Show a license to buy a pint

"Your entitlement card is in order, you may purchase a pint"

Hat Tip to Old Holborn on this gem from Labourlost written by John Cowan the Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for South East Cambridgeshire. Cowan is also a councillor, more by accident than democracy as only 63 people bothered to vote for him. Drinkers' Licences:A radical new way to curb drinking excess? Down in Brighton for Labour Party Conference one thing that was noticeable was the large amounts of alcohol consumed over the weekend - and not just by the conference delegates. Most people are responsible users and are able to have a few drinks and enjoy themselves without causing damage to either others or the local environment. However, not all drinkers and users of other substances are able to handle their use of booze in such a responsible manner. At weekends, most A&E departments house those suffering from alcohol poisoning, assaults and drink related accidents. It takes much needed resources from the NHS which could be used for other purposes. Prohibition of alcohol, like any other drug, does not work. It was tried in the 1920s in the US and resulted in making the likes of Al Capone rich men. One possible solution could be an entitlement card that people would carry and swipe when every time they buy Alcohol or Tobacco and record their usage. Is that too radical? I don't think so. For a long time the Government have controlled motorists with a system of licences where people enjoy the right and freedom to drive - as long as they conform to certain rules. With the card, people who got into trouble for, say, minor crimes or drunk and disorderly conduct in public would receive a fixed penalty notice and 3 points on their entitlement card with points disappearing over time for in the same way works on driving licences. More serious offences would result in endorsements on the entitlement card and the cardholder would not be able to purchase alcohol, tobacco or other drugs available for sale through the entitlement card scheme. The main benefits of the policy would be reduction in the health care and crime costs associated with use of substances hopefully leading for more better functioning society. Have posted the entire article in full, just to show what an authoritarian idiot John Cowan is. Not just an idiot for having these views, but for publishing them on a Labour website. Still a good way to prove to the voters of South East Cambridgeshire that no one in their right mind should vote for an authoritarian lunatic such as this and that the Labour party are totally unelectable. Why doesn't Cowan just put a swastika armband on and declare his true colours? This all goes to prove how far removed the Labour Party have become from the public; the Nanny State has become the Bully State, wishing to control every minutiae of our lives and believing it is for the good of the people. They may have thrown out the idea of National Identity Cards but each of these "entitlement cards" will be issued to an individual, recording where and when you drank, what you drank and who you were with. A Tesco clubcard without the bonuses and all the information going to the Government. Cowan is even talking about restricting healthcare to those who have been involved in alcohol related incidents. What happens if you're the one in hospital on the receiving end of the attack? The medical staff swipe your "entitlement card" only to find you were drinking. Hence you get pushed down the triage list. Police later arrest the attacker but you were the victim and denied or had delayed healthcare due to the information on your "Ent ID Card". This is a very a stupid idea from a very stupid man, obviously having 63 votes in a council election has given him a sense a grandeur. This is the sort of politician who can best serve our country dangling from a lampost. Hell I'd even supply the piano wire. Wonder what happens when the pill-popping Prime Mentalist finds out about his PPC writing this? - duck the Nokia's are flying, quick get his pills and move the laser printer before.....too late. Obo also has his take on this story As does Salted Slug Update: the Devil's Kitchen also runs with this As does the Lone Voice

Minimum Pricing and why Cameron is not a Tory

The fake charities such as Alcohol Concern and their bastard offspring Alcohol Concern Cymru were no doubt drooling over their lattes this morning as the Government's Alcohol Strategy was announced in the press. For the first time since the Second World War the Government is planning to interfere with free trade and set a minimum price for alcohol, all in the name of stopping late-night alcohol abuse, pre-loading and other such things such as making sure beer is not cheaper than water - it never has been - this was one reported very obscure study which no one can actually verify. Still that does not stop the Fake Charities getting their hyperbole in, step forward  Eric Appleby, chief executive of Fake Charity Alcohol Concern, who said,
 "This is a victory for common sense.
"We cannot carry on with a situation where it's cheaper to buy a can of lager than a can of Coke."
"We fully support the Government in taking action to clamp down on booze at pocket money prices and protect the health of our children and young people.
"All the research shows there is a link between price and consumption and we know that lives can be saved if a minimum price is introduced."
A can of lager cheaper than a can of coke! That's a new one Eric, please publish on your taxpayer-funded website where cans of lager are cheaper than cans of coke? 'Pocket-money prices' which means of course 'won't someone think of the chiiiildren', er they should not be buying cans of lager in the first place as its illegal. Do you seriously believe that raising the price of an item that is already illegal for them to buy is going to have any effect on their consumption of said items? If you do you are already seriously misguided.

Alcohol consumption has fallen by 14% in the UK since 2014 (Source BBPA)


There that is a fact, not a made-up story about lager cans cheaper than coke.

The extra cost to members of the public is said to be between £23-£100+ over the course of the year. Yes, that's right YOU will be paying more at the end of the day for the same product you buy now. Do you really think that selling a can of beer at 80p will make any difference to saving pubs who are selling beer at £3.00/pint? Of course not but as soon as this bit of legislation is on the statute book we shall see mission creep coming in with the fake charities demanding increases in the minimum price.

These proposals are nothing but a boost for the illegal manufacturers of dodgy drinks and the booze cruisers to Calais and Cherbourg.

An apologist for Alcohol Concern was on Sky News earlier, debating with Bridget Simmons of the BBPA, when confronted about minimum pricing and alcohol consumption referred to a rather obscure study down in British Columbia which suggests that a 10% increase in the minimum price of any given alcoholic product reduced its consumption by between 14.6%. And that's where we get to the reason for minimum pricing - its about reducing consumption in an already shrinking market. Hence the reason why the prohibitionists were jumping for joy this morning on the television coverage. Watching Sky News this morning I saw one fake charity after another being paraded onto our screens, as they were on a roll they started to announce other things such as increasing the minimum price, banning alcohol advertising and just generally showing their true colours of banstubation and prohibition.


As well as a minimum unit price, the government is banning the sale of multi-buy discount deals, increasing powers to stop the selling of alcohol to anyone who is drunk, introducing 'zero tolerance' of drunken behaviour in hospital Accident & Emergency departments, and bringing in a late-night levy so that pubs and clubs have to help pay for policing.
It is already illegal to sell alcohol to someone who is drunk - just how can you legislate to make something more illegal than it already is? This is one law that the police continually fail to to uphold - visiting City Centre 'venue' pubs to prevent drunks being served would be a start, rather than waiting in a van eating doughnuts for when the disorders happen a few hours later - yes Gwent Constabulary we are all familiar with your City Centre policing habits.
The late-night levy is also mentioned - already Newport Council have hinted that they will be charging premises the full £4000+ a year. This is in addition to rates which are supposed to already cover policing. Smaller venues will be charged the same as the larger ones as well - an inappropriate way of collecting any revenue.

I was looking for a comment to rubbish these proposals put forward by the Government today and came across this from, Dr Sean Gabb, Director of the Libertarian Alliance:



“These measures, if adopted, amount to an attack on the poor. The ruling class politicians who continually whine about alcohol will not be affected by minimum pricing or the abolition of special offers. I might add that none of them can be affected by such laws. Income aside, anyone who lies his way into Parliament can look forward to round the clock drinking in the Palace of Westminster of untaxed alcohol.


“But the measures will hurt poor people, for whom alcohol will become cripplingly expensive and hard to find. They have the same right to drink as the rest of us. Bearing in mind the problems willed on them by our exploitative ruling class, they often have a greater need to drink.


“The claim that drinking ’causes’ public disorder is nonsense. Alcohol does not run about the streets. People do. If people are making nuisances of themselves, the police should be instructed to stop behaving like some equivalent of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and to start protecting life and property again.


“The claim that drinking makes people unhealthy is irrelevant, where not a lie. People must be regarded as responsible for their own mistakes. Anyone who bleats about increased cost to the National Health Service should consider that drinkers already pay more in taxes than the alleged cost of treating their specific illnesses.


“We oppose all controls on the availability of alcohol to adults. Better England free than England sober.”

The Libertarian Alliance believes:

* That all the licensing laws should be repealed;
* That all controls on the marketing of alcohol should be repealed;
* That alcohol taxes should be reduced to the same level as the lowest in the European Union, and that there should be no increase in other taxes;
* That not a penny of the taxpayers’ money should be given to any organisation arguing against the above.

Naturally the Government proposals today only apply to England, the Welsh Government do want the powers to raise a minimum price in Wales, as being socialists they jump at the chance of another stealth tax to fit in with their bag tax.
With these proposals Cameron has finally proved that he is no longer a Tory and no longer holds any views of that the free-market Conservative Party once held.  As Philip Davies MP said yesterday in Parliament
"May I propose a change for the Government when they are considering their legislative programme for the next Session? Will they bear it in mind, just for a change, that they are in coalition with the Conservative party?"

(H/T Dick Puddlecoat)

As usual when it comes to these matters I suggest you have a read of Chris Snowdon's Velvet Glove Iron Fist Blog.

Nanny tells you not to drink at home!

I recently saw this article over at the South Wales Evening Post (that's a Swansea paper for those of you outside of Wales):
Campaign puts spotlight on having drink at home
Oh what now!
Yes the Nanny State is back and having driven smokers out of pubs and into their homes to enjoy themselves with the supermarkets laughing all the way to the bank, Chief Nanny Dr Tony Jewell now says that we are drinking too much at home!

Nanny Jewell said 60 per cent of people between 45 and 64 years old drink above the recommended level in Wales.
Well that's got nothing to do with you or the Government!

"It costs the NHS in Wales £70 million a year," he said.
But how are those figures worked out and how much do we as taxpayers contribute to the NHS and Nanny Jewell's salary? All of it of course!

"Drinking at home has increased, in the past people would say they are going to the pub later for a drink, now they drink at home. If you drink at home there is a pressure that if you open a bottle of wine, you finish it.
And, why do people drink at home? Because you have forced them out of the pub where they used to go for a drink and a smoke.

"I think all of us underestimate the number of units we drink."
Alcohol units are meaningless. Don't believe me? Then check this out:
Liver specialist Dr Nick Sheron, of the Alcohol Health Alliance UK, says these limits were devised by civil servants with "no good evidence" for doing so.

This part of the Welsh Government, ie taxpayer funded, Change4Life nannying. There is an interesting little unit checker on the website in which you input what you have to drink and it tells you the amount of units you have drunk, with an option to share the result on Facebook and Twitter, unfortunately the Facebook plugin is not working, still its only a Government IT project, it's not as if they have to worry about spending our money is it?
There is a good comment on the piece by an award-winning South Wales brewer:
“What an absolute load of tripe, there is no proven medical evidence to support the recommended daily units of alcohol, in fact as a leading deputy editor of the British medical journal and a member of the working party that established the new safe limits in 1987, which were reduced from fifty one units, to twenty one units said when asked why, " we just pulled them out of the air"

There was no reason given and no medical proof given to back up this decision.
As for the costs to the NHS these figures are seemingly plucked from the air also, with no balancing figures for the beneficial contribution alcohol makes by keeping most people who drink it less stressed out with modern life and its demands.
Imagine working all the hours you do have to work these days with no release at all other than less than a pint of beer a day?
I think stress related costs to the NHS and to society would be far greater. Not to mention also that costs are more widely reported in modern days that before and I wonder if any individual source of cost has been reduced to the NHS in the last 20 years?
Its time to say enough!
Its a modern world and we live in a modern democracy, damn it we are even grown up tax paying adults, leave us alone to enjoy a simple natural product.
For far too,long the minority have had the biggest voice in this issue, I say enough is enough!”

Well said Nick!

In other news today, the Government Propaganda from the BBC has been identified by Chris Snowdon and picked up by Pete Brown as well, both posts are well worth reading.

Tortoise Torturer to open Temperance Bar in Cardiff

A man who admitted causing Animal Cruelty plans in inflict a similar torture on the residents of Cardiff by opening an alcohol-free bar in the City-Centre. Ian Crosby who is banned from keeping animals for 5 years wishes to serve alcohol-free beer, cider, cocktails and champagne to the thirsty customers of Cardiff. Well after flogging your herpes-ridden tortoises by post selling crap such as alcohol-free drinks is hardly a step in the right direction is it? I have never tasted a decent alcohol-free beer as missed out tasting the Nanny-State brewed by the excellent Brewdog last year. The Kalibar brand and other such similar NABLAB drinks generally have a flavour that leaves the gnats at the brewery feeling well-drained and the customer thinking why the hell did they fork out for this pile of piss.
When I have been off the booze for some medical reason or another (yes, Dear Readers I have laid off it for a while now and again) I have always gone for squash or other similar drinks in the pub, not some chemical tasting fake beer.
The Trumpet of Truth has its take on the story here.