→ British voters support smoking and drinking bans
There has been much chat about Britain’s vices lately. This week, Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary blamed too much alcohol for the increased levels of violence and antisocial behaviour in airports and on planes. He said flyers should be allowed no more than two drinks in airports, while Wetherspoon’s boss Tim Martin naturally came out in firm opposition. Today, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has confirmed that the Government will consider banning smoking outside pubs, clubs and sports stadiums. But does the public really buy into all this puritanism?
Well, yes. A new YouGov poll suggests that 62% of people support O’Leary’s suggested drinks cap in airports, with only 9% strongly opposing the prohibition. As for smoking, the same pollster shows that 58% of those surveyed would support a smoking ban in beer gardens and outdoor restaurants. Starmer might have trouble implementing this for 2025’s summer of cigarettes and alcohol…
→ Ford turns its back on DEI
Ford is withdrawing from the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index, the latest instance of a corporate purge seemingly spurred by anti-DEI activists. “We will continue to put our effort and resources into taking care of our customers, our team, and our communities versus publicly commenting on the many polarizing issues of the day,” the CEO told employees in a memo.
Today, @Ford ABANDONED its values and commitments to an inclusive workplace, cowering to MAGA weirdo Robby Starbuck.
With the LGBTQ+ community wielding $1.4 TRILLION in spending power and 30% of Gen Z identifying as LGBTQ+, we won’t forget this shortsighted decision and its… pic.twitter.com/qwshHPApN7
— HRC (@HRC) August 28, 2024
The HRC published a furious condemnation of the move, accusing Ford of cowering to “MAGA bully” Robby Starbuck, an anti-DEI activist. Previously, John Deere, Tractor Supply, Harley-Davidson and Jack Daniel’s also pulled out of the programme following activist campaigns drawing public attention to their DEI policies. Lowes is reportedly exiting the HRC index too. The brands are apparently responding to the views of their heavily male and blue-collar customer base. It’s unlikely that Starbucks will join the anti-DEI ranks any time soon.
→ Kamala Harris’s McDonald’s history questioned
A stint at McDonald’s in one’s youth is the cornerstone of the American dream and the ultimate signifier of middle-class relatability. Kamala Harris’s claimed stint at McDonald’s, however, may have been fabricated, per a new report from the Washington Free Beacon.
NEW: Dems made a huge deal at the DNC about Kamala Harris once working at McDonalds in the summer of 1983. But did she really?@ChuckRossDC, @SaysSimonson and I performed an exhaustive review of the facts:
1: We badgered McDonalds, which employs a full-time archivist, for close…
— Andrew Kerr (@AndrewKerrNC) August 29, 2024
A 1987 job application which asked Harris to list every job she’d had in the past decade didn’t mention McDonald’s, where she claimed to have worked in 1983, though it did list another job she’d held for only a month, the outlet reported. She never mentioned it in the two books she wrote, nor did her unauthorised biographers. While the specific Baskin-Robbins at which a young Barack Obama once worked was subject to a media frenzy in 2008, no one seems to know where the McDonald’s at which Harris worked is. Will this take the heat off Tim Walz’s “stolen valour”?
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