Minimum pricing for alcohol

[juneau]

A good idea or yet another example of the nanny state?

It's both, I suppose, but as someone who only ever drinks moderately and who thinks the cost of alcohol in this country is already ridiculous, thanks to all the duty slapped on by the chancellor, I resent the idea that I'll have to pay more for my modest intake just because others can't control themselves. The rebel in me is getting pretty fed up with being told what I can and can't do too, as a tax-paying, consenting, adult.

I also question whether it will have much, if any, impact. After all, if you're an alcoholic, is a modest price increase really going to make you stop drinking?

Yes, "save the planet" is their favourite refrain. But who believes that apart from progressives?

'We don't need booze on any level and it's killing us'

We don't need cake, but it is a pleasure, as is booze.
We are adults who can decide what we want to do. I think some of teh additives they put in our food are worse than booze, but they don't stop those.
We have been drinking booze for centuries and even have songs about it. It is part of our culture. In fact doctors say that a glass of wine is good for our health.

'Why not make it the treat'

We are not children who are told what our treats are. This increasein prices will have minimal effect on the rich, but as always is targetted at poor people who will have to pay more for their pleasures.

Made me laugh when I saw that Cameron's former director of strategy and 'green guru' has doubts about climate change, and I think he was a progressive - though I'm not sure.

'Steve Hilton, the Prime Minister?s director of strategy and ?green guru?, is the latest person to admit to doubts about climate change.

?I?m not sure I believe in it,? he announced at a meeting of the Energy Department, prompting one aide to blurt out: ?Did I just hear that correctly??

You can just picture the aids choking on their ciabatta.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2066720/David-Camerons-green-guru-Steve-Hilton-reveals-doubts-global-warming.html

EVERYTHING has a minimal impact on the rich! that's not an argument!

Booze is now a problem. It wasn't always. Now it is, something needs to be done. Any suggestions.....

And cake is a problem. Most of that problem is because it's cheaper than buying fruit in our 24 hour supermarkets.

Cake wasn't an issue when we all just made our own. Booze wasn't a problem when we expected to go out for a pint or a glass of wine. Now we sit in with girls and drink a bottle each or have a glass or two most nights. And we are really cross if that's taken away apparently..

'EVERYTHING has a minimal impact on the rich! that's not an argument! '

But we don't need new policies that continue along that path, brought in by the rich and targetting the poor.

'Booze is now a problem. It wasn't always. Now it is'

Average alcohol consumption has fallen.

There are much more important problems in thsi country than booze and targetting of poor people is not the solution. Not unnecessarily increasing the cost burden on the public is the number one duty of the government now alongside getting the economy moving. Taking more money out of people's pockets is wrong and has been described as 'political suicide' by some Tories.

However much progressives wish it would happen, I think as a Daily Mail article headline said 'it is dead in the water' and I and millions of others will drink to that.

I don't agree with minimum price. They could put a limit on the amount of alcohol bought at one transaction. Like they do with paracetemol. But that probably wouldn't go down very well with some folk.

'And we are really cross if that's taken away apparently.. '

Too right.
Oliver Cromwell and the puritans are gone. OK the "save the planet" doom mongers and puritans are back, but they've been rumbled and their game is up.

Blimey, it's already wine o'clock already. Excuse me while I fill my glass.

Average alcohol consumption has fallen fallen from what and when? When I looked at the stats it was all from the very high levels in the early 2000's.

And could it have anything to do with the soaring cost of drinking out in normal pubs and the recession meaning alcohol is more expensive ?

'Men and women of all ages are slowly curbing their excesses and drinking in moderation, according to the annual survey from the Office for National Statistics, which covers England, Scotland and Wales.

It suggests that heavy drinking is falling, abstinence is rising, and young people are leading the drive towards healthier drinking.

The decrease among some groups even pre-dates 2002, with men aged 16-24 drinking 26 units a week on average in 1999 and just 15 units a week in 2009, according to the ONS figures.'

'"In reality, we see a fairly deep-rooted decline in alcohol consumption which dates back to 2004. That's not something you see acknowledged in the media."

It's frustrating that the true story is not getting out there, says David Poley, chief executive of the Portman Group, an association of drinks producers in the UK.

"With newspapers, the headline is always the same: 'Shock rise in binge drinking'. But you look at the figures, and you see alcohol sales are declining.

"It's a myth that we need to make alcohol more expensive [to stop people drinking]. These trends are being reversed on their own."

The answer is obvious. How are they going to tax you more if they tell you the truth? It's the same with teh climate change mongers, but fortunately even Cameron's ex green guru was starting to have doubts about it.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12397254

The progressives can pull the wool over people's eyes for a while, but it won't last forever.

I'm bemused that the gov can set minimum pricing yet if ssupermarkets did it independently it would be called price fixing and would be heavily fined
I think it's cape goating the lowest common denominator
Having had a night out in Durham when pregnant I was sober and scares at how much people were drinking at 10pm- girls barely able To speak still being served shots of multiple rounds... This strikes far more of a binge drink cord that upping the cost of vodka in a supermarket...

Exactly. We have licensing laws about not serving people when they are drunk.

It is going ahead in Scotland, and I don't mind the couple of pounds a week extra it will cost me on wine, which is all I really drink.
My ds will be 18 this year and will soon be at university.
I know students drink and get cheap booze in Union bars, but I would prefer that he would look twice at the prices of booze in the supermarket, and refrain.

'It is going ahead in Scotland'

I think the EU are challenging it and I read somewhere that the only argument the Scottish parliament may be able to use is a public health issue. But goiod luck with that when France, Spain, Italy and Germany don't have it.

People are going to start toasting the EU at this rate.
That's the little people, the ones penalised by these policies.

The old line "we want to set our own laws" risks not going down too well in this case. People may say "no, we prefer EU laws on this one".

I think minimum pricing of alcohol is a good idea. I think it's very disappointing that Cameron's backing down on this.

You can get ridiculously cheap alcohol in supermarkets and off-licences, and there's a problem with binge drinking in this country. This policy might help address that. Agree it won't stop alcoholics drinking, but it might make it harder for teenagers, for instance, to get into the habit of drinking stupid amounts of booze just to get drunk. So might possibly help to stop people becoming alcoholics in the first place.

And it'll be better for pubs than raising overall duty as well, as a minimum price per unit would reduce the price differences between pub and supermarket alcohol.

We are not here to subsidise publicans profits. People should be able to decide where they drink without any artificial price fixing in the market that favours publicans. If people want to party in their gardens and hold barbecues that is their business.

They say it is about health, but the loaded bankers can drink as much as they like either in pubs (at higher prices) or at home.

It is the poor that are affected by this. Bullingdon Club members can carry on getting as pissed as they like. They can get "off their face" but Cameron won't make speeches about them.

Nope, none of those.

Claig is actually David Icke.

I agree with claig.

Thanks, expat. I was beginning to think that everyone on this thread was a progressive.