We’re still working out what we think about this subject but, in the meantime, here’s an article from last week’s New Scientist which summarises some of the research behind the policy.
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11 replies on “New Scientist on taxing booze”
I don’t see what the dilema is. I want beer to be as cheap as possible and resent the constantly increasing authoritarian attempts to control my behaviour.
It’s fine if your behaviour is civilised. Authorities have no issue with you if you are not harming anyone else. Of course more recently they are becoming more concerned with people hurting themselves, but this can be put down to the enormous cost of caring for alcohol related illness in the health system.
If these sort of measures really do reduce the madness that we are witness too on most city streets of a weekend night then it is a good thing. I become enraged when I think of innocent peoples’ lives being irreparably damaged by the ill temperance of fuckwits who live on a limbic response through most of their lives and become thugs and killers when alcohol lowers their inhibitions. I don’t give a damn if they can’t afford to drink any more. They shouldn’t be permitted to do so. More temperate drinkers will still enjoy their drink and will not be that badly out of pocket.
Thom,
The problem is that these sort of measures will not reduce the problems caused by a small fringe of alcohol consumers. There will always be someone willing to sell them cheap booze and they will always find an excuse to create trouble, whether they can afford drinking 10 pints or 8 is not an issue here.
The problem is not the alcohol here, it is something deeper in society, specially in British society, or so it seems.
Czechs drink a lot, perhaps more per head than Brits do and you will hardly ever see things like in Britain. They do happen, of course, but in a much smaller scale and people do know that it is not the alcohol that is the problem, everybody drinks it and most will get pissed every now and again, so they are aware it is something else.
I’m looking forward to paying 50p per “alcohol unit” for beer in pubs. The price of beer in pubs is about three times the suggested minimum of 50p.
Just shows what rubbish the “experts” are talking.
A bit more food for thought from the Guardian here. Nicely written, but a bit depressing:
“Most of the alcoholics I encounter in hospital are happy to admit they spend £500-£800 a month on booze. These are not well-heeled, white-collar drinkers. Many subsidise their drinking by benefits and thieving. Food is low on their list of priorities.”
Legislation intended to limit people’s access to alcohol generally does exactly the opposite. Being an American, my go-to example is Prohibition, which was a miserable failure; people didn’t stop drinking by any means, and the fact that drinking was an illegal activity increased, rather than decreased, the instances of violence and stupidity that accompanied it. The same thing happens today with underage drinking: teenagers drink, some of them a lot, and do stupid, dangerous, and violent things while drinking. The answer is not attempting to further restrict access to alcohol, but to make it more accessible, and focus one’s efforts on educating people about responsible consumption.
I realize that there will always be people who drink too much, and endanger themselves and those around them. But the more alcohol is restricted, the more taboo a subject it becomes, and the harder it is to deal with those who do drink to much.
“Most of the alcoholics I encounter in hospital are happy to admit they spend £500-£800 a month on booze. These are not well-heeled, white-collar drinkers. Many subsidise their drinking by benefits and thieving. Food is low on their list of priorities.”
It is a bit depressing, yes, but it also serves to show how pointless this 50p tax per unit would be. It is the same as with many other government policies, punishing a majority of the sins of a tiny minority…
Séan from IrishCraftBrewer.com points out this article showing that the Sheffield study which is at the base of all this is, generally speaking, horseshit.
I’m allowed three pints a day!? I’m off to the pub.
If you lived in CZ three pints a day is the least you would be expected to drink…:)
To misquote the late, great Herrman Goering “Whenever I hear the word ‘scientist’**, I reach for my Browning.” Did you ever meet one who WOULDN’T produce a report that meets the needs of whoever is funding them?
** Delete and replace with Bank Manager, Accountant, Economist as applicable……