Coalition to set minimum alcohol price
 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/20...ohol-price-40p

Coalition to set minimum alcohol price.

l said no because it is all well and good setting a minimum pricing but this will adversely affect the normal moderate drinkers which are the vast majority of people in this country and the drinkers who consume copious amounts of alcohol will still continue to drink large amounts of alcohol no matter what the price is so in essence you are penalising the normal drinker in order to try to curb the large consumption of alcohol by the small minority of heavy drinkers.

Re: Coalition to set minimum alcohol price
 

I have said yes because i have had personal experience of the idiot kids who are drunk because they have nothing better to do than create trouble. You see them on a Friday night walking out of Morrisons with crates of special brew at a price so cheap they are giving it away.

Re: Coalition to set minimum alcohol price
 

I voted no, because why penalise the majority over a minority. And those who are going to drink to excess will continue to do so regardless of the price. This is a bad move.

Pretty much word for word the same as denphone's post. :tu:

Re: Coalition to set minimum alcohol price
 

First they came for the smokers...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came%E2%80%A6

I object in principle to the dead hand of the State interfering in free choice of it's citizens. No matter how good their intentions. And particularly when their 'good intentions' conveniently raise more tax revenue.

Re: Coalition to set minimum alcohol price
 

I voted yes so we can have the nanny state that we need to exist.

we buy our baccy on the black market because of the extortionate taxes. looks like we'll be buying our lager on the black market as well now instead of Tescos.

well done Dave. you're almost there in making everybody so poor that they might just give you that slap you need. and for giving them an excuse to rebel and riot.

There's going to be a few puzzled looks from the police when they see a drunk in the street.
they'll be wondering how he can afford it, and come to the conclusion that he's a rich drunk.

can we categorise 4 cans of lager as the same as a big plasma TV and an iphone when discussing benefit claimants and what they buy with their dole money now?

LOL the 2ltr bottle of cider that was £1.95 in Aldis, will now be £4.24. it's gone up 118%

the 2ltr bottle of Strongbow at Asda is £3.22. does that mean the Strongbow will be the same price as the cheap stuff. or will they increase the price anyway because it's a better brand name than the cheap stuff?

£5.67?

I haven't worked it out, but I think it will be cheaper for people to switch to Vodka.

Re: Coalition to set minimum alcohol price
 

I don't see how this will affect the occasional drinker of wines or spirits - the proposal is for a minimum unit price for the alcohol content, not a blanket increase in duty. Most wines and spirits are already priced well above the 40p per unit level which I think would result in a bottle of wine being no cheaper than about £3.50, maybe a little less.

Generally I prefer Government not to interfere in setting prices but on the other hand I do believe government has an important role to play in public health and this has become a public health issue. I am hoping Derek may spot this thread and comment on it - he may be able to confirm just how much of his workload is the result of his customers' excessive alcohol consumption, and whether the measures already taken in Scotland are having an effect.

Re: Coalition to set minimum alcohol price
 

Clearly there needs to be a balance, but I still think we have reached the point where the persistent misbehaviour of some is blighting the lives of the rest of us more than a few pence on a bottle of grog would.

Re: Coalition to set minimum alcohol price
 

While I don't know the official figures, it seems to me that we are (as a society) suffering an increase in Alcohol-related crime and injury. It also seems to me that these increases started occurring around the same time the Supermarkets started actively competing selling alcohol, so I do think these increases are linked to Supermarket low prices and multi-buy deals.

I've seen bottles of wine in Sainsburys that don't cost much more than a bottle of water. That can't be a good thing.

I know that when talking about drinking, the media tends to show rampaging mobs of drunken youth staggering up the road, apparently having fallen out of some late night pub or club, but I'll bet a lot of them have had a fair amount of cheap supermarket booze to drink before they left for the club or pub.

I don't think Multibuy offers for Alcohol are a good thing whether offered by a supermarket or a pub/club/bar. Nor is buying Alcohol in bulk. Say what you like about pub prices, but they do make it more expensive to get drunk.

It does concern me that I can buy 15 cans of lager for just over a tenner. This is well under 1 pound a pint. There's also the problem that my local Sainsbury's would also sell me a 3 or more boxes, each with 15 cans. I am fairly certain I would not be too healthy if I sat down and drunk 33 pints of lager in one sitting. A good barman or barmaid would have cut me off long before then. There's also the fact I would have trouble affording the 33 pints of lager at the pub in the first place.

So, on first reading, I would say this minimum price per unit is actually a good thing.

Re: Coalition to set minimum alcohol price
 

Stuart, just because you got 33 cans of lager. you don't have to drink all 33 in one go.

you save them and drink them when you want.

Re: Coalition to set minimum alcohol price
 

Personally dont drink but think its horrendous idea. Theres other ways to deal with this problem.

One no more slap on wrist by courts.

A scale measure of how much damage/violence of sexual crimes/disturbing the peace they done.

No more oh he nice lad but drink changes him hit them hard and fast.

Make it really punishment they might think next time drink more sensibly the rest of the uk who want a drink gets left alone. Keep doing it get jail time. May start to take back the town centres at night. Nobody wants be kill joy but if drink makes them loutish then better punishment for that loutish behavour should be the way not this.

Make intosacated individuals pay for the healthcare they get provided is another idea maybe thats another way not sure this completely as I know there illness which makes unknowns to his health think they are drunk.

There better ways to handle this not the softly softly approach then hit everyone. Drink drivers should get jailed 2 years they might learn lesson.

Anybody else think harsher penalties will solve issues.

Re: Coalition to set minimum alcohol price
 

Sage advice Gareth, but that simply proves you're not one of the ones the government has concerns about. Sadly there are plenty of people who would neck the lot - or plenty of teenagers who would split a crate between half a dozen of them and use it to get tanked up in the park before harassing passers-by and upending wheelie bins.

---------- Post added at 09:55 ---------- Previous post was at 09:52 ----------

No, I think harsher penalties alleviate the issue for as long as the offender is off the streets but they do not address the underlying criminality. Once they get out of jail, it's back to business as usual. There is no way you can lock up someone for drunken behaviour for long enough for it to make a difference to our streets. You think a few pence on a bottle of beer is inconvenient, just wait until your taxes start going up to pay the millions it would cost to build all the extra jail cells that policy would require.

No, prevention of criminal behaviour is infinitely better than allowing it to happen and then punishing it.

Re: Coalition to set minimum alcohol price
 

It's Gary, Christopher.

is it possible to drink 33 cans of lager in one sitting?

Re: Coalition to set minimum alcohol price
 

If it is set at 40p per unit it will only really affect cheap cider & suchlike..

Re: Coalition to set minimum alcohol price
 

Touché dear boy. I expect the cry of "Gareth!" brings back memories of a sound telling off for some boyish misdemeanour or other. Certainly that's the effect "Christopher!" has on me.

My worst misdemeanour involving cans of lager was one Christmas when I, in league with my brother and one of our friends, worked our way through a dozen cans of Castlemaine XXXX, which we found in the garage. They were the friend's dad's holiday supply. I had 4 cans and a couple of large whiskies before being very sick.

I was 14 at the time and have never had more lager in one evening since that night.

Re: Coalition to set minimum alcohol price
 

So who gets the extra profit? The shop or the exchequer?

The cynic in me says that someone from Tesco went to HMG and said "Lidl is hammering our profits in the cheaper booze sales. What can you do about it?"

I can't see this move doing anything at all, except penalise those on low incomes who enjoy the occasional tipple at home because they can't afford pub prices.

Shop bought alcohol is not "cheap", it is just "cheaper" than pub prices which have been racing upwards for years. So maybe the pub chains have been moaning to the exchequer too, as drinkers moved from pub to home?