MY TWOPENCE WORTH ON MINIMUM ALCOHOL PRICING

BEER SHAMPOO HITS £10 A TUBE!

Minimum alcohol pricing, there's a quandry.

We have to face up to the  fact that we in the UK and more particularly in Scotland, have a big problem with alcohol.  When you go to Spain or France the only drunks you see are Brit tourists or occasionally a North European.  Some of the scenes in our city centres on a Saturday night are a disgrace.  Some people will say that is because drink is so dear that people get hammered in the house before they go out.  So should we make drink cheaper?  Would that bring in a more responsible attitude to drinking?  Personally I doubt it. But, then I suppose you could say that it is much cheaper in Spain where I drink a reasonable wine for £0.65 a litre and Spaniards don't get pissed, even at the football.

Now I speak as one who has drunk like a fish for most of his life, so I think I might have some input here.  I do in principle support minimum pricing but I do believe that £0.50 a unit is too dear.  How, if it gets through the courts, can we charge £0.50 when in England, they are looking to bring in a price of £0.40.  Ridiculous.  And why should we hand the supermarkets a £100 million bonus?  Those bastards have ravaged our town centres, turning them into 'tesco extras', charity shops and bookies.  I'd clobber any multinational in an out of town centre till they felt their orange pips squeeze.  

Is it possible to take this money off them and use it to pay for alcohol education for our young?  I don't know.  But, I will tell you one thing.  This is what a responsible Government means to the people of Scotland.  The SNP and it could be rightly or wrongly in your estimation had this policy as part of their manifesto despite the fact that Labour, the Tories and the Libdums were against it in the last parliament and they know it will lose them votes, but they have the interests of Scotland's people at heart.  Suddenly of course, CamaClegg have decided they are in favour so the Libdums and the Tories have changed their tune.  So in other words, they are not interested in the health of the people of Scotland, just in their narrow Unionist policies.  Plus ca change as my French brothers say!