Plans for minimum alcohol price

The government's top medical adviser has drawn up plans for a minimum price for alcohol which would double the cost of some drinks in England.

Under the proposal from Sir Liam Donaldson, it has been reported that no drinks could be sold for less than 50 pence per unit of alcohol they contain.

It would mean most bottles of wine could not be sold for less than £4.50.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7944334.stm

a bag of sugar, some fruit, 50p of wine yeast a demi-john and you have a gallon of it for about £4, they cant hit homebrew ingredients, and thats the way everyone will go!

Tesco Value 2% is staying the same price then. wahey........Oh doesn't apply to me any more does it

They've got my vote then. the higher the price the better.

Hopefully the extra taxes raised will be spent on keeping a few more decent spin doctors in work and not wasted on repaying the black hole in the taxpayer's pocket from rescuing banks from bancruptcy.

I say let the taxpayers pay the gap out of their own pockets......twice

They could also invest it in security personnel to protect the people brought in to close jobcentres down. I don't see the problem here. Why would we need so many jobcentres. Do people think there is a recession or something? 1½ million unemployed doesn't sound like much to me. After all this figure doesn't include the people who are employed for accepting their benefits into their bank accounts anymore

AC

The Minister for Nothing in Particular on the Andrew Marr Show would not back Sir Ian or confirm that the Government would back his recommendations.You would have to be stupid,during a recession or at any time for that matter,to expect the majority to pick up the tab for the excesses of a few.But then again,this is a Labour Government.

like the UK having the euro and outlawing tobacco in our lifetime, bad things will happen to us!

on TV today gordon brown says he will no do this, so its another sunday story that is rubbish!

btw if you watch the news, a lot of whats said on a sunday is utter cr*p and never comes to anything!

Brown knows its a vote loser.I have the greatest respect for Sir Ian Donaldson and I'm sure his intentions are good but he's no politician.Raising duty on tobacco never stopped anyone commited to smoking so why he considers it to be different for alcohol I'll never know.He has,however,brought the subject of binge drinking to the fore and upped the tempo of the debate.Perhaps raising the age at which you can buy alcohol to 21 may help?

the echo disregard what gordon brown says...

http://www.thisislincolnshire.co.uk/news/Pubs-say-cheers-50p-lifesaver/article-774352-detail/article.html

There are so many conflicting statements in that article its difficult to know where to start.
Although its true that cheap alcohol has contributed to the demise of the 'local' its also true that high prices in pubs has also contributed to their demise.The '50p per unit' will not,on its own, be a lifesaver for pubs.Good quality,competitively priced drinks and food in a convivial atmosphere,would.
For example,I recently asked in my local for a Newcastle Brown to take away.Cost £2.80. My local 'off license' (not supermarket) charges £1.20. If I'm not drinking on the premises where is the justification?
Secondly,I was recently invited to the 'Nosey Parker' on a group social evening for a meal.The 'meal' (?) I had chosen could have the 'peas' upgraded for a cost of ,I think, £2.00.The result? My meal came with its upgrade of 1 slice of tomato,1 onion ring and 1 mushroom.
Well I suppose you get what you pay for.
I don't use my local anymore and I won't be going back to the 'Nosey Parker'.

P.S. If your going out for a meal then check the place out for hygiene and save yourself a 'gippy' tum here:-
http://www.scoresonthedoors.org.uk/