Plans to clamp down on alcohol sales are expected to face political opposition when they are unveiled.
Labour MSPs want to see the details of the Scottish Government proposals, but they are broadly supportive.
The plans, which include a change to the age of purchase and a ban on big promotions, have been widely trailed.
It has been argued that the move could begin to tackle the health and social problems linked with alcohol.
...whilst on the other; as part of Alex Salmond’s “Year of Homecoming” next year:
May has also been designated "Whisky Month", with events including Islay's Malt and Music Festival and the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival.
Is it only me who can see a contradiction there?
10 comments:
Until about 12-15 years (those halcyon days before devolution!) ago you could not buy off-sales booze in Scotland on a Sunday. But you could in England at any time.
On a Sunday the situation is still the case in England. In Scotland you cannot buy any alcohol (on or off sales) until 12:30.
I guess the kind of drinkers they're trying to hit (the teenage bingers) are less likely to be buying in the morning anyway. I'm not convinced opening hours are the problem anyway, it's more an all-round societal re-education that's needed.
Aberdonian:
I lived in England 15 years ago, and it's not true that you could buy alcohol at any time on a Sunday. I believe the pubs and off-licenses opened at 1200 and closed at 10PM (offies) and 1030PM (pubs). At that time too, most pubs would close in the afternoon, but I have to say I am no expert on how it works today, and there may well be regional differences.
Maybe I was wrong about "anytime" then. However at least in England you could buy off-sales on a Sunday unlike in Scotland during that period of time. It was a bit weird where shops in Scotland can open pretty much any hours on a Sunday and during the early part of that period you could not buy alcohol. However in England where large shops are/were restricted to six-hours Sunday opening they could sell grog nea problem.
George Robertson when he was shadow Scottish secretary swore to oppose the legalisation offsales on a Sunday - surely the (inner) Hebridean in him!
This is somewhat tenous O'Neil. Whisky is a premier Scottish product, the UK exchequer's most lucrative export and a valuable aspect of Scottish identity and tourism. WKD and Buckfast is not. If you can't see that you definately fall into the 'stupid unionist' category.
I'd say Buckfast is fairly important to a lot of 'stupid unionists' identity. Lol.
The promotion of alcohol is fine as long as it's the right kind of alcohol drunk by the right kind of people?
That still sounds hypocritical to me, so I must indeed be a stupid Unionist (I thought the attempt to curb the problem of alcoholism was an all-party affair and not simply a nationalist one anyway?)
Well I can’t remember the last time I saw a gang of youths on Argyll street huddled round a bottle of Glenfiddich Special Reserve.
As long as they stick to the Glenfiddich, then they'll not be touched by the new legislation presumably?;)
Russia obviously promotes its Vodka. However Gorby and Putin took/take a dim view on vodka consumption and cracked down on it being swigged domestically.
Indeed Putin was unhappy about the amount of the drink being consumed after that crackdown - beer. When I was in Russia people were openly swigging six-packs on the way home from work - that was in 2004. Putin introduced some laws to crack down on this.
Essentially the argument (and lets be blunt in the rest of the UK) is about the wrong people drinking the wrong amounts of the wrong alcohol in the wrong places. Basically the young or underclass (or both) drinking large amounts cheap superstrengh booze in public.
More respectible to get smashed on wine or premium expensive lager in nice pubs or in their own homes!
I love all this. The media wringing its hands about it all while decrying any attempt to tackle (perceived) problems.
For the record I believe that 12% of Scotland's visible exports are whisky. Scottish government is not going to shoot itself in the foot over the problem.
One bit of trivia - in Iceland for many years the country practically banned alcohol. However it was quite happy for Death (for that is the family name of the company) to distill schnapps and export it around the world and tax its profits.
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