It started with a ‘These prices ain’t big enough for the 5million of us’ and since then the gallus cowboys and the reds from the Wild Wild West have stared each other down over alcohol pricing.
‘Draw?’ ventured the Bad, having kicked every policy chair over and turning the place into a saloon. ‘Not on your nelly’ retorted the Good, ‘we’re taking this all the way till sundown’. Things were about to get Ugly.
And so it has proved with the news that Nicola Sturgeon has offered a ‘sunset clause’ to the minimum pricing plans such that, after a trial period, the policy can be reviewed. This would allow a ‘try before you buy’ opportunity which would help assuage fears that a minimum price for alcohol won’t help reduce the £2bn cost to Scotland each year.
Tavish, Annabel and Iain (the three amigos?) released a joint statement saying that they would prefer a ‘floor price’. It’s not immediately clear what the difference is between a floor and a minimum price and if that difference is trifling then is this not just more opposition for opposition’s sake?
It seems BMA Scotland does believe there is a difference between a floor price and a minimum price, preferring the latter to the former:
BMA Scotland does not believe that banning the sale of alcohol below the cost of duty and VAT (a floor price) will make any real difference in tackling Scotland's problems with alcohol. Under this scheme, many drinks such as supermarket brand vodka and ciders could continue to be sold at ridiculously cheap prices, and in some circumstances could be even cheaper than they are now
Indeed, Labour’s assertion that "The Nationalists have left themselves marginalised and isolated." is surely nonsensical given that the SNP has the BMA, the police, nurses, alcohol support groups and almost every other relevant non-political group on their side.
So it’s over to the reds, are they gonna do something, or just sit there and bleed*
High noon is looming on this issue and someone will have to blink first. By holding on to their horses, I strongly suspect it is the SNP that will be riding off into the sunset.
* nicked from the excellent Tombstone (a rootin’ tootin’ classic)
Thursday, August 5, 2010
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11 comments:
"Indeed, Labour’s assertion that "The Nationalists have left themselves marginalised and isolated." is surely nonsensical given that the SNP has the BMA, the police, nurses, alcohol support groups and almost every other relevant non-political group on their side."
Not to mention the UK Labour party
(Andy Burnham is the name you want to put into google!)
Former Labour ministers
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/8384927.stm
TheBMA point of view.
The problem with minimum pricing though is that itself, it is not a golden bullet to cure Scotland's cronic alcoholism.
A start might be if the Police were to enforce EXISTING powers to clamp down on drinking in the street. There is a spot in the scheme where I stay where young people gather and drink "energy juice". Why aren't they being moved on, and more pertinantly why isn't there an alternative for young people to drinking on the street. To quote "Common People" - "They dance and drink and screw/because there's nothing else to do".
Trying to change attitudes is the answer, penalising publicans and adopting regressive licensing laws is not!
Allan, nobody has ever claimed that minimum pricing is a 'magic bullet'. However, it seems that pretty much ever relevant expert considers that it would do some good, and it would certainly be a major step forward. No one law or effort will solve this problem, but this is one that (in conjunction with other efforts) will make a difference if Labour stop playing petty opposition-for-its-own-sake politics, listen to the advice of people who know what they're talking about, do the decent thing and support the proposal
Allan wrote: "Trying to change attitudes is the answer, penalising publicans and adopting regressive licensing laws is not!"
Haven't we been trying to change attitudes Allan? - I'm afraid that's a very, very long term project indeed.
Also, a 40p or 50p per unit min price would not penalise publicans. There are very few drinks I can think of at my local that cost less than that. In fact there are none.
A minimum price would, in all likelyhood, help pubs by stopping supermarkets offering drink deals at practically 'loss leader' prices.
There has been a large shift from pub consumption to home consumption in recent times. That, IMO is largely due to this disparity in prices.
Drinking in, what should be, a controlled environment with a mix of gender and age group just seems like a much better way to go about things to me.
PEDANT ALERT!
Bullets tend to be neither golden or magic (literally or figuratively) but silver.
*Derived from the notion that silver bullets killed werewolves.
The trouble with minimum pricing is that it will alienate younger voters. It is the youngest in society who have the least amount to spend and yet are at a time in their lives when they are at their most socially active.
The issue of minimum pricing is about dealing with anti-social behaviour (and in particular the ned culture that blights so many of Scotland’s cities). This can be dealt with through policing and community measures.
The SNP are highly dependant on younger voters especially with so many of Scotland’s middle aged (and older) population being stuck in the “my faither voted Labour and so do I” mentality. Essentially, a huge proportion of the middle aged and older bracket might as well be written off by the SNP. They’ll be Labour voters for the rest of their lives. Younger voters, however, are the lifeblood of the SNP. Don’t push them away.
* nicked from the excellent Tombstone (a rootin’ tootin’ classic)
- I sympathise with SNP TV.
Democracy and politics is now in that grey twilight area between elections.
Somehow, interest and morale has to be maintained and what better way than to portray Scottish politicians as a bunch of cattle-rustlin, whisky-drinkin, fiddle-playin cowboys spouting incomprehensible authentic frontier gibberish.
It's not for nothing that when I watch Hollywood westerns I'm always reminded about how Scottish they are.
Anway, I think what this SNP TV blog post means is that we need another election and soon, otherwise, one of our fave bloggers is in danger of being seduced by the dark side of blogging, indulging in fantasising about Lord Mandelbrot of Hemlock being the Emperor and the SNP as the Rebel Alliance etc etc
Great post!
By the way, it's normal practice and just common courtesy to acknowledge your sources.
Conan the Librarian does a pastiche of a well-known crap American cartoon involving cattle-rustlin...or something, I can never understand what that SNP half-brick-throwing cybernat loony is going on about - and just days later, SNP TV does a blog post dressed up as a Hollywood cow-poke western. More than just coincidence I think.
The horrible evidence of plaigerism is here -
Hootsmon Headlines
Psuedepigrapha
04 Aug 2010
For the sake of sanity, we need another election and soon.
All the best.
The issue of minimum pricing is not about dealing with anti-social behaviour. It is predominantly a public health policy aimed at achieving a population-wide reduction in the amount of alcohol consumed. At present, enough booze is sold in Scotland for every single person over the age of 16 to exceed recommended male drinking limits every single week of the year. This level of consumption does contribute to anti-social behaviour - but it is the effect on health that is truly horrendous and this is why the policy is so strongly supported by the entire medical profession.
"Conan the Librarian does a pastiche of a well-known crap American cartoon involving cattle-rustlin...or something, I can never understand what that SNP half-brick-throwing cybernat loony is going on about - and just days later, SNP TV does a blog post dressed up as a Hollywood cow-poke western. More than just coincidence I think."
Just a coincidence Joe. I did see 5 minutes of Toy Story 2 the other week starring cowboy Woody, but that's probably just a coincidence too.
Interesting to note that the problem with minimum pricing is that it's not a golden bullet. What is a golden bullet for anything these days? A very weak argument against if you ask me, sorry Allan.
The argument about minimum pricing is not an argument against minimum pricing (and I'm not so sure it will work because we are so dependent on alcohol), but an argument for it not to be a stand alone policy regarding the health of our nation and also the law and order aspect.
True, no one has claimed that minimum pricing is a magic bullet. However no one has advocated any other measures to tackle our alcohol problem.
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