Saturday, 29 September 2012

Because It Worked So Well In The States!

‘It’ being Prohibition:
A town has launched a campaign to stop the sale of super strength alcohol in what is believed to be the first initiative of its kind in Britain.
And how is this going to work?
Off-licence owners in Ipswich are being asked to remove strong beers and ciders from their stores in an effort to tackle alcohol abuse.
Oh, indeed. It’s always voluntary, isn’t it? At first…
Big chains including Tesco, the East of England Co-Op and McColl newsagents have signed up along with smaller independent retailers to voluntarily remove the products.
So, is it unanimous? Well, no. Of course not.
The campaign, backed by Suffolk Police, NHS Suffolk, Ipswich Borough Council and Suffolk County Council, is targeted at beers and ciders with an alcohol volume of 6.5 per cent and over which are often sold cheaply. There are 130 off-licences in Ipswich, 53 of which will be super-strength free following the launch.
And the other 77 will simply rake up the extra custom. No doubt pressure will be brought to bear on them after a while.

And if they do indeed cave in, well, then, people who want to buy super-strength lager will just….get on a bus or a train, I guess…
The town has seen four street drinkers murdered in the last three years, and police say the scheme could not only help those who depend on alcohol but also the wider community and those tasked with clean-up operations.
That’s the rationale behind this? It’s to ensure tramps don’t kill each other, and police officers can spend more time investigating the moon* and paramedics can attend people who’ve burnt the toast instead?

For that, we’ll start to strip away our freedoms?
A statement on behalf of the campaign said: "The negative impacts associated with super strength alcohol are significant for the consumer and the wider community, but also for the public services who deal with the consequences."
That’s what they are paid for.

If you really want to bring overindulgence to a screeching halt ‘for the sake of the chiiillldreeen! public services’, then insist on people paying the full price for their use of them. Charge the drunks.

And if they can’t pay, put them to work, digging holes and filling them in again, if there’s no real work to be had.

H/T: Arfur Daley via Twitter and *Robert Hale via email
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9 comments:

  1. Demetrius29 September 2012 at 15:15

    What about "plonk"? If they could be redirected to the European wine surplus then less strong beer and cider would be drunk. The drunks may become more drunk, but these things happen. At least we will be supporting the EU.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Curmudgeon29 September 2012 at 16:27

    "people who want to buy super-strength lager will just….get on a bus or a train, I guess…"

    Or buy from a man in a white van.

    "Charge the drunks."

    I suspect your average street drinker will turn out to be a "man of straw".

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  3. Brian, follower of Deornoth29 September 2012 at 17:38

    "Suffolk Police, NHS Suffolk, Ipswich Borough Council and Suffolk County Council"

    When are these disgusting vermin going to recognise that they are supposed to serve the public, not rule the public?

    ReplyDelete
  4. nisakiman29 September 2012 at 18:26

    Fools. Why is it that these types feel compelled to interfere in other people's lifestyle choices? So what if extra strong lager is to my taste? (Can't stand the stuff, actually, but that's beside the point.) Am I to be denied that option just because some abuse it?

    I keep coming back to the question: "Who, or what, gives them the right to dictate to me what I can or cannot drink or smoke?"

    I suppose because it has never occurred to me to want to impose my personal morality on anyone else, I find it hard to understand why others should want to impose theirs on me. Or anyone else, for that matter.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous29 September 2012 at 22:06

    Each to their own. I enjoy a good walk and often find landowners who make using footpaths difficult. I always find a way around the problem so will drinkers - brew your own it is cheaper and you can make it as strong as you loke!

    ReplyDelete
  6. f30 September 2012 at 00:56

    Brian good point. I found an example of this sort of stalinesque self righteousness over at my place recently with a trainee diversity officer seeing nothing morally wrong with 'enforcing' diversity, and how those who question it are wrong and will just have to get used to it. Makes me dislike the diversity crowd even more take a peek if you want at:
    http://farenheit211.wordpress.com/2012/09/29/sometimes-the-words-a-person-uses-are-a-window-onto-their-soul/

    ReplyDelete
  7. JuliaM30 September 2012 at 06:21

    " If they could be redirected to the European wine surplus then less strong beer and cider would be drunk."

    That's one way of dealing with the EU Wine Lake!

    "Or buy from a man in a white van."

    Just so. I real employment opportunity, eh? *eyes up AutoTrader*

    "When are these disgusting vermin going to recognise that they are supposed to serve the public, not rule the public?"

    Thanks to Common Purpose, not a question that troubles them much...

    "I keep coming back to the question: "Who, or what, gives them the right to dictate to me what I can or cannot drink or smoke?""

    Their enormous sense of self-satisfaction and contempt for those who pay their salary.

    ReplyDelete
  8. JuliaM30 September 2012 at 06:22

    "...brew your own it is cheaper and you can make it as strong as you loke!"

    Homebrew kits will be the next target then!

    ReplyDelete
  9. DJ30 September 2012 at 10:19

    I'm just loving the euphemism 'street drinkers'.

    ReplyDelete