Tax Alcohol

Actually, that title should be “tax alcohol more”. Sir Liam Donaldson is a headlines junkie. Not content with wanting to indulge in state sponsored grave robbing last weekend, the bastard now wants to decide for us how much we drink.

Tax on alcohol should be increased to reduce the damage being caused to people’s health, the Chief Medical Officer for England has said.

Sir Liam Donaldson told the Daily Telegraph he would “strongly commend” the use of tax as a deterrent to excessive drinking.

I am beginning to wonder whether this buffoon is really a doctor at all. If he is, then he would realise that alcohol abuse is not a straightforward problem. He would have some basic understanding of the nature of addiction. He would also have some inking about human psychology. Simply making the product more expensive will not stop people abusing it. What people cannot afford, they will either steal, or steal something to sell in order to raise the money – how does he think junkies support their habit? In the meantime, normal social drinkers are to be penalised. Ah, but, in the control freak’s reasoning, this is all for the public good – or, more accurately, the public purse. I could almost swallow that one if I had any faith that the contents of the public purse would not be squandered by some wasteful Heath Robinson type scheme that takes some dimwitted politician’s fancy.

And he said a ban should be considered on drinks companies sponsoring sporting activities and fitness-linked events.

No, there should not. It is none of his damned business and it is none of the state’s damned business what private companies do with their money.

Sir Liam also said he would welcome a review of 24-hour licensing.

Our licensing laws were, frankly, absurd. The move to 24 hour licensing was one of the few adult pieces of legislation that this government has passed. I recall when working in a pub, observing people line up drinks during last orders to down as many as they could before they were thrown out onto the street – and that was twenty odd years ago. That people drink too much has nothing to do with licensing. The reasons are rather more complex than that simplistic and naive assumption.

He said: “In our culture, getting drunk is seen as an exciting and status thing to do. We need to try and get away from that.”

Britain has long been the drunkard of Europe – something Hogarth pointed out over two centuries ago. This is not a new phenomenon by any means. The underlying inference that it is, or that it is a consequence of licensing or pricing is misleading.

I worry about the overall problem of alcohol misuse, the rising levels of cirrhosis.

Fair enough. A campaign of stigmatisation à  la drink driving would be a more reasonable approach. It takes time, but is a method that does not impinge on the personal choices of people who like to drink in moderation – nor, importantly, their pockets.

Tobacco is a good example of a public health problem that is in hand, but when we turn to obesity and alcohol misuse those are not yet anywhere near under control.

Ah, yes, having indulged in arrant control freakery with one substance, let’s move onto the next one. This is the totalitarian mindset at work. If we don’t meet their expectations, if we do not live our lives as they wish us to, they will find ways to force us to their will. Having “controlled” one aspect of our lives, they are unsatisfied, there will always be something else. Every time we let them chip away at our liberty, they will take it as an invitation to return. Today, tobacco, tomorrow, alcohol, the day after…?