The booze issue.....

[R1Geezer]

OK so the government are introducing anti drinking measures, 50p per unit minimum etc
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8446799.stm
Anyway when the licensing laws where deregulated, myself and others thought it was a good idea that we can now be treated like grown ups and have a drink whenever we like. I thought there would be a sort of "kid in sweetshop" phase then it would all settle down and we'd start being more sensible, more like the continental approach. However I was wrong, it's now becomming clear that a lot of us cannot be sensible about it and the governement is acting. So why is it that we have this relationship with drink in the UK when across the ditch they seem far more sensible? What went wrong in the British approach? With 24 hour availability it should have curtailed the "rush to get ratted" approach. What went wrong?

[jake-the-peg]

It went wrong hundreds of years ago Geezer

Britain has always been a nation of people drinking to get smashed

Here's a famous Hogath engraving about London when cheap Gin houses set up.

http://upload.wikimed...a/en/1/15/GinLane.jpg

It's cultural and deeply ingrained I very much doubt anything as minor as messing with the tax will have a large effect.

[Ankou]

excessive drinking is the bain of every society.
dont kid yourself that these issues don;t exist in similar measure throughout other parts of the western world.

[squarebear]

But why should those of us who can handle it be punished with high prices?

[jake-the-peg]

You shouldn't be - the idea of a minimum price per unit it to hit the real low end drinks that are the staple of the binge drinker. Further up the chain the effect should just be pence.

At the moment booze is about as cheap as it's been compared to average earnings.

Of course the supermarkets may take the opportunity to try to hike all the prices hoping to dump the blame, maintain price differentials and pocket a profit - we'll have to wait and see

[R1Geezer]

Well 50p a unit minimum isn't off the scale, I mean where can you buy a pint for a £1 anyway? I think thet are clamping down on the drink promostions that some of the bars run.

[squarebear]

It's off the scale when it costs about 3p to brew a pint of beer and they charge £2.50 for it but I guess that's for another thread.

[jake-the-peg]

We could always return to ration books!

[Gromit]

Most cultures drink alcohol, but they don't have the Friday/Saturday night out culture that we have. We have had that for hundtreds of years, Friday- pay day, Saturday - The day of the weekend that wasn't dry (Sunday).

A lot of the bars where trouble frequently occurs do not even bother opening the other 5 days of the week.
The result is a lot of drunk people in the same places at the same time which is a recipe for trouble.

I would sooner the authorities dealt with the problem by arresting more drunk and disorderly people (they always turn a blind eye) and fining the establishments where the trouble originates.

Just collecting more money off of everyone to clear up the mess afterwards is the wrong approach.

[squarebear]

Not a bad idea. Ration everyone to say 10 pints a week or 20 if it's a special occasion like a birthday ;-)

[Sqad]

If you had worked in A&E 35yrs ago and work in A&E now, you would have all your answers.

[jake-the-peg]

Hmm don't think that'll be much of a vote winner

[Ankou]

sainsbury tried to sell beer for 66p a pint and were blasted for it.

[LeMarchand]

"Anyway when the licensing laws where deregulated, myself and others thought it was a good idea that we can now be treated like grown ups and have a drink whenever we like. I thought there would be a sort of "kid in sweetshop" phase then it would all settle down and we'd start being more sensible, more like the continental approach. However I was wrong"

Yeah, I remember that a lot of people on here thought the same at the time. Good to see that you're brave enough to admit to you got that one wrong.

I would say that some of the problem is that many people work long hours for low pay and so feel the need for release, but many of the weekenders are on benefits!

It's all a way to make more money: longer opening hours=more booze sold=more taxes. Forcing the price up won't necessarily slow consumption but will earn more in taxes, so either the status quo is maintained or (more likely) =more taxes.

[jno]

the French drink wine and there is a culture of enjoying and appreciating it rather than seeing how much you can drink. Same for other wine-producing countries. Colder northern European countries specialise in beer and spirits and getting drunk (it's not just Britain; Scandinavia and Russia have problems too).

As Jake says, this goes back centuries - probably millennia.

[Sqad]

jno...I accept all the comments that you have made...relevant comments indeed, but the big question in my mind is why the rapid acceleration in alcohol consumption in the past 25-30 yrs particularly so in young girls?

We all got drunk as teenagers and on odd occasions ended up in A&E, although one just went home, vomited, went to bed and woke up with a hangover. Now, binge drinking on Friday, Saturday and Sunday is taking on epidemic proportions......WHY?

[society]

"Now, binge drinking on Friday, Saturday and Sunday is taking on epidemic proportions......WHY? "

Perhaps loneliness and boredom? (not me though)