I pretty much agree with all the replies to this thread - and my guess is that the majority of the British public would too.
The most commonly heard justification for a minimum price on alcohol is the problem of young people “pre-loading” with “cheap” supermarket booze prior to going out on the town clubbing, and then causing trouble later on by behaving badly in town/city centres.
To my way of thinking, if a young person is prepared to pay £5 or £6 per drink in a club, they’re not going to be deterred by paying an extra fiver or so to “pre-load”.
Also, while the antisocial behaviour of some young people has received high-profile attention in the media, the number of youngster causing the problems are an infinitesimal percentage of those consumers who buy alcohol in the supermarkets.
I don’t believe creating a minimum price for alcohol will effect the young people who cause trouble after a night out in clubs, and I certainly don’t believe it will have any effect on people who have a drink problem.
If it has any effect at all, it will probably be on very low income drinkers, such as pensioners, who enjoy a couple of cans an evening within the comfort of their own home.
Many people think that such price fixing may not even be legal, and a legal challenge has already been launched in Scotland – it would seem that English politicians don’t even have the sense to wait for the outcome of that case before embarking on what may turn out to be a blind alley. But then as any foolhardy mistakes by them are covered by the taxpayer, why should they worry?
Politicians were warned by the police over the problems that would occur if they changed the law on Licencing hours, and those warnings were completely ignored, and we’ve seen the problem of young drinkers making a nuisance of themselves grow ever since. Go back to closing the pubs at 11pm and the clubs at 1pm, and the police will be able to deal appropriately with any trouble on the streets as they once did, i.e. a bus load of coppers around the corner from the trouble spots, with another bus to take the troublemakers away.
As for the general problem of young people getting smashed on booze and making a nuisance of themselves, I think the Government would do much better to introduce a mandatory identity card scheme for young people (between the ages of 18 to 21) who want to purchase alcohol, i.e. no card, then no right to purchase.
Then any young person found causing trouble due to having drunk too much could have their card and their right to purchase alcohol removed – maybe not the first time round, but say twice within a period of 12 months. Such a card scheme would be of benefit to responsible young drinkers because they would be readily able to prove their age, and avoid any hassle when buying alcohol. It wouldn’t stop every young person from going over the top, but then nothing ever will. But I do think it would make a lot of youngster think twice about how they behave – losing their right to buy booze would be humiliating for many young people, as well as a major inconvenience.
As for the NHS being used to justify yet another fascist scheme to control the behaviour of the public - personally I think it’s about time a law was introduced to stop every tom, dick and harriet who wants to mount a soapbox and start preaching moral servitude and prohibition, from contaminating public places!
GO AWAY you sad martyrs to moral rectification – we don’t want to be saved!
The answer to keeping the NHS going is to expand GDP, not to continually keep bashing the people who use it!
Last week the BBC gave air-time to a past winner of The Apprentice (being a show that pays homage to a grumpy old git who made a fortune from selling dodgy electrical tat) so that she could espouse her opinion that anyone found to be overweight, a drinker, a smoker, etc, should be refused NHS treatment and be required to pay for their treatment! My reaction was quite brief (in fact only two words) delivered loudly at the screen, the second word being: “off!”
Yet another report out today detailing poor treatment of patients by some NHS staff, who are described as showing “a lack of care and contempt” for patients!
How long will it be before every patient is weighed and interrogated re their smoking, drinking, eating, and every other habit they might have, before being allowed to cross the threshold of a NHS hospital???
Will there be a line of skips in the hospital car-park for people who don’t pass the test?
As Hancock used to say: “Has this country gone stark, staring mad?”
“Stone me! What a life!”
It's enough to drive you to drink!
