7 Spey Terrace
Edinburgh
EH7 4PX
Telephone: 0131-550 0895
E-mail: JohnEDouglas@gmail.com
Blog: http://johneoindouglas.blogspot.com/
28th of September 2009
Dear Sir/Madam,
HOME RULE NEEDED ON ALCOHOL
The Scottish Government's plan to discourage drinking by raising prices, whilst to be welcomed, is somewhat ill thought out in that it does nothing to protect the poor from resorting to the manufacture of alcohol at home as an alternative.
Using cheap household ingredients and inexpensive equipment readily available from otherwise respectable retailers, alcohol can easily and legally be made for little more than the price of lemonade. Not only is home brewing and winemaking currently totally uncontrolled, but it cheats the Exchequer of revenue which could otherwise be used to treat the deleterious effects of alcohol.
If the SNP's "War on Alcohol" is to be taken seriously, they really must do something to control this dangerous process which was, after all, only made legal in the 1960's.
Sincerely,
John Eoin Douglas
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Heck, I've lost my job, am strapped for cash and was just thinking about doing some homebrew in order to evade the increase in the cost of alcohol. Please don't deny me this simple pleasure by asking for more taxes on homebrew. Booze is cheaper in most other parts of the world and there are no problems. Don't you think it might just be due to the lack of any deterrent in the UK rather than the cost of alcohol for all the trouble ? I was in Poland last week and it cost about a pound for a litre of strong lager. And guess what ? No trouble at all. You see over there if you try and get violent or spew up or urinate in the street they don't drive you home to mummy to sober up. They've got a proper police force in Poland. They watch out for troublemakers and beat the living shit out of them. If they're too busy they have the private security guards who are nice and friendly until you step out of line and then they take you in the back of their vans and they kick the shit out of you instead. This means you can go out with your friends, enjoy a safe time then go home safely. So you could make alcohol ten times more expensive in the UK and it would make no difference at all. Crime would increase to cover the cost but because there's no deterrent apart from a fine that no one pays anyway it wouldn't make any difference. Heck if you're a yob or have any convictions then you're not going to get employed so prison is neither here nor there.
ReplyDeleteAnd prison is a nice change from living off £68 a week and increases your streed cred with your peers.
So campaign for better sentencing for yobs but don't make us all pay for the nanny state's lack of deterrent.
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