Minimum alcohol pricing could just work. It should be given a chance
Minimum pricing as an idea has been so comprehensively trashed elsewhere, it isn’t really worth revisiting. All it will do is make alcohol more expensive for the majority who are responsible drinkers. The addicted and the Saturday night louts will carry on as normal. There is no evidence whatsoever that this totalitarian idea will have any positive effect at all. It is, however, a control freak’s wet dream.
Fortunately, the cabinet saw sense and scotched the idea before the EU did it for them. Because, as others have pointed out repeatedly, minimum pricing is against EU competition law. This administration, like its forebears, is EU centric. You want to be in the club, you accept the rules and one of those rules is that you cannot dictate pricing that will disadvantage competition throughout the union.
All of which is quite apart from a very simple premise – the price agreed between supplier and consumer is a matter for them, not the government. Doesn’t stop the nasty little control freaks over at the Guardian shedding tears at its demise, though. Nasty fuckers.
The government sponsored talking head, not ‘Alcohol Concern’ this time but a different one, was citing the success of this kind of thing in Canada. She didn’t give us any details of course, but we now have real world data suggesting that thousands of lives could be saved apparently. Interestingly, this was independant radio and balance was provided by a recovering alcoholic who patiently explained why the problem drinkers that the policy is supposedly aimed at would be unaffected.
I may be too cynical, but I wonder if the idea is an attempt to steal a free ride on the long term downward trend in alcohol consumption. If the trend were to continue after a minimum pricing law, then they would claim it as all their own work.
Apparently, they are still planning on bringing this in, in Scotland, so we will now get to see the real effect of minimum pricing. So it’s good that the rest of the UK isn’t going ahead with this.
What a muddle-headed moron of a woman. And a Professor of Marketing yet. Listen, there is no such thing as a Professor of Marketing. There are successful Marketing executives earning bonuses and there are the unsuccessful ones who are looking for new jobs. That’s Marketing.
I’ve just started a couple of batches of homebrew using kits from Wilco that come with a bag of brewing sugar thrown in. It works out at 25p per pint. So screw ’em. Presumably there are offys and supermarkets in the far north of England rubbing their hands together with glee.