Get betting shops off our high streets

Betting shops have become not merely a feature of British high streets but a plague. In some areas one can see several of them in a row, punctuated by pound and charity shops, the juxtaposition making sense because after time in a betting shop that is what most punters can afford. As well as ruing lives these places are also an aesthetic disaster, their garish blank colours particular destroying whatever is still visually pleasing about the centres of some of our finest cities. The government can do something about this, and if it means driving gambling underground, so be it - let's drive it underground!