Oppressed By The Welfare State

The state is a dangerous thing. The millions slaughtered in wars over the centuries, especially the twentieth century, have been slaughtered because of politics and politicians. The more powerful the state the more warlike it becomes. Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia were responsible for the slaughter in wars and pogroms of millions of people, including millions of their own people.

I don't put our current government, or even the hated European Union in the same category as the totalitarians of the twentieth century, but we should all be worried at the constant attacks on our freedoms by a creeping police state. Much of the anti-terror legislation put in place by the Blair/Brown government has been used to restrict our freedoms. Remember Walter Wolfgang? He was arrested under anti-terror legislation for heckling at a Labour conference.

In the UK the welfare state is constantly used to attack the populace. Put in place a welfare state funded by taxation and soon it is used to attack us in the interests of the taxpayer, us. Much more subtle and dangerous than the government openly declaring it is attacking us. Smokers are accused of being a drain on the NHS, so tax them until it hurts to force them to stop. In Soviet Scotland the politburo have slapped a minimum cost on alcohol and haved outlawed certain cheap deals on alcohol in shops and supermarkets. Of course it's all done with your interests at heart isn't it? Nothing to do with raising taxes is it?

Now the Coalition reckons the welfare state is under attack from fatties! The government is floating the idea of a fat tax, because fat people are a drain on the state like smokers and drinkers supposedly are. So they want to tax food that they think might make us fat. Plenty of people who eat what the state would regard as prime for a fat tax is actually healthy if eaten in moderation. So why not do it the other way round and drop the price of fresh fruit and veg? Because they want your money, they want to tax you, it's that simple! They happily send young lads to their deaths in Afghanistan and elsewhere so why not let the odd person eat themselves to an early death if they want to?

The problem is that no matter how much they tax us the people who are determined to smoke, drink and eat junk will do so, and they are often already the poorest people already. So once again it is the poorer people who are being attacked by an ever greedy tax increasing state.

In the true interests of equality why not slap a massive tax on sports equipment, health clubs, gyms and so on? Surely there is a cost to our glorious state when a cyclist is knocked off his bike or a Sunday league footballer has his leg broken by a beer bellied slob on the other side? What about the drain on the NHS when all those joggers and marathon runners have heart attacks and tear tendons and muscles? What about the cost of treating anorexics? Tax the bastards!

And finally:

L'Enclume, Cartmel, Cumbria-Restaurant Review

Cartmel is only a few miles up the road and we like to visit on a regular basis. The Priory is well worth a visit as is the Cartmel Village Shop for the world's finest sticky toffee pudding and other delights. There is now the wonderful Cartmel Cheese Shop too with best selection of locally produced cheeses I've ever seen. But the piece de resistance has to be L'Enclume.

I think l'enclume means 'the anvil' but could just as easily mean heaven. It is ranked fourth in the country in the Good Food Guide and the head chef, Mark Birchall, has just won one of the country's top competitions, the Roux Scholarship, and is off to spend three months working and learning at the restaurant of his choice, Cellar de Can Roca in Girona. My ambition now is to eat at the top three restaurants in the guide.

We arrived on Saturday evening, four of us to celebrate a friend's birthday. I must say the interior was not as I expected it to be. The exterior is old stone cottage in the heart of one of the most picturesque villages in the South Lakes. The interior is quite clinical with light wood, whitewashed walls and minimalist art on the walls. But the staff make you extremely welcome and are highly efficient while remaining approachable. They obviously share the chefs' love and knowledge of the food.

The restaurant has its own farm so you know the ingredients will be as fresh as they can be, many picked a few hours before they arrive on your table. Indeed they are so seasonal that the menu on Saturday was quite different to the sample on the website. Only the most jaded palate could fail to recognise the quality and freshness of the ingredients.

As we had a vegetarian in our party (yes I know!) we had to go for the twelve course rather than the eight course menu as we were all requested to go for the same number of courses. An extra four courses was a major hardship!

Every course was unique and full of fresh new flavours from the first course of waverex peas with crab and calamint to the last of sweet cheese with walnut, gooseberry, Douglas fir. The only complaint from my beloved was that she didn't get enough crab in her first course, I was happy with mine.

The plaice fillet and white vienna baked in salt went down especially well, even with my wife who is not the fishiest of people. What she commented on was how the piece of plaice resembled a fat chip. Coincidence or design? You never know with these clever chefs.

One dish we were all really looking forward to, that was on each menu, was the heritage potatoes in onion ashes, lovage and wood sorrel. I'd heard about the intensity of the onion flavour in this dish and it really didn't disappoint. We all commented on how wonderful that particular dish was. Although we asked the waiter how the onion was cooked it is all a little hazy as we were on our fourth bottle of wine by the time we enquired and were about to embark upon our ninth course of damson cake, honeycomb, mint and sweet cicely.

I don't claim to be a wine connoisseur but I do enjoy a glass of wine. The wine list was extremely good with the full range of prices and choice. We decided to swerve around the £910 bottle of champagne but had several bottles, red and white, that were extremely good quality and came in at under £25 each.

Just in case you think I lead some kind of Michael Winner existence, venturing out of my multi-million pound mansion to spend thousands in fashionable retaurants before getting my private jet to whisk me off to a Caribbean retreat nothing could be further from the truth. We, Mrs B and I, along with our friends Netty and Steve love our food and every year or so have a treat, this time it was for Netty's birthday.

This was the first restaurant I've enjoyed so much I felt the need to blog about it. It seems fashionable at the moment to do lists of what you want to do before you die. Please put L'Enclume at the top of your list, I promise you will die happy.