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Determined to be seen as a champion to influential lobbying
health campaigners, our Prime Minister has come up with yet another initiative to prevent ‘binge
drinking’ by introducing a minimum price of 45p on a unit of alcohol.
If this proposal goes ahead, it would hit everyone who drinks responsibly as well as
those who regularly drink themselves into a state of oblivion! For instance, a bottle of
supermarket home brand spirit would shoot up from £11.00 to £12.60. and everyday table wine
rising from £3.99. to around £4.50.
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Surely it must be far better to sell alcohol in places that
can monitor excessive drinking.
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In other countries being drunk in public is not socially
acceptable and not something to be proud of or to boast about later. Here, it
is. I think it is less to do with the price of booze or disposable income, and
more to do with forms of rebellion and wanting to be "cool". We glorify
sports people and celebrities for partying, and we copy them. In other
countries, this kind of behaviour is seen as pitiable or shameful.
Although I, like most of my peers, did engage in under age drinking; when I was 18, I was legally introduced to drinking by my
father; in many ways it was a rite of passage that many youngsters growing up
in the late 60’s early 70’s experienced. Therefore, when I went drinking in
pubs in my area and because families lived closer together, pubs were
frequented by the older generation and there was always someone in the pub who knew
my family. So if I was ever out-of-order, this info’ would trickle back to my
parents. Now we have big city centre pubs, trendy bars and student only drinking holes with only young people in them, and with families
spread around the country, if a youngster drinks too much, and started
fighting or was rushed to A&E, their parents would never know and start disciplining them.
Youngsters who learn to drink in the company of adults are
more likely to learn how to behave than those who guzzle supermarket booze on
street corners.
Unfortunately, politicians seem determined to destroy the
traditional pub, so they should shoulder much of the blame!
The other major change has been the opening times. The
introduction of 24-hour opening has been a major factor in the increase of
‘binge drinking’ although it was initially a measure brought in to relive the
pressure on town centre police from being overstretched when all the pubs
closed at 11.00 and the congestion caused by late night revellers fighting for
all night buses and taxies.
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So here again we have totally out of touch politicians
introducing another knee-jerk move by the that will just penalises responsible
drinkers.
The tolerance and acceptance of drunkenness in our society
is our problem. Watching people exit clubs and pubs, and causing a nuisance and
decorating the place with ‘pavement peter’ should be tackled head on.
There is no need for any further banning or meddling. All
that is required is that the current law be implemented. In most pubs, drunks
are NOT ALLOWED to be served alcohol. If landlords flaunt this they should or
lose their licence. Drunks are NOT ALLOWED on streets; so arrest them and fine
them.
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And as for politicians and their peculiar sense of logic, well it
would be nice if they could be consistent.
If they think higher taxes on drink
deters drinking, higher taxes on tobacco deters smoking, and higher taxes on
motoring deters driving, why don’t they see that higher taxes on earning and
working hard deters working, and higher taxes on profits and enterprise deters
job creating investment ventures?
Note to David Cameron, - “Remember, it’s not your money –
someone else earned it”
If you truly believe that binge drinking is limited to Brits, then I'm sorry to have to say you are much mistaken. I've lived in several countries, and can confirm that piss-heads are everywhere, with perhaps the exception of Arab countries where religion forbids alcohol (but I've also met a lot of Muslims who ignore that particular ethic).
ReplyDeleteSee the link below for an account of Denmark's 'traditional' binge weekend when free Christmas beer is supplied by Carlsberg and creates havoc for police and public alike:
http://cphpost.dk/news/national/christmas-beer-release-fills-jails-and-emergency-rooms
The biggest factor in pub closures has to the 'pub companies' who are not interested in beer sales just incoming fees and rental incomes from tenants.
ReplyDeleteThese 'investors' last a few months and are then replaced by other mugs.
Breweries who's main aim is to sell beer, may not be making vast profits but still seem to be thriving.
As for the minimum charge per unit of alcohol, well it's just another tax similar to airline travel or is that the save the planet tax.
Bill
http://www.walksintameside.co.uk