Denormalisation of alcohol

[Maurice Picarda]

That's no good to me! I like a nice pub, and hope to never be in a nightclub again.

There's something useful there: force all booze-selling establishments to play music at a conversation-drowning volume, restrict the availability of chairs, and send squads of horrible dancing youngsters in, to make them even less pleasant.

 

[ItWillNeverWork]

Nasty, brutish and short.

Not you, Nancy - that's life in a state of nature, without government.

Depends on the government.

 

[Nancy_Winks]

Nasty, brutish and short.

Not you, Nancy - that's life in a state of nature, without government.

I disagree.

Your suggestions will certainly make drinkers solitary and poor tho.

 

[DotCommunist]

The culture of spending the years between 18 and 21 in a pub, with the very occasional lecture, plays a large part in developing unhealthy drinking habits.

not everyone went straight from FE-HE. You're effectively saying the bad drinking habits are largely confined to the middle classes then no. Who can buy their way out of alcohol price rises. No, you haven't thought this through at all. Banning home brewing. lol.

 

[Maurice Picarda]

It's 50% of the population now, isn't it?

 

[ItWillNeverWork]

This thread has made me interested in buying a homebrew kit.

 

[Chick Webb]

There's something useful there: force all booze-selling establishments to play music at a conversation-drowning volume, restrict the availability of chairs, and send squads of horrible dancing youngsters in, to make them even less pleasant.

WHY? I'm looking forward to my retirement when I'm going to (somehow) be an old Basque man, wandering around the streets of Donostia with my cronies, in and out of each bar of the town all morning, drinking my 50c glass of red of wine.

 

[killer b]

The less power the Government has the better imo.

In an ideal world, yep. In this world, it's simply handing power over to unaccountable commercial organisations.

 

[SpookyFrank]

It's 50% of the population now, isn't it?

Which implies the existence of another 50% doing somthing else...

 

[Johnny Vodka]

The consumption of alcohol is so ingrained in UK society, you'll never denormalise it. Part of what needs to happen is ingraining the idea that alcohol is a drug. Instead of the use of the phrase 'drugs and alcohol' we should be talking about 'drugs, including alcohol'. Then legalise a bunch of other drugs and include alcohol in the discussion about availability/packaging/harm reduction information/taxing.

 

[Citizen66]

It's already expensive. Especially for the decent liquor or at pubs.

 

[Maurice Picarda]

This thread has made me interested in buying a homebrew kit.

Early measure should be to ensure that homebrewers get a license from their council; it will help when the equipment is banned later on.

 

[ItWillNeverWork]

Early measure should be to ensure that homebrewers get a license from their council; it will help when the equipment is banned later on.

Why? Just fucking mind your own business.

 

[killer b]

(I think I'd only favour an advertising ban out of the options Maurice has laid out, btw).

 

[SpookyFrank]

In an ideal world, yep. In this world, it's simply handing power over to unaccountable commercial organisations.

You might credit the people doing the drinking with at least a little bit of agency in the matter.

I really don't think advertising is the key factor that makes people drink. It might affect people's choices about what they drink, but when you're talking about public health that's pretty irrelevant.

 

[Maurice Picarda]

Why? Just fucking mind your own business.

Collectively, we pay for healthcare. Public health is everyone's business. When firms with the muscle to frighten government are selling addictive poisons, the problem is clearly a social rather than an individual one, but when individuals are brewing poison in their shed it's also reasonable for society to intervene.

 

[ItWillNeverWork]

By the way, you make wine with a bucket, a tea towel and some old fruit. Good luck trying to ban those.

 

[souljacker]

If they legalised weed, I'd drink loads less.

 

[machine cat]

I have a drink problem and if minimum pricing was introduced I would simply turn to the black market/make my own so I could get it as cheap as possible.

 

[Johnny Vodka]

funny how its those liberals like JV who are the voices of draco on this issue

Except I'm not. I'm not stopping anyone drinking - I just think we should be reigning in the power of big companies to push potentially harmful products at people and also ensure such products are taxed at a level that mops up their cost to society. I also find it strange how alcohol gets this free pass, while users of less harmful drugs are criminalised.

 

[Maurice Picarda]

By the way, you make wine with a bucket, a tea towel and some old fruit. Good luck trying to ban those.

I come from a long line of wine makers, who wouldn't have got far without their demijohns, campden tablets and so on.

 

[ItWillNeverWork]

Collectively, we pay for healthcare. Public health is everyone's business. When firms with the muscle to frighten government are selling addictive poisons, the problem is clearly a social rather than an individual one, but when individuals are brewing poison in their shed it's also reasonable for society to intervene.

It's not poison if you don't drink too much. And if you do drink too much it is a symptom that you are already ill.

 

[Maurice Picarda]

Except I'm not. I'm not stopping anyone drinking - I just think we should be reigning in the power of big companies to push potentially harmful products at people and also ensure such products are taxed at a level that mops up their cost to society. I also find it strange how alcohol gets this free pass, while users of less harmful drugs are criminalised.

Absolutely.

 

[killer b]

You might credit the people doing the drinking with at least a little bit of agency in the matter.

I really don't think advertising is the key factor that makes people drink. It might affect people's choices about what they drink, but when you're talking about public health that's pretty irrelevant.

I do credit the people doing the drinking with a bit of agency. And am only too aware of the many and varied reasons people drink.

 

[DotCommunist]

alcohol advertising is already under the strictest (self imposed) guidelines anyway. No showing solitary drinking, no showing or implying alcohol=sexual prowess\attractiveness. 'Please drink responsibly' on spirits ads.

 

[ItWillNeverWork]

I come from a long line of wine makers, who wouldn't have got far without their demijohns, campden tablets and so on.

To be fair, I'm only going on a vague memory of a childhood friend's grandad who used to make wine in buckets. All the same, your idea is shit. I'd open a brewery just to spite you.

 

[Maurice Picarda]

alcohol advertising is already under the strictest (self imposed) guidelines anyway. .

These minute concessions from the Portman Group just show how rattled the industry is, and with good reason.

 

[DotCommunist]

Except I'm not. I'm not stopping anyone drinking - I just think we should be reigning in the power of big companies to push potentially harmful products at people and also ensure such products are taxed at a level that mops up their cost to society. I also find it strange how alcohol gets this free pass, while users of less harmful drugs are criminalised.

one of the problems with this is that petrol and booze tax are used as budget day freebies- climb steadily, little at a time, then just before an election, cut duty, glory in the headlines and jobs a good un.

 

[cesare]

Home distilling can also be a public health problem (denatured alcohol containing methanol): http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1771266/

 

[ItWillNeverWork]

What is your view on people who injure themselves whilst playing sport, Maurice Picarda?