British aggressor tyrannical government takes first steps to alcohol prohibition.

[C0ckney]

Originally posted by Sandman
Well, there's this, although it's from an anti-alcohol thinktank, and I can't be bothered registering to look at the ONS source they cite.

well as you say it's from an anti-alcohol think tank, and going back to 1980 hardly counts as ever.

having said all that i find the results a little surprising, considering my experiences (anecdotal of course). i would be interested in seeing how they work it all out. does it mean all alcohol, or alcohol sold in off-licenses, or in pubs, clubs etc?

[Cort Haus]

LotM :

Drink driving is not the issue. That has rightly been unnaceptable for a long time. Going on a GBH spree is also not acceptable. What this new crackdown is about is a moral/health campaign against hard-working respectable folk having a few quiet drinks in their own home to relax from the stress of their daily lives.

If those few drinks are unhealthy, then sobeit, but that should be their choice.

[C0ckney]

lotm, as cort says, it's all about this government's authoritarianism and desire to exert control over every aspect of people's lives.

[Sandman]

Originally posted by Cort Haus
LotM :

Drink driving is not the issue. That has rightly been unnaceptable for a long time. Going on a GBH spree is also not acceptable. What this new crackdown is about is a moral/health campaign against hard-working respectable folk having a few quiet drinks in their own home to relax from the stress of their daily lives.

If those few drinks are unhealthy, then sobeit, but that should be their choice.

What about the lazy, non-respectable folk?

[Cort Haus]

Originally posted by Sandman
What about the lazy, non-respectable folk?

We've been lectured to for ages.

[CerberusIV]

Just goes to prove what I have thought for years - the only good politician is a dead politician.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Cort Haus
LotM :

Drink driving is not the issue. That has rightly been unnaceptable for a long time. Going on a GBH spree is also not acceptable. What this new crackdown is about is a moral/health campaign against hard-working respectable folk having a few quiet drinks in their own home to relax from the stress of their daily lives.

If those few drinks are unhealthy, then sobeit, but that should be their choice.

and I ask again, how is it no longer their choice? How is it a crackdown?

ZOMG!! the govt handed out some pamphlets!!! Lets hide the booze in the basement!!!!

Folks who are so exquisitely sensitive are not long for liberty, whether New Labour exists or not.

[lord of the mark]

OMG!!! here in the US the govt gives out pamphlets on healthy eating

http://www.hhs.gov/safety/index.shtml#diet

Id better dig a hole in the basement for my cheetos, and a gun to protect them.


You'll pull my big mac out of my cold, dead hand!!!

[Cort Haus]

Originally posted by lord of the mark
and I ask again, how is it no longer their choice? How is it a crackdown?

There is a popular phrase in official circles called 'informed choice'. It refers to an ever-increasing campaign of persuasive propaganda which treats adults as children who need to be guided at every step.

Demands are made for industries to take 'voluntary steps' - which in this case means calls for pubs and restaurants to display ‘warnings’ on how many units of alcohol are contained in drinks served by the glass.

This is not go-fetch leaflets on a public health site, this is hectoring. I would expect the pressure to be continuously ramped up to the long term goal of making it socially unnaceptable to be drunk.

[Dr Strangelove]

A couple months ago wasn't someone here whining about the UK's high rate of violence? Surely you realise that alcohol is definitely one of the causal factors of violence in general. How can someone whine about the high rate of violence then get into a hissy fit over studying the prevalence and effects of one of its putative major causes? Isn't that a bit hypocritical? Is it any less hypocritical than the American right getting their panties in a bunch over global warming science? Heck, it may even be on a par with creationists getting uptight over the teaching of evolution in public schools.

[Cort Haus]

Dr S, I don't think you've grasped what this discussion is actually about. This is not about a sudden revelation that alcohol and violence can be connected.

[Krill]

Honestly, I doubt that any British governemnt could get the drinking age upped to 21, they would lose every single vote from anyone aged under 21. And upping the tax...the drinks companies would definately lobby against it, they make so much from lower class people and students etc that they can't realy afford for prices to be raised on bulk purchase products.

[Cort Haus]

This is what gets me. If everyone stopped drinking - and smoking and driving for that matter - there'd be a massive hole in the finances and all the virtuous people that like spitting on teh evil degenerates would have to start stumping up more taxes.

[Krill]

Wel, it is not like GB can raise taxes again is it...

[Sandman]

Go to an A&E on a Friday night and tell me that we wouldn't save money if people stopped drinking.

It's the medical establishment which is behind this. The government has merely decided to listen to them for once. Why not direct some of your Daily Mail style ramblings at the wicked, pusillanious doctors?