Drink Sir? That will be 45p, thank you.

[Workingman]

That is what the government say will be the minimum price for a unit of alcohol. That, according the them, will stop binge drinking in towns and cities.

There have been a lot of advocates of this who have been given a lot of air time by the TV stations, much more than those against, and there are a lot of "I think", "believe", "hopefully" and "mights" in all they say. No facts, because there are none, all the research is in the form of modelling, and that modelling is influenced by the prejudices of the modellers.

Well, my prejudices say that it will not work, but it will make money and raise prices. My Co-op, not the cheapest alcohol outlet, sells its own brand lager, 5%ABV, at £3.95 for 4 x 440 ml cans. Under the new rules it will have to rise to £3.96! An own brand bottle of Vodka at about £10 will have to rise to £13, but a medium brand already around £13 will want to keep its differential, so it will go up as well, and so will the better brands.

The main problem in all this is that people pre-load before going for a night out, and they mostly do it on branded drinks, drinks that are already more than 45p per unit, but a lot cheaper than the pubs and clubs they are going to. I used to run and off-licence so I have seen it first hand.

All this new rule will do is push the whole market price up, that hits everyone.

[Kaz]

Totlly agree with you Frank - this won't stop the binge drinkers at all

[Workingman]

Just watching BBC News 24 and it is obvious from the attitude of the news reader that the BBC has already decided it is the right thing to do. Interviewing a person from the Adam Smith Institute he made it clear that being "anti" was not allowed.

[Suff]

If you can't do the right thing, do something.....

Standard government BS which never works.

[cromwell]

That is what the government say will be the minimum price for a unit of alcohol. That, according the them, will stop binge drinking in towns and cities.

There have been a lot of advocates of this who have been given a lot of air time by the TV stations, much more than those against, and there are a lot of "I think", "believe", "hopefully" and "mights" in all they say.

Isn't there just?
I hate this kind of nannying "It's all for your own good" rubbish.
We have been told how much salt we should eat, how many 'units' of alcohol we should drink, don't forget your five a day, how much exercise we should be taking, and now that we should pay 45p for each unit (which is a totally made up thing) of alcohol we drink.

The fact of the matter is that our politicians over the years have created a fractured and unhappy society where discipline and punishment have been diluted. Until that is cured forget about everything else, because they just keep on treating the syptoms (binge drinking, drug taking, feckless breeding) instead of the causes.

[Fugitive]

I agree with you Frank. It won't deter the pre-loading before a night out. We mainly use two pubs for early evening drinks in our town, one a freehouse and the other brewery owned. In the freehouse a pint of Becks and a glass of house wine costs £6.90. In the brewery owned pub the same two drinks cost £9.60 but this proposed 45p thing won't affect pub prices anyway, might even make them seem more reasonable.