The Blind Leading the Blind.

The government in Britain is proposing to introduce a minimum price of 40p a unit for alcoholic drinks. They say it’s to drive the scourge of binge drinking off the streets.

Well now, hang on a minute. The scourge to which the government is referring is the prolific practice among young people of getting well tanked up in town centre bars into the early hours of the morning, and then staggering around the place behaving in a way that is somewhat short of decorous. The problem here is that the price of drinks in pubs and bars is already considerably higher than 40p a unit, so I’m not sure how they think it’s going to make a difference.

And then there’s the more obvious point. Does this bunch of naïve, out-of-touch airheads who currently pass for a government really believe that young people will forego their most favoured form of recreation even if the price of drinks did go up a bit? No; they’ll just grumble and pay the higher price.

I suspect, however, that the government is not being quite so airheaded as they might seem. I suspect they know full well that it won’t make any difference, but are indulging in the usual knee jerk reaction in order to persuade the naïve, airheaded denizens of middle England that the men in suits are doing something about a problem which said denizens find disturbing. Which, of course, they’re not.

What this proposed minimum price would do, however, is make it that much more difficult for poorer people to drink quietly and cheaply at home. That figures, since the present government appears to be on a crusade to make life more difficult for poorer people. Ex public schoolboys brought up in the Thatcher era don’t, I strongly suspect, have a lot of time for poorer people, so I suppose it’s understandable.