super casinos and forced the Culture Secretary to think again, but it is pretty common knowledge that Brown disliked the scheme anyway.
Lets hope that this is the end of any attempt to turn Britain's poorer towns and cities into a mini Las Vegas with all the horror that implies. Britain's towns don't need gambling, they need an infusion of capital to promote modern technological jobs which are competitive and stem the tide of work drifting overseas to India and China.
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