Comments on: First past the post: binge drinking and spin doctoring to election victory

By: High Strength Beer Idiotry » Beer blog & beer reviews » Real Ale Reviews

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 23:58:20 +0000

[...] us, on binge drinking and [...]

By: Tom Goodhand

Tom Goodhand — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 09:31:29 +0000

A really good post Mark. I find it strange that anti-alcohol PR is a vote winner (how many people in the UK honestly never drink over the recommended limit?) but it must be, otherwise Labour and the bloody Tories wouldn’t be scrapping over it (with the Lib Dems inevitably sticking their oar in quietly and ineffectively every now and then).

A great post though, covering a lot of issues.

By: fatboab

fatboab — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:27:12 +0000

You’ve transposed live for life in a few places, other than that, this is one of the best posts I’ve read on the subject.

By: Kristy

Kristy — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 22:11:03 +0000

Super post – really well written.

You are spot on, no one quick fix, election promise will solve this and it’s getting tedious hearing a series of one upmanship tactics from either side that don’t address the root cause.

Building respect for alcohol is about education, pricing and advertising – unless all three are addressed appropriately nothing will change.

Take the 50p unit – if this was enforced the average Buckfast price would go up by 1p – hardly a deterrent likely to reduce anti social behaviour in Scotland!!

By: markdredge

markdredge — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 20:19:21 +0000

Very well said mate, sensitively put and well written.

It’s such a challenging issue and it threatens to get out of control (every day this week i’ve seen news stories on it). Like you say, the real issues aren’t being treated (too difficult to do!), instead someone is spinning the PR machine and looking for a quick ‘fix’.

I’m reading a book about the history of US beer at the mo and I’m on the chapter about prohibition and there seem to be similarities…

Great blog.