Minimum price per unit

[Danny1969]

Maybe this is why Stella is getting weaker. Used to be 5.2% then 5%, now recently it's dropped to 4.8% ?

[musophilr]

Maybe this is why Stella is getting weaker. Used to be 5.2% then 5%, now recently it's dropped to 4.8% ?

No, that's because Monsuier Artois is getting into homeopathy. They'll soon be charging more for extra dilution.

[SeriousCat]

i know a man in cambridge who will sell you 100 bottles of homebrew valpolicella for a oner

[RobDavies]

Maybe this is why Stella is getting weaker. Used to be 5.2% then 5%, now recently it's dropped to 4.8% ?

Proper Belgian Stella has stayed the same. It's only the awful stuff they brew in Swansea that has changed.


Steps to stop underage binge drinking...... Make the legal age 21, imprison ANY retailer who sells alcohol to anyone underage. That might mean that they actually have to check some proper ID....

[ICBM]

I'd like to see where they get the evidence that consumption will be reduced by raising the price anyway.

If you look at other European countries it is indeed clear that there's a correlation between price and alcohol-related problems... *the other way round*. The countries with the highest prices have the worst problems with alcohol. The consumption is clearly cultural and not price-driven - and since Britain is already in the problem group, why would raising the price do anything other than reinforce it?

Someone needs to look hard at this before introducing a measure that will simply penalise both heavy and sensible drinkers financially without making any difference to the problem.

I have to blame the SNP government for introducing this in Scotland - it's one of their ideas I disagree most with, and specifically doesn't at all address Scotland's real problem drink - Buckfast - because it's already above the minimum price per unit. That's because its not actually that strong - the dangerous component is the caffeine, not the alcohol... which is why it's so associated with violence.

[hungrymark]

Won't stop the hardened alkie, but it will make life harder for the likes of us who like a drink now and again but don't buy much anyway because it represent a high fraction of a low income.

I suggest that if HMG don't want people to drink so much, they stop behaving like arseholes, so that ordinary folk have less need of escape from a piss poor existence in this god-forsaken country.

Golly. You say 'god-forsaken' like it's a bad thing! Have you tried living in a different country?

[bochetagrave]

Is it necessary to have lived elsewhere, to believe that God has forsaken THIS country...???

[Fretwired]

Won't stop the hardened alkie, but it will make life harder for the likes of us who like a drink now and again but don't buy much anyway because it represent a high fraction of a low income.

I suggest that if HMG don't want people to drink so much, they stop behaving like arseholes, so that ordinary folk have less need of escape from a piss poor existence in this god-forsaken country.

It won't happen as it breaches EU trade laws. The EU Commissioner has already stated he will investigate if it is introduced - Cameron is hardly Mr Popular in Brussels.

[hungrymark]

Is it necessary to have lived elsewhere, to believe that God has forsaken THIS country...???

If I believed in God I'm not sure if I'd believe that he had forsaken this country. We have a generally good quality of life, decent infrastructure, a great arts scene etc. I just think if people think this country is rubbish, why not try living elsewhere for a while and find out if the grass is actually greener? If it's not this country in particular, and just the world that's apparently rubbish, what have we got to compare it to? Let's just make the most of it.

[Vim Fuego]

If I believed in God I'm not sure if I'd believe that he had forsaken this country. We have a generally good quality of life, decent infrastructure, a great arts scene etc. I just think if people think this country is rubbish, why not try living elsewhere for a while and find out if the grass is actually greener? If it's not this country in particular, and just the world that's apparently rubbish, what have we got to compare it to? Let's just make the most of it.

hippie