50p a unit minimum price for booze
Discussion
10 Pence Short said:
rhinochopig said:
10 Pence Short said:
rhinochopig said:
The whole thing is utter tosh - as someone quite rightly said this week, if the cheap price was such a draw we'd all have two or three DFS sofas sat in our front room.
It's not a very good analogy, is it?A sofa isn't strictly speaking a consumable.
The point being that even if sofas were 5p, people couldn't and wouldn't buy lots more because they don't have room or need for them.
With drink you can keep drinking until your money or ability to stay conscious runs out. If you make the first one happen more quickly, it makes it more difficult to achieve the second.
ts.supersingle said:
Can't possibly allow poor people to drink. FFS
Doubt it will affect poor people - minimum price of £1.50 for a pint of Stella, £1 for most of the alcopops isn't going to change the prices of those at all. It'll be the 13% wine at a minimum of £4.50 and spirits at £14 a bottle which is going to be the hardest hit.If the government want more money then they just have to increase the fines the drunks have to pay,who cause nationwide weekend mayhem in our towns and cities,via their public order charges.Put the emphasis on the individual,not on the alcohol they consume.Why in this country do we have to tar everyone with the same brush...
FunkyNige said:
supersingle said:
Can't possibly allow poor people to drink. FFS
Doubt it will affect poor people - minimum price of £1.50 for a pint of Stella, £1 for most of the alcopops isn't going to change the prices of those at all. It'll be the 13% wine at a minimum of £4.50 and spirits at £14 a bottle which is going to be the hardest hit.
On ABV, wine is v v cheap, even at £4.50 a bottle.
ETA. Supermarket prices re the Stella? Gotcha
Edited by DrTre on Sunday 15th March 09:58
DrTre said:
one fifty for pint of Stella? Where are you living? 1985?
Ooops, should've expanded on that slightly - setting the minimum price of Stella at £1.50 isn't going to change anything as Stella already costs much more than that (most of the time). At the moment you can get wine for less than £4.50 a bottle, which you won't be able to if this minimum price comes in.FunkyNige said:
supersingle said:
Can't possibly allow poor people to drink. FFS
Doubt it will affect poor people - minimum price of £1.50 for a pint of Stella, £1 for most of the alcopops isn't going to change the prices of those at all. It'll be the 13% wine at a minimum of £4.50 and spirits at £14 a bottle which is going to be the hardest hit.J500ANT said:
Scraggles said:
lucky i make my own wine, sorting out 15 gallons of assorted mead this weekend, all of them sulphite free 
If they impose this, one wonders if you'll have to impose a minimum price on yourself? I'm in support of a big increase in duty on all alcoholic drinks. If it means I pay 50p-£1 more for a bottle of wine then that is OK. You only have to go down your local High Street at 11pm on a Saturday night to see what the younger generation is turning into - a liability for the NHS, an embarrassment for the country. The government needs revenue from somewhere and this is a good candidate IMO. OK, so not everyone is a pi55-head, but I am not seeing good suggestions on other ways to beat this problem.
FunkyNige said:
Ooops, should've expanded on that slightly - setting the minimum price of Stella at £1.50 isn't going to change anything as Stella already costs much more than that (most of the time). At the moment you can get wine for less than £4.50 a bottle, which you won't be able to if this minimum price comes in.
Ahhh, yeah...very true (if I'd thought about it more I'd have worked out what you meant).Most alcohol is at least 50p a unit, you're right and for that reason I'm not really that fussed about this particular idea..will it mean across the board price rises on all types of alcohol? I doubt it..besides which, the last bottle of £3 wine I had tasted like it was very nearly going to be the last bottle of anything I had.
It does seem to be an odd way to attempt to control the issue. Like 10ps says, the cost is kind of irrelevant to most people, particularly those that (as mentioned in the article) are half cut in teh afternoon or earlier....they've got a problem and the problem isn't cheap alcohol.
Having said all that, it's just a lazy way for the govt to pass the onus onto all consumers for the sake of a very few under the banner of "Protecting the vulnerable". Again. Like the NSL speed reduction.
someone asked about sulphites - it is a preservative used in wines, often white. when I drink a wine with a lot of sulphites, I get like a bad asthmatic reaction, rarely use the puffer but need it lots, face and upper chest goes all blotchy and is not nice
sulphites used to preserve the wine, natural wine uses the higher alcohol strength to preserve it
sulphites used to preserve the wine, natural wine uses the higher alcohol strength to preserve it
Targarama said:
I'm in support of a big increase in duty on all alcoholic drinks. If it means I pay 50p-£1 more for a bottle of wine then that is OK. You only have to go down your local High Street at 11pm on a Saturday night to see what the younger generation is turning into - a liability for the NHS, an embarrassment for the country. The government needs revenue from somewhere and this is a good candidate IMO. OK, so not everyone is a pi55-head, but I am not seeing good suggestions on other ways to beat this problem.
Err.. how about enforcing the laws we already have? You know like punishments for being drunk and disorderly, not selling alcohol to people who are already drunk? 
I enjoy my beers responsibly whilst on a crap income from work and I hate it when people think that paying "just a little bit more" is somehow going to solve these problems. All it does is piss the majority off.
How about the government looks into WHY some people feel the need for so much escapism with alcohol? But we know they can't be bothered with that - much easier to just slap a tax on instead.
This is going to have no practical effect on the vast majority of people and in that sense I can see them sneaking it in without too much outcry. However that really isn't the point - it's just another step down the road of tax this, ban that, control control control. This government it seems just can't think of any solutions to problems that don't involve more regulation, more state interference and less individual freedom.
It's a bad idea not because it's going to cost people more money, as for the most part it won't. It's a bad idea because we just don't need more government meddling.
It's a bad idea not because it's going to cost people more money, as for the most part it won't. It's a bad idea because we just don't need more government meddling.
Targarama said:
I'm in support of a big increase in duty on all alcoholic drinks. If it means I pay 50p-£1 more for a bottle of wine then that is OK. You only have to go down your local High Street at 11pm on a Saturday night to see what the younger generation is turning into - a liability for the NHS, an embarrassment for the country. The government needs revenue from somewhere and this is a good candidate IMO. OK, so not everyone is a pi55-head, but I am not seeing good suggestions on other ways to beat this problem.
not all to do with pricethe huge expansion in the numbers of bars and clubs in towns over the last 10 years or so is scary.
Why do we need / why do councils allow whole streets in towns and cities to be clubs / bars??
davido140 said:
J500ANT said:
Scraggles said:
lucky i make my own wine, sorting out 15 gallons of assorted mead this weekend, all of them sulphite free
If they impose this, one wonders if you'll have to impose a minimum price on yourself? Won't stop me enjoying a drink. I don't buy the cheap stuff anyway! We do buy offers at christmas time etc so this may be the only time we'll notice it, however this New Years we bought mini kegs from our local microbrewery rather than the normal stella's carlings etc, much better.
They're claiming it costs the NHS 3 billion a year in drink related issues, but how much tax do we pay to cover this!
Annoys me that they believe it'll make a difference, I'm not convinced at all.
They're claiming it costs the NHS 3 billion a year in drink related issues, but how much tax do we pay to cover this!
Annoys me that they believe it'll make a difference, I'm not convinced at all.
I like this idea, I just went to http://www.drinkaware.co.uk/tips-and-tools/drink-d... and found that a pint of Stella is 2.95 units, which would work out at a minimum price of £1.48! Hurrah!
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