Minimum pricing for alcohol came in the UK today
by ballistic 28 Replies latest jw friends
-
-
ballistic
thin end of the wedge for prohibition, or a mechanism to allow the rich to drink and not the poor?
-
cofty
Its only a proposal at the moment, probably 40p per unit minimum. It won't effect most drinks only the super-strong, dirt-cheap ciders etc that kids use to get very drunk before they even start their night out.
If it was up to me I would also look at stopping all drinks promotions in pubs. We have a significant problem with alchohol abuse in the UK and its costing the NHS millions while the drinks industry gets very wealthy.
-
-
ballistic
cofty, when I used to smoke, people used to say I was costing the NHS millions, but as I have lots of family who work for the NHS, I am only too aware that what is costing the NHS is poeple living longer. The government feels the constant need to be politically correct and force people into healthy lifestyles, without accounting for the cost of homes filled with old age people and their various old age problems.
-
cofty
Yes an ageing population is expensive but fags, too much drink, poor diets and lazy people account for a big slice of the health budget.
-
ballistic
Just don't say the fag word on here cofty ;) it means something else in Cali. Anyway, with the other thing, it's the principle of it. The BBC ranting about how good the increase in price in alcohol is while we all know about middle class drugs like coke.
-
cofty
ooops - fags = cigarettes (UK slang)
-
Band on the Run
Is the minimum price near the market price?
Do you think it will stop anyone purchasing alcoholic drinks? Where does the money go? They don't say it is a tax. Good champagne is rather expensive b/c of the revenue tax and luxury tax.
-
cuckoo in the nest
I live in a small town in the middle of rural Suffolk. Around here the teenagers do nothing but get bladdered every weekend, probably because there's nothing else to do, and invariably just cause trouble. Pubescent piss-artists get tanked up on cider that doubles as paint stripper, about three quid for two litres, and hang around outside the take-aways in the High Street or in the churchyard and shout, scream, vomit and break stuff.
Earlier tonight there was a fight at the block of flats (apartments) up the road from my house which was most definately alcohol fuelled. Across town a camper van (motor home) caught fire. It wouldn't surprise me if it was a deliberate act as arson is a popular nocturnal sport amongst the drunken dickheads here and we have had a few instances of it recently.
If a minimum price per unit helps curtail any behaviour of this kind it can only be a good thing. The drinks industry may whine about it penalising sensible drinkers but they aren't the problem. It's the imbeciles who insist on drinking themselves into oblivion and inflict themselves on the rest of us who are, and they have brought it upon themselves.