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*
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.
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
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
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.