Thetownend.com

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

I know drink, smoking , fatty foods is bad etc etc.

But I will decide how and what to eat and drink.

My dear old Grandad put his cock on the block in WW2 in Europe just so i could choose.

So fuck off!

It won't stop people from getting pissed

Madness. You know we are on the slippery slope when the government wants to price fix. Sure, the minister responsible says that it is not a good idea. Now. They are just testing the water, they will see what the objections are, withdraw, re-frame the argument to overcome them and then implement it.

I see Alcohol Concern are involved. What a surprise. There's a 'charity' that is just a government sponsored pressure group. http://fakecharities.org/ (http://fakecharities.org/)

More tax and duty is the aim, as always.

i'm drinking a 66cl bottle of stella which under the 50p a unit proposal would go down in price by a few pence.confusing!

Alcohol concern who got 57% of their funding from the government in 2007/2008? They're nothing but a government quango.

Good website that, saved to favourites for future perusal.

The 50p per unit is minimum price. Unlikely to fall.

This only really effects stuff like White Lightening and other Flammable Ben favourites doesnt it.

It won't happen though, for the simple reason it would be against EU law - contary to Article 28 of the European Community treaty

But is right that the government feel they can start fixing the minimum prices of things Yeovil?
What happens to all the extra money? Do the retailers, manufacturers or government get to keep it?

This is the sort of interference that is not required in this country, the government should fuck off and keep out of peoples lives.

Edit: And another thing, when they pay the same price for their booze from the House of Common's bars, as the man in the local does, they may get taken seriously.  Oh and they can apply their own fucking anti-smoking laws in their as well, why shoulod they be fucking exempt from the same fucking torture they put the rest of us through?

Yeah I read that too Paul. Was it on EURef?

Don't bet on it mate - it's more likely that the EU will adopt it as a "good idea" instead  :)

I wonder if they'll start pricing food by the calorie.

The 99p menu at McDonalds would take a bit of a pounding (pun unintended)

Will affect a lot of booze bought in supermarkets. Vodka would be £14 minimum for a bottle on this basis and value lager would be out the window.

I love home brew and home made wine  :D

I'm going to build a greenhouse to grow my own cigar tobacco leaves as well http://www.coffinails.com/ (http://www.coffinails.com/)

TBH not sure where I read it first, as all the EU blogs and some papers have pointed out that such price fixing would be illegal.

http://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/Whitehall-says-SNP39s-drink-price.5048939.jp

EURef is a gem of a site though for finding all the EU Directives and Regulations that rule our lives. ;)

So long as they don't put the price of coke up I'm fine.

Prices are to get slashed if you read/believe the Metro

 8) fuckin' A

The price fixing should help the pub industry. We are being skanked by the cheap booze in tescos etc. There is an argument at people staying home with cheap booze and fags due to the smoking ban etc. Pubs chiefs are meeting wtih Alistair Darling today re: the duty on booze which is killing the pub industry.

Another case, someone is Appealing to the high courts re: the smoking ban saying it is unlawful and goes against human rights etc.

Presumably you'd support the legalisation of all recreational drug use then?

i would. legalised heroin = prices down = less crime. i can see no downsides

Seems pretty sensible to me - its just trying to stop all the really cheap booze which I'd imagine is the cause of a lot of trouble and health issues. As long as they do it sensibly - maybe start with a low minimum price and see how it goes.

DMR would vote for that, I'm sure!

You're thinking of DRS!

No Gazza you fucking tool - the pub industry is skanking us! £3 for a pint of lager? Fuck off.

Interestingly, I'm going to Route 66 tomorrow - £1 a drink all night. Union Weds, £1.50 a snakebite, and the best of all.... Thursday at Chicago Rock, £12 all you can drink!

If this is stopped I'll be savage.

I'm not sure dressing up will make any difference once the prices have gone up Dave.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/10/Lilysavage_1.jpg

As an alternative the government could actually punish people properly for alcohol related violence and anti social behaviour.  I dont always think that harsh punishment is the way to prevent crime, but in this case I really think it is.  At least that way the people who are the real problem get punished as opposed to someone who wants to sit a home, mind his own business and get pissed.

And as for the health angle, I'm sick of the government telling me to stop doing things because they are bad for my health.  My body, my choice. I pay my taxes and so am entitled to use the NHS regardless of how fat or drunk i get.

Good post colin and DMR is right i would legalise heroin but thats a different argument.

What about my human rights as a non-smoker?Why should i have to inhale horrid disgusting smoke when i go out?

So long as the price of tea and Hob-nobs doesn't go up i'll be fine  :D

Why not have smoking pubs and non-smoking pubs? Under the law currently it is illegal to set up a private, members only smoking club which is wrong.

How about booze free pubs? It's horrible being subjected to awful drunken people when you're sober, or so I'd imagine, it's not something I've tried yet.

its not just wrong, its stupid and against the concept of freedom of choice.

Libertarian? And if not you should be...

Oh and I'm not on a recruitment drive  :bandwagon:

I just did the Test on the libertarian party website. I'm 50% libertarian. Who would have thought that you could split someone's political preference down with 10 questions where your only options are one of two extremes.

ummm no you fucking tool. The government puts the duty up so much that pubs have to charge £2.60 - £2.80 a pint to make money. These gimmicks giving 99p pints are loss makers to any pub. Your point is the very reason why pubs are losing business. Supermarkets charge stupidly cheap prices whilst the pubs get fucked over by the government, Fuck off

So whats the differecne between pubs offering cheap beer as a loss leader and Tescos doing it?

Hang on, are you saying that the Pubs have to pay more duty on alcohol than supermarkets ?

Or haven't you thought the statement through ?

What's the profit margin on an average pint of beer?

Tesco's have several thousand adittional products that they can sell at full price, Pub's are much more limited in the products they can sell.

If you run a business the aim is to make money?

And Tesco don't want to make money then

I got 50% too.

I particularly liked the question "It is wrong for the police to retain the DNA of anyone not serving a prison sentence?"

To which they say


Unfortunately the question didn't specify anything about convicted criminals not serving prison sentences, I may have changed my answer otherwise.

[url width=150 height=150]http://lpuk.org/media/take-the-test/blog_badge_100.gif[/url]

Not really a surprise there then.

I'll quote Neville because that is the exact argument I would have used. There is no excuse to charge over £3 a pint. Sorry mate but that is a fact.

£4.50 a pint in Rome and £6 in Sweden. That is being skanked and butt fucked at the same time.

No thanks I'm not really into books. my current job suits me much better ;)

I charged £3.40 a pint at my place on beach. i got 16% of that, so I got just over 54p a pint. Now out of that 54p i had to pay bar staff wages, employers tax, NI, door staff wages and cleaning costs, plus my own tax and 15% VAT. Believe me not a lot left.

So gazza is more on the button than you think.