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Do you think supermarkets should stop selling cheap booze?

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Quote by Lost
Snobtory club

Oh ya.... :rascal:
Recently bought a case of premium strength lager (ok, Stella) on special offer from my local Tesco. It worked out at per unit of alcohol. My local club sells Carling at a price that works out at 95p per unit of alcohol. This gives the supermarket a totally unfair advantage.
However there is another issue. Both outlets need to have someone who is in charge to oversee the sale of intoxicating liquors. So if someone kicks off at the local pub or club 'under the influence', the personal licence holder is directly involved. The Police will want to know all the circumstances and whether or not he was served while obviously drunk. Severe penalties can result from this including loss of licence/livelihood.
Someone takes a case of lager home, drinks it in one evening and ends up attacking a member of the household. Do the Police go down to the local supermarket to interview the licence holder? Of course not. And there is the problem.
The supermarkets stack 'em high and sell 'em cheap approach to booze has absolutely no social responsibility attached to it apart from a few 'get out clauses' about drinking responsibly. So as well as all the health implications about selling cheap booze and the long term effect this has on the people of this country, there is the problem of direct responsibility for the sale of the alcohol.
Just as an aside, talking to a lady at work the other day she was commenting on how when she first moved into her estate the women used to chat over the garden hedge with a cup of tea in hand. Now it is nearly always with a can or bottle. She also overheard a conversation where a young 20 something mother was trying to arrange a babysitter so she could go out 'on the lash' that evening. Talking to a 16 year old girl she announced that she would give her £20 and get a case of Stella in for her and her mate!
There is a problem and certainly the supermarkets aren't helping.
well we can t afford to go out to pubs, they charge to much due to goverment tax, they have to get money from some where as lots have stopped smoking. why not put up the age to be able to buy? as we drink at home to save money. not much at mo in life sept work n bills......... tax tax tax......
Yep two's co and there is no easy answer. It's good to stay indoors with good company and a glass or two. Equally it's great fun being out at the pub, club etc. What we spend in one night at the pub could keep us going for a week or a fortnight at home.
But let market forces have full rein and the 'local' will be gone for good and supermarkets will reign 'uber alles'.
It would be terrible to see but at the end of the day the liver disease time bomb might force a government into action rather than worrying about the demise of the pub.
Hell no! Those that know me will have full well expected that answer but i'm big enough and ugly enough to make that decision for myself!
I might pickle my live and send myself into an early grave, but i'm not bothering anyone else in the process.
God knows this country has little else to make you smile right now so why not a little tipple (or two) when you feel like it - not when someone else says you can!
*Her*
Well, I said I’d be back wink
((Anyone who gets through this post deserves a bloody medal just for making it to the end lol ))
Please note time of posting ...... no errm actually, god knows when this will actually GET posted :lol2:
Time of writing is 01:58 on a Saturday morning, I leave you to draw your own conclusions :rascal:
That said, my opinion for what it’s worth:-
Over the last few years we have seen the phrase ‘Nanny State’ become a much overused euphemism that seems to get deployed every time a government tries to implement a new law or regulation. Question is, is it really overused, or are we actually experiencing the corrosion of not just our rights, but our very individualism? dunno
Those that know me on here, know that I have some very strong views / opinions on this whole subject, and for those that don’t, here’s a quick rundown.
I am a rampant individualist. I hate any form of interference from ‘the powers that be’, I deem it to be unnecessary in the extreme. I am a strong believer in the sentiment ‘My home is my castle’ and in the whole principle of ‘live and let live’. Let me very quickly add here that all the above carries the caveat ‘as long as no one gets hurt’.
Ok to the subject in hand.
Basically, we are talking about social engineering (sorry Foxy, but at the end of the day, a spade is what you dig with, if you want to call it a multi-user excavation tool, that’s up to you. To me, it will always be a spade.) The very concept of ‘SE’ grips my s**t to the extent that I could give myself a hernia just trying not to scream at the world to wake up and see wtf is really going on.
So, let’s have a look at some relatively recent examples of this phenomena, call it social engineering or whatever makes you feel more comfortable, the first one, chronologically, that I can remember, started with the “Don’t talk to strangers” campaign many years ago. Nothing wrong with that on it’s own, in fact, good advice to give your kids back then, but .................. look where it got us, we are now at the stage where we daren’t let our kids out of the garden without panicking, we daren’t let the little darlings out of our sight for a second, ‘just in case’.
Now I know this has been said dozens of times on other threads, but I will reiterate, when I was no more than knee high to a grasshopper, weekends and holidays, I was out of the house before my parents were even awake, and I would not be home until just before sunset, once I was over the age of ten, even sunset held no boundaries for me, any of my mates, or any of our parents. We built dens, we climbed trees, we owned airguns knives and catapults and by the age of 14 I owned my first 4/10 shotgun. Yes we got hurt, cuts bruises, grazes and lacerations were the norm, but no one was ever seriously hurt, no one died and we very quickly learned respect for the dangers around us.
Then came many other ‘normal activities’ that over the years became , I'm trying to keep this as short as I can but still make my point so bear with me here :wink: so, attitudes were being manipulated, the structure of society was being subtly changed to fit in with ‘someone’s ‘ view of the ideal society!
Along came helmets on motorcycles, seat belts in cars, spy in the cab devices etc etc.
Then we had the legal semi rifle ban, a few years later the legal hand gun ban, then some bright spark came up with the ‘passive smoking’ theory and then!!!!! Oh what a god send, there came the holy grail of every stealth tax advocate ...... “Global Warming” worship
What a masterly stroke that was rolleyes at last a way to raise every tax possible, cut every service possible and all in the name of altruism, they couldn’t go wrong. And just like the sheep we are, we all swallowed it hook line and sinker and immediately jumped on the bandwagon demonising everyone and anyone who didn’t tow the line. Trust me, all of the above is social engineering bar none.
Oh of course don’t let us forget that along with all the above came the rabid exhortations of the few on rising crime robbery and violence which at long last gave them the green light to initiate the ‘Surveillance Society’ where every move we make is closely monitored and if you think what you know they do is bad enough, you wait until you learn about the clandestine surveillance of you, the law abiding public, that goes on without you even having a clue It’s happening.
I could go on add infernitum, in fact, I already have but in the interest of brevity :lol2: believe me I have been as brief as I can. So where is all this leading? Ok let me sum up:-
Trees don’t hurt kids ........... Kids who can’t climb do.( Same for play park equipment etc etc)
Cigarettes don’t harm people .................. those that smoke em do
As for guns? I can take any gun of any description, load it with the most dangerous ammunition it will hold, lay it down on my kitchen table and it will sit there for a million years without hurting a soul .............. until the wrong person picks it up!
SO what’s my point?
Simples, ..... all the shite rule making, surveillance, new laws, restrictions and general erosion of our right to make personal choices is down to that well worn old daemon called money. It’s all about trying to fix a problem with a sticky plaster, where nothing less than a full traction suit will actually do.
Yes, alcohol is a big problem in our society today, unfortunately for the government and ultimately the tax payer, prohibition does not work, and let’s be honest, trying to price it out of people’s pockets is just another form of prohibition, we know this from far too many other attempts at prohibition of other things, all it achieves is to drive it underground, and / or make those with a lesser social conscience do things that normally they would not.
Remember, the biggest percentage of burglaries / robberies / muggings are caused by the need to fund a habit, not as they would want us to believe, alcohol fuelled. So are we now advocating to putting alcohol into that bracket that necessitates some people to actually have to go out robbing to be able to afford their alcohol?
No, and they know it, it’s just another way of raising money, or far more importantly, not having to spend more money!
What do I mean? Well if they were really serious about getting to the bottom of this countries alcohol problem, they would firstly have to invest millions on finding out the “WHY” and then several billions on solving the wherefore.
I agree with and practice the philosophy of a very switched on person on this thread :worship: When the fuel prices got out of hand, I made my own, my diesel currently costs me 7p per litre, if my alcohol becomes too expensive, I will brew my own. If the powers that be decide to outlaw that, then I’ll become an outlaw :dunno:
There comes a time in every society when enough is enough, and enough becomes too much and even the most law abiding among us will turn around and bite back.
IMHO
Caveat Emptor.
atb
Pete
sorry i already know i will ramble..
if the tax on alcohol is there to reduce the crime linked to it then if i show my clear crb check do i get the tax reduced?
are they saying crime is more rife in poorer comunities so they will price those communities out of drinking?
will they try and say soon the tax on petrol is going up as the less we can afford the less we drive so the less acidents?
you cannot and the government must stop trying to tax this society out of problems.
i work full time i have to drive to get to work.
dont be fooled in thinking that higher taxes will stop the problems we are facing...
i can ill afford a nice bottle of wine. but i see people on benefits that can..
alcohol is not excluded from status symbols. what i mean is the person who the government actually think has the lowest income bening on benefit, or no money cause they are young will be priced out of buying alcohol if the tax is raised?? think again, most young ppl i know on benefit wouldnt be seen drinking cheep booze its only the best JD or sothern comfort, its the poor twat like me who is working ful time and treats them selves to a drink that will be priced out of enjoying it any more.
and lets not be fooled into thinking someone on benefits is on a lower income then someone working full time.
xx fem xx
Agree with a lot of what Pete SW says. Unfortunately too many decisions taken by governments there days infringe our civil liberties. Any decision taken by a government
on the pricing of alcohol will be seen as such an attack. At the end of the day, no government will take on the power of the big supermarkets to put up the price of alcohol and incur the wrath of the electorate. But there may be a 'tipping point' sometime in the future where a Govt has to do something. Pop into town tonight and see the state of the kids piling out of pubs and clubs. A uniquely depressing scene.
Fem4. Spot on. The pubs are full of people on benefits drinking there way through our money. it's an awful thing to say as it sounds like something out of the Hate Mail. But true nevertheless. There may be people on benefits struggling, but there are also many absolutely creaming DLA and have absolutely no intention of ever working again and God knows how many are sat at home with the case of lager next to the sofa - The Jeremy Kyle Generation, except the show is probably on a little to early in the day for most of them.
Quote by fem_4_taboo
sorry i already know i will ramble..
if the tax on alcohol is there to reduce the crime linked to it then if i show my clear crb check do i get the tax reduced?
are they saying crime is more rife in poorer comunities so they will price those communities out of drinking?
will they try and say soon the tax on petrol is going up as the less we can afford the less we drive so the less acidents?
you cannot and the government must stop trying to tax this society out of problems.
i work full time i have to drive to get to work.
dont be fooled in thinking that higher taxes will stop the problems we are facing...
i can ill afford a nice bottle of wine. but i see people on benefits that can..
alcohol is not excluded from status symbols. what i mean is the person who the government actually think has the lowest income bening on benefit, or no money cause they are young will be priced out of buying alcohol if the tax is raised?? think again, most young ppl i know on benefit wouldnt be seen drinking cheep booze its only the best JD or sothern comfort, its the poor twat like me who is working ful time and treats them selves to a drink that will be priced out of enjoying it any more.
and lets not be fooled into thinking someone on benefits is on a lower income then someone working full time.
xx fem xx

Now ain't that comment true.
Difficult one this - it really is.
I am a firm believer in decriminalising EVERYTHING and replacing it with controlled supply.
When I was younger and wanted a drink I had to wait till the Pubs opened and drink what I could afford - MILD or BITTER. It tasted like shite so I didn't drink that much of it.
These days fizzy pop flavoured alcopops are available almost 24/7 apart froma Sunday and this is having an effect on teenage drinking. Is there a case for a new age limit for buying alcohol in retail outlets - say 25? Or controlling the hours of supply? My thoughts are to do something that just targets the problem and does not affect everyone else (unlike Govt strategy).
In respect of drugs / prostitution etc I am all in favour of controlled supply as it then takes it out of the hands of crominals and at the very least you would get an idea of the size of the drug problem rather than just keep making criminal drug suppliers richer and richer. Criminals by the way who of course pay no taxes on either their 'produce' or their profits.
Stop picking on cheap(er) booze i say. Why not start taxing cars over the, let's say, value of £25000 (arbitrary figure i reckon lower myself more 18k but hey)lets say £2000+ for a £50000 car. Lets be honest anything over 25k is just luxury for luxuries sake. As for the people on benefits, I can see peoples anger at this but what I dont see Is the anger at the tax dodging rich who dodge more in tax in one day than the benefit fraudsters get out of the system in a year. GSort the benefit system/abuse yes but lets realise where the real scams are eh? And sort them both.
i dont even begrudge the people on benefit, its the fact the stupid fecking government make it that its financially better off to be on benefit in some situations.
and those on benefit cannot seem to relate it to it being the low earning workers who are covering their bebefits, they think they are screwing gordon brown for all the money they claim.
i dont know the answer, i just know it cant please be to tax the fucking low earners yet again,, ffs gordon blimey can you not see that soon all the low earners will not be able to work, i cant keep paying the price in petrol to get there, the perscription to keep me healthy enough to keep working, the glasses so i can read when at work etc you WILL grind us all down and eventually the system will collapse.
at least let us get pissed on the way lol
xx fem xx
Quote by fem_4_taboo
i dont even begrudge the people on benefit, its the fact the stupid fecking government make it that its financially better off to be on benefit in some situations.
and those on benefit cannot seem to relate it to it being the low earning workers who are covering their bebefits, they think they are screwing gordon brown for all the money they claim.
i dont know the answer, i just know it cant please be to tax the fucking low earners yet again,, ffs gordon blimey can you not see that soon all the low earners will not be able to work, i cant keep paying the price in petrol to get there, the perscription to keep me healthy enough to keep working, the glasses so i can read when at work etc you WILL grind us all down and eventually the system will collapse.
at least let us get pissed on the way lol
xx fem xx

Cant fault you on this fem. Makes you wonder when the burden will become too much to bare and what happens when it does sad
Quote by Lost
Stop picking on cheap(er) booze i say. Why not start taxing cars over the, let's say, value of £25000 (arbitrary figure i reckon lower myself more 18k but hey)lets say £2000+ for a £50000 car. Lets be honest anything over 25k is just luxury for luxuries sake. As for the people on benefits, I can see peoples anger at this but what I dont see Is the anger at the tax dodging rich who dodge more in tax in one day than the benefit fraudsters get out of the system in a year. GSort the benefit system/abuse yes but lets realise where the real scams are eh? And sort them both.

vote u in as pm lost....
our £250 cars held together wiv chewing gum pmsl......
no road or car tax 4 us....
its pubs that need to get a grip.. was listening to a woman that represented the licence trade tonight on the radio...reporter.. 'are pubs in trouble?' she says ' oh no they are doing really well .. there are thousabds of very good busy pubs out there that..DESPERATLY NEED THE SUPPORT OF THE PUBLIC '
off to buy a cheap bottle of wine for when fem4 is up this way so we can share it and keep warm by the candle light and old newspapers stuffed down our jumpers..
staggy
Quote by Lost
Stop picking on cheap(er) booze i say. Why not start taxing cars over the, let's say, value of £25000 (arbitrary figure i reckon lower myself more 18k but hey)lets say £2000+ for a £50000 car. Lets be honest anything over 25k is just luxury for luxuries sake. As for the people on benefits, I can see peoples anger at this but what I dont see Is the anger at the tax dodging rich who dodge more in tax in one day than the benefit fraudsters get out of the system in a year. GSort the benefit system/abuse yes but lets realise where the real scams are eh? And sort them both.

and just exacty how would that tackle the alcohol problem?
by the way - i paid (and pay) huge taxes on my jaguar and all its running costs - but i am happy to do that cos i have worked hard and took my oportunities throughout my life. I did (and do) this so that I can enjoy the better things in life - nice cars, great holidays and much more. That is how i was brought up - work hard son, give everything your best shot, always aim high and never give up.
Quote by flower411
The Social engineering thing is so way more complicated than the Government trying to make us do what they want.

indeed.
read , she'll raise an eyebrow or two.
lp
Quote by Too Hot
Stop picking on cheap(er) booze i say. Why not start taxing cars over the, let's say, value of £25000 (arbitrary figure i reckon lower myself more 18k but hey)lets say £2000+ for a £50000 car. Lets be honest anything over 25k is just luxury for luxuries sake. As for the people on benefits, I can see peoples anger at this but what I dont see Is the anger at the tax dodging rich who dodge more in tax in one day than the benefit fraudsters get out of the system in a year. GSort the benefit system/abuse yes but lets realise where the real scams are eh? And sort them both.

and just exacty how would that tackle the alcohol problem?
by the way - i paid (and pay) huge taxes on my jaguar and all its running costs - but i am happy to do that cos i have worked hard and took my oportunities throughout my life. I did (and do) this so that I can enjoy the better things in life - nice cars, great holidays and much more. That is how i was brought up - work hard son, give everything your best shot, always aim high and never give up.
The alcohol problem? It doesn't the thread just ebbs and flo's and evolves.
The alcohol problem? I really don't think its that different, well it is but but in the type of consumer maybe, and in many respects, and i can only say as i see it, there's less of a problem in a lot of areas.
As for the street violence in towns and cities I believe that its safer and quieter with less drunkeness on weekend nights than it was in the early eighties. I lived and worked in major cities all over England at the time and it was far far worse i believe.
I guess the demographics may of changed as in more females are seen drunken and violent on the streets in proportion to previously.
Take a trip to your local football stadiums local boozer on a match game now. Far less trouble and far less intimidating than ever it was in the 70's/80's
I've no doubt that.
There are undoubtedly more people drinking more at home nowadays, infact you don't see 15 pint a night men queueing at the bars of social clubs working mens clubs and local boozers much anymore. OK that may prove to be a personal problem medically speaking for those quietly and unknowingly alcoholic for years and years. To the public at large there is no particular "public" problem on a day to day basis.
You can say all you want but people are living longer healthier lives today than ever before of course there could still be improvements etc but hell that has to be weighted against the general happiness of the populace surely?
As for the luxury car thing Too Hot I know it was a bit of a crap thing to say and I too a degree dont think what i said was right.
I do however believe that the larger engined cars, which lets face it do tend to be the higher end upmarket luxury and super luxury car markets. Should be taxed out of reality too prove to the public that the government and society take green motoring issues seriously. Have luxury cars and big cars but give them sensibly smaller engines or pay more.
Its also worth mentioning that the majority of the working population of this country are not going to be fortunate enough to be able to afford the luxury stuff of the better off, the well off, the wealthy, and the rich, but they do have a right to drive a car and I really believe that there should be more graded taxation on bigger more luxury cars and also on multiple car ownership as in more than one car owned by one person.
Its always been a case of the rich paying more for better stuff i dont disagree with that. What i do disagree is pricing stuff out of reach of the men and women that make it possible for the wealthy to be so in this country, Joe Public.
These people have a right to these things in my mind. The minimum wage person deserves a right to decide to pay for basic things such as a beer at home or a small car if he or she so desires not have that right taken away by bastard governments.
Just because an Ambulance driver or a building site labourer or data imput clark shoe shop assistant teaching assistant bin man traffic warden careworker dont earn enough to to afford luxury stuff doesn't mean they dont work hard and dont deserve to make choices and have rights they fucking do. It pisses me right off how this country seems to of left all reasonable ideas of socialism behind - fuck em all im OK jack is whats left.
Driven into everyone now is the idea that what they do aint good enough. Everyone needs to do, earn, have, be more than ever before.
Jesus Christ i've been a conservative in mindset all my life but i do think that that has to be tempered with a background of social ideology and need to look after and improve the lot of the average man woman and child in this country. Which in a lot of ways is done but not by ideology but by accident of increased technology and awareness more a by-product of developing civilisation rather than activly looking after the people in my mind.
F*ck me i'm sorry for going on
this is an interesting thread.
Guys -
Alcohol raises your oestrogen levels, where exactly do you think man boobs(moobs) come from ?
Girls -
do you ever get punchy when you have had a drink? Well in comparison to the guys oestrogen level rises, our testosterone can go through the roof!!! Who has seen 'that' woman being anything but ladylike taking on a whole police force after drinking to excess? A hairy chest is her destiny.
Alcohol affects the vascular system so that cells do not re-generate so basically your willie is dying ( I thought that might be an important point to make on a site like this).
If alcohol were introduced today, it would be a Class A drug.
If someone goes cold turkey from Heroin, it aint nice but they wont die. Cold turkey from alcohol dependency has a 15 - 20 % mortality rate.
Bodies dont fully develop till you are between 19 and 21 ish. If you thrash alcohol before that age, you could damage organs that are not even fully developed.