http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/gla ... 276334.stm

What a load of boll0cks. People who drink heavily are gonna carry on cos they want/feel they need to, almost no matter what the price. This strikes me as just another tax

I should point out I don't even drink, but I can't stand bullsh1t government interference that seems nothing more than a revenue scam, and one that hurts Joe Average cos of a minority of idiots/drunks/etc

We do seem to have a disgraceful drinking culture in the UK as a whole, but nonsense like this is not the answer.

i always try to pay the minimum for my beer from whoever has the best offer …

Well they should start with banning cheap booze in the House of Commons. What about freedom of choice? I am not in favour of this. It is extremely regressive and hit the poor hardest. Why shouldn't they have a drink as well? It is down to poor drink education. My parents allowed me to drink what ever I want and I went through my wild crazy drinking phase before I left sixth form. I learnt to be a social drinker and barely touch the stuff outside social events. That is what is needed not higher drink prices in a recession. Plus demand for alcohol is highly inelastic so in order to cut demand they really need to increase the prices substantially.

If it gets people off their couches drinking cans of shi**y Carling they bought at half price at Asda and into pubs to drink decent beer with friends then it is probably a good thing. Drinking in your own is not healthy. Its a depressive drug that is addictive and really really cheap. However, my father died from liver cirrhosis, so my views may be a little skewed.

I actually wonder if cheap cans at the supermarket or whatever have contributed to people stopping drinking in the long run - I personally don't know anyone who drinks at home alone, and there's only so many times you'll buy drink to sit in a house with your mates before you realise it's all a bit dull and a waste of money

That rather depends on your mates. For me, that pretty much qualifies as a "Party".

It has huge advantages over going out, not the least of which is the company. You also get to chose your own entertainment, rather than have someone else's choice forced upon you. The food is usually better too, and of course if you're a smoker then it's a no-brainer.

It's only a waste of money if they keep jacking up the tax to the point I ave to start robin people init.

Agreed, but it's not the sort of thing most people do too often I suspect, which I'm guessing is what these guidelines are suggesting by attacking cheap drink.

It is not that. I think that the problem is really binge drinkers who get slaughtered every Friday and Saturday night in the town centres up and down the country. Maybe an end to happy hours is sensible but then what about the rest of us who can drink sensibly and we are being punished as well.

If you can drink sensibly, you will be punished a lot less than the people who can't. You may even decide to choose your slightly more expensive tipple more carefully, buying a fine, tasty ale rather than a can of urine with a Carling label. We may even lose some of the crummier brands - the Carling's, the White Lightning's, the Lambrini's...

Hell, we could even restore the link between food and drink, besides lager & kebab of course.
I look forward to times when you can go to a pub in the centre of town on a Saturday night without fear for your life.

What's wrong with getting drunk? The British have been doing it since before Roman times...

It's not the getting drunk that causes the problems, it's the sustained, often daily over-consumption, the resultant fighting and football supporter mentality that puts an exclusion zone around most cities on weekend evenings.

Abso.....lutely. It's not just Britain; it's pretty much anywhere with long cold dark winter evenings.

I'm not generally a danger to the public of a Friday night, because I can only afford one round at the extortionate over-taxed prices they charge in the pubs and clubs. You'll generally find me in the company of friends with booze purchased from a supermarket.

I know a lot of people prefer to do it the other way around; they get "tanked up" before they go out because they can't afford the club prices. If the tax in public houses wasn't so damned high already, then these people might well choose to drink more steadily rather than start the night off hammered.

I already brew a little of my own. I did stop when supermarket prices became low enough to match my income, but they've gone up a lot already and if they go up even more then I won't be paying any duty ever again.

I think that a big part of the problem is the property prices. If a pub or club costs a lot or the rent is really high then the costs will have to be passed on to the public in the form of higher booze prices. If you talk to publicans they will blame rents as a serious problem. I think that the problem goes back to the break up of the tied chains. Many just sold all their pubs and the buyers looked at the chains of pubs as an appreciating asset and then started to demand higher rents to keep the growth going. It was all going to end in tears.

Whatever the reason, when one drink in a club costs an entire week's savings people are going to look for alternatives. If you tax those alternatives out of reach, then people are going to turn to the black market or other duty-free methods.

I had a girlfriend whose father died from an alcohol related disease. Obviously, it was tragic. However, if cheap booze had been more expensive I have no doubt he would simply have bought the same amount and impoverished his family even further. His wife was already working 16 hours a day, so a tax like this would have pushed them over the edge.

When people habitually consume something, making it too expensive has only ever increased consumption through the "alternative" sources. The only thing that actually works is to change public perception of acceptable behaviour. That takes time, and obviously does not increase tax revenue.

I don't agree with the idea, it's just another money-spinner (labour policy)

Hopefully they'll at least get rid of this: