It seems that our new overlords are on the verge of introducing a minimum unit price for alcohol in order to protect us from ourselves. The Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, is going to introduce a white paper on a range of interventions intended to 'reduce health inequalities'.
Rather than clamping down on the minority of people who cause a nuisance by binge drinking, they feel it necessary to introduce punishing alcohol taxes. This sounds like nothing more than a revenue raising exercise. The highly educated morons masquerading as politicians have learned nothing from America's disastrous prohibition experiment or the experience of countries like Sweden and Norway. Oh well, let's give this a go... after all, the bars in the House of Commons are still subsidised and a rise in the cost of our politicians' favourite tipple is hardly going to put an overpaid MP out of pocket.
If politicians are so hellbent on protecting us from ourselves by controlling everything we eat and drink, they should at least pay some attention to the crap that's being served up in our hospitals. Maybe the extra cash they rake in from a burger tax or higher alcohol duty could at least be ploughed into the catering budgets of our hospitals. Fat chance!
"cause a nuisance by binge drinking" - That's the fallacy they promote. Binge drinking isn't a problem, unless you are offended by the idea of someone enjoying themselves. Binge drinkers can cause problems, as can continual drunkards and sobersides.
ReplyDeletePunish the nuisance makers, don't excuse them by shifting the blame.
Looking back on the years.....
ReplyDeleteWe never had the problems that we have today 30 odd years ago..... So where did it all go wrong ?
What era did you all think it went wrong, and what era did our grandmothers and mothers stop educating us all with the traditional family values, such as respect, morals and traditional home cooking ?
My own opinion is in the early 70`s where everything changed.
What is to blame , Bingo, more freedom for women going out and clubbing, Family welfare benefits, intergrating with other ethnic people, government at the time handing out benefits and parents having an easy life ?
I was a struggling mother in the 70`s, times were indeed hard, so hard that my stay in the local hospital while giving birth , was a relief in that i had a hot meal three times a day, and the meals there were so good I didn`t want to go home.
I have always strived to be an excellent cook of home cooked meals, the convenience foods you see today you can make yourself.
There was a report in the Mail of the amount of booze the people in parliament consume a month...... The bill was astronomical.... Of course the tax payer pays ..!!!!!
Ness..
Hi XTM,
ReplyDeleteJust looking at your photo, surely selling wine at discounted prices for buying in bulk doesn't help the situation. While discounts might be good for us moderate drinkers, who will store it until it is wanted, but for those with an alcohol problem I imagine it could cause more binge drinking.
BTW where in the world are 'Others' and 'Rose'? Can't say I've heard of those regions before, and is there an Australian section?
Carol from Oz
@Carol - Others means Portugal, Bulgaria and other lesser-known wine-producing countries. Australian wine is very popular in the UK... especially with me.
ReplyDeleteAs for whether government should be bothering itself with this: I think that the more you infantilise people the more they will behave like wayward children. Manipulating the price of alcohol in order to change the behaviour of a small minority is not fair to the sensible majority. We live in a democracy where the majority will should be acted upon. A self-selecting bunch of elite politicos from wealthy backgrounds telling the rest of us what we can and can't do is not democracy. It's more of an oligarchy and a bullying form of government.
If people want to make themselves ill by drinking too much then that's their business. Why should I be penalised for their weakness? It's a bit like a teacher making the whole class stay in detention because one idiot has misbehaved. Remember how unjust that felt? The law has enough power to deal with drunken rowdiness so why don't the police use it? The issue has much more to do with civil servants and special interest groups imposing their view of the world and correct behaviour on the rest of us.
Rant over :-)
Couldn't agree more, can;t they find something more importnat to concentrate on? NO, because this is any easy option
ReplyDelete