The end of cheap Alcohol.

[Saintandy666]

This will not work, and I'm pretty sure the statistics they are using to back up this change are pulled out of their arseholes. The problem is a cultural one. In other European countries, there is nowhere near the problem we have, and alcohol is dirt cheap.

 

And so I will introduce my plan for change that I am sure will be taken up the government immediately.

 

1. End the stigmatisation of alcohol. Educate children at school properly on sensible drinking; beyond alcohol will harm you if you drink it. This has a reverse effect.

2. Encourage parents, like in Europe to introduce Children to alcohol within a sensible environment at a young age. For example, a glass of wine with a meal from 16 as is done in other countries.

3. Allow people who are under 18 to once again drink in pubs(this was done in the past with a wink from the barman), but from the age of 16 beers and ciders should be allowed to be drunk by 16+ year olds in pubs under the watchful eye of the barman. This will introduce children to drinking in a sensible environment as used to be instead of down the park with a bottle of vodka. However, keep alcohol from supermarkets to 18+ to encourage people to drink in pubs.

4. Rise the age for spirits to 21. Much of the problem today is not in Beer and Cider drinking, it is that kids the age of 15+ and sometimes younger drink cheap vodka down the park which is very high in alcohol and very damaging, but it's also the cheapest. Rising it in this way will make it harder for young people to obtain vodkas and will make beers and ciders more attractive.

[Thedelldays]

well, they have to make up the money lost on fags

[buctootim]

I blame the weather. Binge drinking tends to be associated with northern climes where people have a more indoor existance. Alaska, Finland, Russia, small town Sweden isnt really any different to here - except people tend to drink at home more rather than go out and drink.

[JonnyLove]

They are talking about bringing in a minimum charge per unit of alcohol. They have today banded about the figure of 40p per unit.

 

A Can of Carling is about 2 units of alcohol so that's a minimum charge of 80p per can. (I'm not thinking it's that bad)

[pap]

I blame the weather. Binge drinking tends to be associated with northern climes where people have a more indoor existance. Alaska, Finland, Russia, small town Sweden isnt really any different to here - except people tend to drink at home more rather than go out and drink.

 

How does that square with the post pub kebab? Do they just chuck grey slivers of donner meat around their own living room?

[buctootim]

How does that square with the post pub kebab? Do they just chuck grey slivers of donner meat around their own living room?

 

Have you seen this new film? Cracking story about a Swedish woman who drank a bottle of wine, smoked two joints, snorted two lines of speed and then went for a kebab.

 

[View From The Top]

This can't be right, the government telling us what is good for us and implementing rules to enforce it?

 

The Nanny State?

 

But the hard of thinking told us this only happened under Labour!

[Window Cleaner]

This will not work, and I'm pretty sure the statistics they are using to back up this change are pulled out of their arseholes. The problem is a cultural one. In other European countries, there is nowhere near the problem we have, and alcohol is dirt cheap.

 

And so I will introduce my plan for change that I am sure will be taken up the government immediately.

 

1. End the stigmatisation of alcohol. Educate children at school properly on sensible drinking; beyond alcohol will harm you if you drink it. This has a reverse effect.

2. Encourage parents, like in Europe to introduce Children to alcohol within a sensible environment at a young age. For example, a glass of wine with a meal from 16 as is done in other countries.

3. Allow people who are under 18 to once again drink in pubs(this was done in the past with a wink from the barman), but from the age of 16 beers and ciders should be allowed to be drunk by 16+ year olds in pubs under the watchful eye of the barman. This will introduce children to drinking in a sensible environment as used to be instead of down the park with a bottle of vodka. However, keep alcohol from supermarkets to 18+ to encourage people to drink in pubs.

4. Rise the age for spirits to 21. Much of the problem today is not in Beer and Cider drinking, it is that kids the age of 15+ and sometimes younger drink cheap vodka down the park which is very high in alcohol and very damaging, but it's also the cheapest. Rising it in this way will make it harder for young people to obtain vodkas and will make beers and ciders more attractive.

 

Here's a solution for you...give kids less money, that should fix it.Lack of money cured me of underage binge drinking before it even started.Give students a grant and make the parents contribute as well,don't loan them money, that will cure overdrinking as well,parents included. When you're forking out a couple of thousand a month to help your kids through their studies you've less money for p*ss ups at the golf club and weekenders in Dubai.If you make people spend their money on their responsibilites then you'll cure a fair bit of excessive drinking.

Edited 23 March, 2012 by Window Cleaner

[Lord Duckhunter]

An interesting article here.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15265317

 

 

I tend to agree with most of what she says.

 

 

As I've got older I've had a more European approach to drink.

 

I've always loved drink and in my younger days I would go out with the sole intention of getting drunk. Now I go out to have a drink and sometimes drink too much.There is a subtle difference, and I also try to act as sober as possible whilst half cut. It was strange but when you're younger there is some sort of badge of honour with being drunk. At 21 if someone had said "I saw you staggering down the road last night", I would have felt quite proud, now at 48 I would be a bit ashamed.

 

I've always tried to bring my children up with drink around. One of them hardly touches a drop and another gets hammered every weekend, so there has to be more to it than the family enviorment. Alcopops dont help, when I was young you drank a few pints and were then sick. These drinks means youngsters can go on and on drinking. I used to drink in pubs where the landlords would keep an eye on you. They knew we were underage but would step in if we'd had enough, same with the older locals, they would tell us to go home once we'd had our fill. Try doing that nowadays and you'ld end up in a scrap.

 

Putting the price up is a bizzare policy, when every other policy has been about relaxing the laws. The message seems to be "drink is so bad for you, that we've set a minimum price, but provided you can pay it, you can drink all night". Surely the long openning hours have as much bearing on behaviours as the price?

[trousers]

This can't be right, the government telling us what is good for us and implementing rules to enforce it?

 

The Nanny State?

 

But the hard of thinking told us this only happened under Labour!

 

The "nanny state" targets Mr & Mrs Average for the sake of doing so. This measure is targetting oiks who have little or no intelligence nor parents whom care.

 

Mr and Mrs Average will still be able to enjoy a bottle of wine of an evening without breaking the bank.

 

[thefunkygibbons]

No one likes change and no one wants to pay more for any product

 

However, if we accept that if people want to drink themselves silly, they can do so, then the answer has to be reduce the harm to other people, that is, zero tolerance to drunk drivers, casual violence, assaulting public servants (such as A&E nurses) and enforce the laws on being drunk and disorderly

 

And charge people for medical services such as ambulences and A&E

[buctootim]

Putting the price up is a bizzare policy, when every other policy has been about relaxing the laws. The message seems to be "drink is so bad for you, that we've set a minimum price, but provided you can pay it, you can drink all night". Surely the long openning hours have as much bearing on behaviours as the price?

 

Isnt the minimum price per unit aimed at supermarkets? It would be no bad thing imo to raise the price and effectively narrow the price differential between drinking tescos white cider in a park and drinking with friends in a bar.

[Lord Duckhunter]

Isnt the minimum price per unit aimed at supermarkets? It would be no bad thing imo to raise the price and effectively narrow the price differential between drinking tescos white cider in a park and drinking with friends in a bar.

 

But there are already laws in place that are nor being enforced. It is an offense to serve someone who is drunk, there are anti social behaviour laws which cover drunk and disorderly. I would even bring in laws regarding public consumption like some states in America have.

 

If drink is so bad that we have to raise the price, why can we buy and drink it around the clock? Extending the licencing laws causes as many issues as cheap supermarket drink.

 

If we wnat to encourage people into bars, then lower the tax on pub's that close at 12.

[Ampersound]

Buy a still and make your own spirits.

 

£150 for one then you don't need to worry about prices again.

 

You can get all the flavours you want..most excellent.

[Sergei Gotsmanov]

I blame the weather. Binge drinking tends to be associated with northern climes where people have a more indoor existance. Alaska, Finland, Russia, small town Sweden isnt really any different to here - except people tend to drink at home more rather than go out and drink.

 

As an aside Buctotim, Sweden do not import their Heineken it is brewed by Spendrups.

[The Majestic Channon]

I blame the weather. Binge drinking tends to be associated with northern climes where people have a more indoor existance. Alaska, Finland, Russia, small town Sweden isnt really any different to here - except people tend to drink at home more rather than go out and drink.

 

Your'e right they do, i've worked with plenty of alcoholics over here who mostly drink whisky at home,one had a small portable fridge full of 7% lager in his diesel forklift , god knows how he got away with it.

There are no off licences here and you can't buy beer stronger than 3,5 % , wines or spirits anywhere but systembolagets which are government run stores.

A pint in a pub is about 55 kronor , around a fiver, although imports such as newcastle brown was 70 kronor last time i was in a pub.

[Sergei Gotsmanov]

Your'e right they do, i've worked with plenty of alcoholics over here who mostly drink whisky at home,one had a small portable fridge full of 7% lager in his diesel forklift , god knows how he got away with it.

There are no off licences here and you can't buy beer stronger than 3,5 % , wines or spirits anywhere but systembolagets which are government run stores.

A pint in a pub is about 55 kronor , around a fiver, although imports such as newcastle brown was 70 kronor last time i was in a pub.

 

At one point alcohol was actually rationed in Sweden. A lot of people used to make their own.

[The Majestic Channon]

At one point alcohol was actually rationed in Sweden. A lot of people used to make their own.[/quote

 

Yeah, try that now though and your'e nicked. Sytembolagets was introduced because there was so many alcoholics making their own .

[Sergei Gotsmanov]

At one point alcohol was actually rationed in Sweden. A lot of people used to make their own.[/quote

 

Yeah, try that now though and your'e nicked. Sytembolagets was introduced because there was so many alcoholics making their own .

 

You could go to Germany.

[LGTL]

Typical Tory nanny state.

[mightysaints]

Prohibtion through the back door. One goverment after another has screwed up this country and the only thing we have left is reasonably cheap booze and now they are going to screw this up.

[dune]

It's only being done to raise more money for the exchequer. Cue an upsurge in people nipping over the channel and stocking up just like in the past.

[trousers]

It's only being done to raise more money for the exchequer. Cue an upsurge in people nipping over the channel and stocking up just like in the past.

 

Not forgetting to deduct the extortionate cost of petrol to get there....

[trousers]

Typical Tory nanny state.

 

Stitching up one's sides as we speak... ;-)

[Window Cleaner]

Not forgetting to deduct the extortionate cost of petrol to get there....

 

but if you've got a diesel you may save a bit,if you get it in the supermarkets or garages that have them as concurrents it's about 1.40 euros a litre against about 1.80 euros in the UK I think. So 60 litres would save you 24 euros or about 16/17 litres, enough for

about 320 kilometres if you've got a nice little runner ,not quite Southampton-Dover and back though and there's always the price of the tunnel or ferry.

Edited 23 March, 2012 by Window Cleaner

[The Majestic Channon]

 

You could go to Germany.

 

We do often, by the coach load

[Chin Strain]

Isnt the minimum price per unit aimed at supermarkets? It would be no bad thing imo to raise the price and effectively narrow the price differential between drinking tescos white cider in a park and drinking with friends in a bar.

 

I'm 41 and have children aged 6 and 8. I don't drink at all in the week, and have a few bottles of beer each night over the weekend. If we go to friends, or they come to us, that would extend to more beer / wine. I don't go to pubs much to drink these days (due to kids) and, if we do go, we go for a meal.

 

Given the above I'd consider that I'm a responsible drinker, and have enough space in the house to store crates of beer. I tend to buy beer when it's on offer - 3 crates for £20 for example - and the kind of drink I buy is 1664, Becks, Guinness, Savannah Dry, Magners, Cidre etc.

 

Given the above, I seriously object to pricing being forced up, meaning that I have to pay more money to drink responsibly.

[norwaysaint]

Your'e right they do, i've worked with plenty of alcoholics over here who mostly drink whisky at home,one had a small portable fridge full of 7% lager in his diesel forklift , god knows how he got away with it.

There are no off licences here and you can't buy beer stronger than 3,5 % , wines or spirits anywhere but systembolagets which are government run stores.

A pint in a pub is about 55 kronor , around a fiver, although imports such as newcastle brown was 70 kronor last time i was in a pub.

 

You could go to Germany.

 

We do often, by the coach load

 

Worth pointing out that here in Norway, we go to Sweden for cheaper alcohol. They have enormous warehouse stores on the border. If we want to buy wine here, we have to go to vinmonopolet (the wine monopoly). Most Norwegians would say that 55 SEK is very cheap for a beer.

[This Charming Man]

Worth pointing out that here in Norway, we go to Sweden for cheaper alcohol. They have enormous warehouse stores on the border. If we want to buy wine here, we have to go to vinmonopolet (the wine monopoly). Most Norwegians would say that 55 SEK is very cheap for a beer.

 

What's the average price of a pint over there? I'm off to Oslo on May.

[Chin Strain]

 

You could go to Germany.

 

Just don't buy bottled beer as there's a big deposit!

[dubai_phil]

Here's a solution for you...give kids less money, that should fix it.Lack of money cured me of underage binge drinking before it even started.Give students a grant and make the parents contribute as well,don't loan them money, that will cure overdrinking as well,parents included. When you're forking out a couple of thousand a month to help your kids through their studies you've less money for p*ss ups at the golf club and weekenders in Dubai.If you make people spend their money on their responsibilites then you'll cure a fair bit of excessive drinking.

 

Oi! Leave us out of it!

[CB Saint]

This is becoming more viable by the budget. http://www.williamswarn.com/The-WilliamsWarn

[Junior Mullet]

Typical Tory nanny state.

 

One word of advice - don't take the stuff the Tories do at face value. This is about preserving country pubs and community pubs.

[Thorpe-le-Saint]

What politicians in general fail to grasp is that people will always, regardless of cost, get battered.

[Dr Who?]

I will be making my own brew and selling it on the cheap.

 

Alcohol going underground next?

[John Boy Saint]

Getting a booze cruise coach trip together: who wants to add their name to the list.

 

 

 

 

Only a gag but you can see the return of the Booze Cruise to France.

[Thedelldays]

What politicians in general fail to grasp is that people will always, regardless of cost, get battered.

they don't fail to grasp this what so ever....they hope people do...more £££££££

 

this is hardly a surprise, they have to find the large amount of money from the loss on fags

[pap]

Apparently a number of drinks companies are now challenging this on the grounds that this breaks EU competition rules.

 

A Frenchman was also heard to say "J'adore White Lightning". Probably.

[CB Saint]

Apparently a number of drinks companies are now challenging this on the grounds that this breaks EU competition rules.

 

A Frenchman was also heard to say "J'adore White Lightning". Probably.

 

I wonder if the drinks industry may be better winding their neck in a bit, just in case they get landed with something much worse instead.

 

I do wonder if this is really going to work, kids in town centre have generally spent more that 40p unit in the pubs and clubs, and is an extra £2 quid on a 2l bottle of super strength own brand cidre really deter someone, I doubt it.

 

Perhaps we should do what they do in Iceland and British Colombia where the liquor stores are government owned and run. Then the price can by properly regulated and the profit can help the taxpayer who has to pay for the aftermath of the binge drinking.

[pap]

Well, I can't say that it would affect me too much. Isn't this just targeted at super "get you p*ssed quick" chemical slurry like really strong cider?

 

That said though, this won't solve the problem of binge drinking. I happen to believe that it's a consequence of our relatively reserved culture. Drinking happens to be a perfect form of escapism for those who spend most of their time bottling their feelings up. Stiff upper lip leads to a stiff drink, in short

[SaintBobby]

they don't fail to grasp this what so ever....they hope people do...more £££££££

 

this is hardly a surprise, they have to find the large amount of money from the loss on fags

 

How does this policy raise much money? It's a minimum price not a tax, the revenues will be microscopic.

[pap]

How does this policy raise much money? It's a minimum price not a tax, the revenues will be microscopic.

 

Indeed, the only extra revenue will be the taxation on the new minimum price. Nothing in the grand scheme of things, particularly as most people are paying more than that per unit anyway.

 

It has been suggested (by the Labour Party) that the Home Secretary has been sent in to make noise about this to divert attention from a badly-received budget. If there is anything going on beyond face value here, I'd probably say that this was it.