So once again, the unusual tonic wine is in the news here. I resisted blogging about it a couple of weeks ago, when it was reported as being linked to 5,000 crimes over a three year period. Now Scottish Labour has launched their own commission on alcohol and are calling for the amount of caffeine in Buckfast to be reduced. Maybe they've got a point - but it's a minor issue.
When you consider the extent of the problem that this country has with alcohol misuse, the use of Buckfast is all but irrelevant. Still it gives the politicos in oor wee Parliament something else to disagree about. Labour won't play with the SNP minimum pricing proposals, the SNP won't play with Labour's Buckfast proposals. I've heard a lot of arguments about these two issues over the weekend, but I haven't heard anything about the root cause of the problem. Nor have I heard any talk about working together in a consensual (call it adult) way to deal with this issue. You see that doesn't make good headlines, doesn't show how different we are from each other, how much more impressive my argument is than yours.
It's the politics of the playground; while alcohol continues to blight lives up and down the land. It drives me mad.
Pass the Buckfast - I need a drink!
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2 comments:
Minimum pricing is probably worth a 1-2 year trial, with vigorous enforcement and careful monitoring.
It might prove to be useful - or alcohol might prove to be price inelastic like petrol.
Until its been actually tried, politicians of every hue are speculating too much as to its likely effect.
Given the disastrous stats of what we know IS happening already with alcohol abuse, doing nothing is scarcely a credible option.
The parties (I suggest) should agree to a fixed-period trial, followed by independent review of its consequences.
I agree - the evidence of what we're currently doing is fairly overwhelming. And I can't see how a trial period of minimum pricing could make things much worse.
Do you want to stand for election? I'd vote for you (probably).
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