Alcohol - Minimum Pricing (again)

It is being raised again, but this time by the Prime Minister. He was responding to the challenge we all face, up and down the UK, to clean up the streets of under age binge drinking, which affects us all, and especially the responsible city centre party goers. I don't agree with all that the SNP stand for, but they have got it spot on when they called for minimum pricing in Scotland, where the problem is huge, and more so at weekends.

Of course, as expected, the other opponents of this idea, come out of the woodwork to tell us it won't make any difference. We have to find another way, they say. One of these apologists was on the news today. He was a spokesman for the supermarket chain, Morrisons, and talked an awful lot, but didn't actually say anything. He defended the cheap booze on sale in their aisles, and said it was to compliment their food sales! Oh brother! Don't let anyone fool you. Supermarkets don't lose money on the so called, 'lost leaders' where they undercut the price of alcohol. They have the nerve to say that the price and availability is not a part of the problem. When will they wake up and smell the roses, or should I say, the vomit!

You don't have to be very smart or clever to see why they like to sell cheap booze. It's good for income. If it really was a money loser, do you think they would be doing it? They must think Joe Public's head buttons up the back. I wish they would treat us as grown up, and accept the link between the price of alcohol, and violence at all levels in our community.

I am glad the question has been brought into the open again, and maybe since the Prime Minister is sympathetic to the problem and solution, we might get somewhere. The supermarkets are behaving exactly like the tobacco companies who said there was no link between smoking and ill health. It didn't take long to see the results, and I suspect it will be the same with minimum pricing. As I have said before, we just need some politicians with bottle to lead the way.