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The pubs are not closing fast enough so more drastic measures are needed

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    The pubs are not closing fast enough so more drastic measures are needed

    Plan to raise price of alcohol

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7944334.stm

    The government's top medical adviser has drawn up plans for a minimum price for alcohol which would double the cost of some drinks in England.

    Under the proposal from Sir Liam Donaldson, it has been reported that no drinks could be sold for less than 50 pence per unit of alcohol they contain.

    It would mean most bottles of wine could not be sold for less than £4.50.
    You can buy bottles of wine for less than £4.50?


    Seriously though, I realise that everything relating to being a human changes over time. One long chain of those changes mean that I can buy my dinner in the supermarket now and I don't have to go out and catch it. I am quite happy about that.

    But I do like a drink and I do like going to the pub, so I feel a huge sense of loss to see the UK decide that it is the sort of place that wants to regulate these places into oblivion.

    Here's the head of JD Wetherspoon's thoughts on the matter:

    JD Wetherspoon blames tax for pubs calling time


    http://business.timesonline.co.uk/to...cle5904097.ece

    The company said that it ....... was benefiting from its decision to open all its pubs for breakfast. It said that it was selling more than 700,000 breakfasts and coffees a week - more than many coffee shop chains.
    Should I just accept that going for a few beers was a pasttime of the common folk and it is about time that it was stopped?

    Going for coffee is the way of the future (and in fact was what the merchant classes were doing a couple of hundred years ago), I just have to learn to live with that?

    #2
    You get what you vote for !!! .... and you surely got it !!

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by Gonzo View Post
      Should I just accept that going for a few beers was a pasttime of the common folk and it is about time that it was stopped?
      I suspect they want us to stay at home and watch the goggle-box.

      Originally posted by Gonzo View Post
      Going for coffee is the way of the future (and in fact was what the merchant classes were doing a couple of hundred years ago), I just have to learn to live with that?
      Can you get a decent cup of coffee in a UK pub?
      Behold the warranty -- the bold print giveth and the fine print taketh away.

      Comment


        #4
        50p per unit works out as a minimum price of £1.50-£2.00 a pint or £1-£1.50 for a glass of wine in a pub, if memory serves; not a big change outside of student bars and private clubs (which may well be exempt) apart from the real dumps where you go purely to get hammered, and are the kind of places I'd be happy to see disappear. You know, the ones doing 50p shots with pools of sick outside the door and police waiting on the street after 10pm for when (not if) things get nasty.

        It could affect buying from a supermarket... many people drink £3-4 bottles (as wine, not just to get pissed), and cans are typically a lot cheaper.

        My question is if there's a minimum price and Tesco Value Strong Cider goes from 99p to £2.50 per litre, who gets all that massive margin? Are the shops left laughing or would there be a "minimum drink price" tax, where the government scoop the extra profit margin 'to invest in tackling binge-drinking'?

        I can see the argument that really cheap, nasty, strong cider/lager isn't a great thing, but minimum pricing seems a pretty lame way to approach the problem.
        Originally posted by MaryPoppins
        I'd still not breastfeed a nazi
        Originally posted by vetran
        Urine is quite nourishing

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by d000hg View Post
          50p per unit works out as a minimum price of £1.50-£2.00 a pint or £1-£1.50 for a glass of wine in a pub, if memory serves; not a big change outside of student bars and private clubs (which may well be exempt) apart from the real dumps where you go purely to get hammered, and are the kind of places I'd be happy to see disappear. You know, the ones doing 50p shots with pools of sick outside the door and police waiting on the street after 10pm for when (not if) things get nasty.
          But what happens one year on when for example, consumption has only reduced 3% not the 7% expected? Raise the price to £1 per unit? Or the country decides that a 7% reduction is not far enough, so to halve consumption the price is increased to £5 per unit?

          I object to the idea that the state should even attempt to regulate anyone's alcohol consumption. Why not regulate fast-food consumption while they're at it. And cake and biscuit consumption. And red meat consumption. And dairy consumption. Need I go on?
          Originally posted by d000hg View Post
          I can see the argument that really cheap, nasty, strong cider/lager isn't a great thing, but minimum pricing seems a pretty lame way to approach the problem.
          It is lame, and poorly thought out. The amount of home-brew produced if such measures were introduced would go through the roof.

          Some people really have no idea.

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by Gonzo View Post
            I object to the idea that the state should even attempt to regulate anyone's alcohol consumption.
            I don't in the slightest - excessive alcohol consumption is a REAL issue in the UK, millions of other voters would agree. (Bit of a bugger though because I drink quite a lot) but if measures like this mean less crime, burden on health care and improved quality or perception of quality of life then it's a good thing. Government have been trying to regulate alcohol intake for years, unsuccessfully. Their attack on smoking has had an impact though.

            Originally posted by Gonzo View Post
            The amount of home-brew produced if such measures were introduced would go through the roof.
            As proportion of current production you "may" be right although it seems unlikely. As a proportion of total alcohol consumed, home-brew is and will remain incredibly small. Surely you don't think the opposite is true?

            Originally posted by Gonzo View Post
            Some people really have no idea.
            Agreed...

            Comment


              #7
              Hmmm, could be a Daily Mash story this.

              If I genuinely thought that the clueless turds in Westminster had our interests at heart I might be convinced with ideas like this. But let's face it - everything ends with taxation being raised with no caveats as to how that extra revenue will be used.

              In other words, a skint Government will con money out of us any way it can under the pretence of being for our own good.

              I could see this coming as soon as reports started appearing from 'health experts' that concluded that alcohol was too cheap. The spin machine was softening us up for a tax raid on booze. Plant subliminal messages in everyone's mind that alcohol was too cheap and eventually they start to believe it.

              So will the binge drinking really subside? Will all the extra revenue raised tackle the problem? I really can't see it. Besides, isn't much of the problem-drinking supposed to be done by the middle-classes who have more disposable income.... ah, now I see what they are after doing!

              Let's hope that the war on booze is more successful than the war on drugs.

              Comment


                #8
                So we will all have to switch to home brew? Or will that be taxed too?

                When I say "we" I mean "you" as I am almost tee-total.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Well they don't want us to stop drinking really.

                  They started taxing motorists heavily because they wanted to meet carbon targets and improve the environment by getting everyone on public transport. Great.

                  Except as soon as luxury car companies started to struggle (which you would expect with such measures surely?) they panicked and started bailing them out!

                  So, a cynical person might conclude that really they are only after your money and your votes.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by Olly View Post
                    <snip> (Bit of a bugger though because I drink quite a lot) but if measures like this mean less crime, burden on health care and improved quality or perception of quality of life then it's a good thing.
                    How much crime are you responsible for and how much would a reduction in your drinking reduce it by? None I suspect, which is mostly my point.

                    Originally posted by Olly View Post
                    As proportion of current production you "may" be right although it seems unlikely. As a proportion of total alcohol consumed, home-brew is and will remain incredibly small. Surely you don't think the opposite is true?
                    Whether it is home-brew, drugs or glue, those with lower resources will find something to take the place of the alcohol that they can no longer afford.

                    In the process of "solving one problem by creating a whole new one" we will be condemning the tradtional pub to history (as the smoking ban is already starting to do), and that bothers me.

                    Comment

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