Minimum price for alcohol called for.....

[Corsair7]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/10207827.stm

Wont putting up the price accross the board just mean a return to 'booze cruises'....?

Most alcholics I know seem pretty well off fincially, raising the prices of booze certainly woudlnt stop them buying booze anyway, they'd just spend less on other things.

I thought we were binning the 'nanny state' with the new government...?

[Tsippy]

Really think it has anything to do with alcoholics? It's purely a way of generating more revenue.

"Binge drinking" is to alcohol as "Climate change" is to petrol, purely a government money maker disguised under the veil of an alleged good cause.

[The real Apache]

Ban drinking....... ban smoking, ban firearms, ban hunting, ban weed, ban everything....it's the only way to be sure

[otolith]

The medical establishment has been calling for this for a while - they have been emboldened by their success in interfering with where people can smoke, and have been looking to open a new front on alcohol.

They might find their pressure less effective with a government which is less naturally inclined to interfere in individual liberty for people's own good - according to that report, "The coalition government agrees that alcohol misuse is a problem, but does not support a minimum price".

Minimum pricing is preferable to an across the board increase in tax, but minding their own f***ing business is better still.

[Austin.J]

"He estimates that a minimum price on every unit of 40 pence would result in about 1,000 fewer premature deaths a year, about 40,000 fewer hospital admissions a year, and about 10,000 fewer violent crimes and criminal damage incidents per year."

I'd like to know how they figured that out, if they raised the price of alcohol it would not stop me going out on a night and getting tee total, unless they raised it by a daft amount.


Apart from being a pain in the ass isn't this just another stealth tax?

[DonkeyApple]

I would have thought that they had an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone by increasing the tax on 'off license' booze and decreasing it in non town centre pubs.

Thus, encourage people to go out to their local a bit more and help stop them from all closing down.

The current decline of the 'pub' is very sad but more importantly, they are key social hubs and we live in a society where the social aspect is falling apart fast.

I would even look to maybe removing the license for selling booze from supermarkets. They can handle the loss of business. This would steer more business to the classic 'offie' to help them counter the decline in business that would be caused by spiking off license taxation.

Discounting tax on out of town pubs or probably more sensibly, pubs of a certain size (ie not to benefit the super pubs that are awful and not allow them to benefit from opening up in the middle of knowhere) would create social adhesion, young boozers would be monitored by peers (as used to happen) and it would boost local businesses and assist in employment.

So in short:

Ban supermarkets from selling booze.

Raise tax on any booze sold 'off license'

Offer nothing to pubs greater than a certain size.

Discount tax on smaller pubs.

Problems solved unless someone can find an error in my brilliant logic

[The real Apache]

DonkeyApple said:

I would have thought that they had an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone by increasing the tax on 'off license' booze and decreasing it in non town centre pubs.

Thus, encourage people to go out to their local a bit more and help stop them from all closing down.

The current decline of the 'pub' is very sad but more importantly, they are key social hubs and we live in a society where the social aspect is falling apart fast.

I would even look to maybe removing the license for selling booze from supermarkets. They can handle the loss of business. This would steer more business to the classic 'offie' to help them counter the decline in business that would be caused by spiking off license taxation.

Discounting tax on out of town pubs or probably more sensibly, pubs of a certain size (ie not to benefit the super pubs that are awful and not allow them to benefit from opening up in the middle of knowhere) would create social adhesion, young boozers would be monitored by peers (as used to happen) and it would boost local businesses and assist in employment.

So in short:

Ban supermarkets from selling booze.

Raise tax on any booze sold 'off license'

Offer nothing to pubs greater than a certain size.

Discount tax on smaller pubs.

Problems solved unless someone can find an error in my brilliant logic

Yup, makes sense to me, the decline in pubs means the decline in social gathering and in some cases the hub of the village scene.
Now people stay in, get hammered watching soaps about people going to pubs and socialising, or buy booze in off licences and get hammered with their gang in the park. it's freakish.

[XJ40]

Corsair7 said:

I thought we were binning the 'nanny state' with the new government...?

Yeah, I thought we were in for less interference, not more. It does sound like they've jumped on the binge drinking issue as an excuse to raise taxes.

That said, if taxes do have to go up and I guess that'll have to somewhat, then I think it should be on consumer products like this rather than income.

[V88Dicky]

DonkeyApple said:

I would have thought that they had an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone by increasing the tax on 'off license' booze and decreasing it in non town centre pubs.

Thus, encourage people to go out to their local a bit more and help stop them from all closing down.

The current decline of the 'pub' is very sad but more importantly, they are key social hubs and we live in a society where the social aspect is falling apart fast.

I would even look to maybe removing the license for selling booze from supermarkets. They can handle the loss of business. This would steer more business to the classic 'offie' to help them counter the decline in business that would be caused by spiking off license taxation.

Discounting tax on out of town pubs or probably more sensibly, pubs of a certain size (ie not to benefit the super pubs that are awful and not allow them to benefit from opening up in the middle of knowhere) would create social adhesion, young boozers would be monitored by peers (as used to happen) and it would boost local businesses and assist in employment.

So in short:

Ban supermarkets from selling booze.

Raise tax on any booze sold 'off license'

Offer nothing to pubs greater than a certain size.

Discount tax on smaller pubs.

Problems solved unless someone can find an error in my brilliant logic

I've been saying this for ages. I can remember a time when you couldn't buy booze from supermarkets, and pubs seemed to be a lot busier then. How about trying the Canadian model in booze only being available in either boozers or strictly policed Government off licences?

Supermarkets could easily make up the lost deficit from drinks sales.

[otolith]

XJ40 said:

Corsair7 said:

I thought we were binning the 'nanny state' with the new government...?

Yeah, I thought we were in for less interference, not more. It does sound like they've jumped on the binge drinking issue as an excuse to raise taxes.

The government have said that they are NOT IN FAVOUR of this. This is not coming from the government.

[XJ40]

otolith said:

XJ40 said:

Corsair7 said:

I thought we were binning the 'nanny state' with the new government...?

Yeah, I thought we were in for less interference, not more. It does sound like they've jumped on the binge drinking issue as an excuse to raise taxes.

The government have said that they are NOT IN FAVOUR of this. This is not coming from the government.

Yes, my mistake, the BBC article says it is in fact the Scottish government who are trying to introduce a minimum price, must have misread.

[DonkeyApple]

XJ40 said:

otolith said:

XJ40 said:

Corsair7 said:

I thought we were binning the 'nanny state' with the new government...?

Yeah, I thought we were in for less interference, not more. It does sound like they've jumped on the binge drinking issue as an excuse to raise taxes.

The government have said that they are NOT IN FAVOUR of this. This is not coming from the government.

Yes, my mistake, the BBC article says it is in fact the Scottish government who are trying to introduce a minimum price, must have misread.

1p?

[AndrewW-G]

XJ40 said:

otolith said:

XJ40 said:

Corsair7 said:

I thought we were binning the 'nanny state' with the new government...?

Yeah, I thought we were in for less interference, not more. It does sound like they've jumped on the binge drinking issue as an excuse to raise taxes.

The government have said that they are NOT IN FAVOUR of this. This is not coming from the government.

Yes, my mistake, the BBC article says it is in fact the Scottish government who are trying to introduce a minimum price, must have misread.

Yet Buckfast tonic wouldnt be affected as it's not that cheap!

[paddyhasneeds]

Heard something about this on the radio this morning. They had a doctor explaining how it's not the individuals fault because they're exposed to all this cheap alcohol and advertising everywhere they look.

I did find myself wondering if that's the case, why am I driving to work stone cold sober not having gone and gotten pissed off my face on cheap booze last night.

[dcb]

paddyhasneeds said:

Heard something about this on the radio this morning. They had a doctor explaining how it's not the individuals fault because they're exposed to all this cheap alcohol and advertising everywhere they look.

They are trying to use price as a proxy for some
plain old fashioned self control.

Total waste of time in my view.

Booze is a lot cheaper in most of the EU than the UK and they
don't get anywhere like as many problems.

[Einion Yrth]

dcb said:

Booze is a lot cheaper in most of the EU than the UK and they
don't get anywhere like as many problems.

They also drink more per-capita than we do in several european countries. The British have always gone out, got pissed and had fights, it's part of the national psyche and there's bugger all you can do about it.

[Scraggles]

recall commenting on another thread about it

the minimum pricing benefits the supermwarkerts to a point, the chavs and drunks will find something really cheap to abuse instead of say buckfast wine

[Spiritual_Beggar]

The real Apache said:

Ban drinking....... ban smoking, ban firearms, ban hunting, ban weed, ban everything....it's the only way to be sure

I thought the only way to be sure was to Nuke everything from orbit?

[Talksteer]

As pointed out in the article on the BBC the minimum price is unlikely to be anywhere near the prices currently charged by most venues. This will therefore have negligible effect on the alcohol related problems in town centres. The only people it might effect would be problem drinkers who get hammered on cheap strong drinks at home or on the street.

Therefore it might have the effect of cutting under-age drinking and reducing the levels of alcoholism amongst the poor.

More likely it will lead to under-age kids stealing more booze or the money to buy booze and impoverishing more poor alcoholics driving them further into despair while encouraging the practice of booze smuggling with attendant costs in increase criminality of the population and police time and resources.

[Garlick]

Original thread here

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...