What a storm in a pint glass Sir Liam Donaldson's daft proposal to introduce a minimum 50p price per unit for booze has whipped up. Once again, the finger of blame for our 'binge-drinking culture' has been pointed at grocery retailers for selling cheap alcohol. And once again, the problem has been illustrated with tales of drunk and disorderly kids.
But a minimum charge wouldn't make any difference. Yes, there would be casualties - chiefly three-for-£10 wine deals and strong lagers and ciders - but four quid for a bottle of wine is hardly going to break the bank and manufacturers are already bringing abvs down. And Gordon Brown was always going to pour water on a proposal that penalised the majority of consumers who drink sensibly.
Young people aren't getting smashed on drink they've bought from supermarkets, they're getting smashed on booze they've guzzled in pubs and clubs. Older drinkers might be - but are they really drinking the cheap stuff?
Supermarket booze is not the problem. And neither is irresponsible retailing, as shown in our story on page 4 - indeed, the off-trade is leading its on-trade cousins when it comes to combating underage sales. The problem is a culture in which heavy drinking remains accepted, even expected.
When I was 15 or so I used to be given a tenner by my folks for a night out - and was advised to stick to Gold Label barley wine if I wanted to have enough for the bus home. Their reasoning was that it was cheap, and strong enough for me not to need much to get hammered (which I didn't). Were they irresponsible? Perhaps. I was under the legal age to drink. But the key was that they trusted me to behave responsibly and, on the whole, I did.
Where's that sense of personal responsibility these days?
But a minimum charge wouldn't make any difference. Yes, there would be casualties - chiefly three-for-£10 wine deals and strong lagers and ciders - but four quid for a bottle of wine is hardly going to break the bank and manufacturers are already bringing abvs down. And Gordon Brown was always going to pour water on a proposal that penalised the majority of consumers who drink sensibly.
Young people aren't getting smashed on drink they've bought from supermarkets, they're getting smashed on booze they've guzzled in pubs and clubs. Older drinkers might be - but are they really drinking the cheap stuff?
Supermarket booze is not the problem. And neither is irresponsible retailing, as shown in our story on page 4 - indeed, the off-trade is leading its on-trade cousins when it comes to combating underage sales. The problem is a culture in which heavy drinking remains accepted, even expected.
When I was 15 or so I used to be given a tenner by my folks for a night out - and was advised to stick to Gold Label barley wine if I wanted to have enough for the bus home. Their reasoning was that it was cheap, and strong enough for me not to need much to get hammered (which I didn't). Were they irresponsible? Perhaps. I was under the legal age to drink. But the key was that they trusted me to behave responsibly and, on the whole, I did.
Where's that sense of personal responsibility these days?
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