STUPID TECH BOOM RUINING ALL THE FUN: ‘Ireland’s drinks industry is suffering from withdrawal with pubs closing at the rate of one a day, as the party years of the Celtic Tiger boom become a blurred memory. The economic downturn allied to a changing drinking culture has led to 400 pubs closing over the past year, according to Michael Patten, chairman of the drinks industry representative body.’

Once you get a formerly soused and maudlin people thinking about efficiency and spreadsheets and other such evils, a drinking culture that took centuries to build goes right down the craptubes.