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View Full Version : Camra calls for minister of pubs



RB
01-06-2010, 18:20
I saw this
http://www.horseandcountry.tv/news/camra-calls-minister-pubs

"CAMRA has written to the Prime Minister seeking the appointment of a Minister for Pubs, H&C has learned. Pubs play a vital role in the economic, social and cultural life of the nation yet are closing at a rate of six a day."

R pubs really closing at that rate ......wow

Andy Ven
01-06-2010, 18:22
....but Ken Clarke has already been appointed to another job! :D

Isn't he a CAMRA member?

arwkrite
01-06-2010, 22:42
What about that bloke who graciously resigned from The Treasury the other day. He must be at a loose end..no pun intended.

RogerB
01-06-2010, 23:57
Where can I find a job application form and, more importantly, an expenses form?

hopwas
01-06-2010, 23:59
Where can I find a job application form and, more importantly, an expenses form?

Looking forward to £1 pint at Kliverts...:whistle:

that is if you scrap beer tax...

arwkrite
02-06-2010, 08:29
In your dreams. NICE , those caring people who won't sanction drugs to cure the seriously ill, have come out in favour of minimum pricing per unit. Their argument is based on flawed evidence in a project from Sheffield University or so said the opposition on Radio 4 this morning. Also it would not cost NICE a penny.
A heavy drinker would pay £130 -£ 160 per year ,a moderate drinker £12 per year. Although not binge drinkers I think few of us here would be considered medically as moderate drinkers. These charges would hit the poorer end of the social scale harder than the more well off ( meaning the rich ).
So Tesco support minimum pricing...only because the other big supermarkets will not agree to undercut Tesco. The supermarkets only do things if it increases market share and profits. To consider them socially concerned is a misconception.

hondo
02-06-2010, 08:57
NICE
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/10207827.stm

oldboots
02-06-2010, 09:23
A heavy drinker would pay £130 -£ 160 per year ,a moderate drinker £12 per year.

where on earth do they get these figures from? £12 a year or £1 a month extra on beer is this another fiddled figure like the "beer cheaper than water" carp? I turned the TV off this morning when that Professer Kelly creature was bullshitting his way across the screen, I wouldn't have wanted to pay for a new telly :mad::mad::mad::mad:

arwkrite
02-06-2010, 11:28
I thought the opposition wiped the floor with Kelly. When asked why not just increase the tax he replied it would not be so focused. I take he was focussing on supermarket customers and not those who spend £30 per bottle at some Chelsea Bodega.
Sorry if I appear to be all class action this morning but after successive governments screwing us at the bottom and still making a mess of things all we have left is the succor of a good drink. Look closely at one of Hogarths Gin Lane prints and you will no doubt see one or more of Arwkrites forbears. One minute its the none working classes who have a drink problem, then the working and middle classes. No mention of the aristos or the MPs who have whopping unpaid bar bills leftover from the last lot of incumbents. And no mention of what makes a portion of the country want to go out and get so bladdered they run the risk of killing themselves. Since having become unemployed I have managed to get nicely sozzled twice, in both cases thanks to the generosity of my stepsons who would not see me pay for a round. So it ain't me thats bleeding the country dry. I do see unemployed hanging around the pub but don't understand how they do it. I do understand why no one offers them a job because I would not trust any of them with a broom let alone anything more advanced.
I could go on but will call time......Have a nice day....Arwkrite wandering around under a thunder cloud ...wheres me pills?

Conrad
02-06-2010, 11:31
I'm struggling with this one as on a certain level it makes sense to me, in that if supermarkets are forced to raise their prices significantly it may make pubs look less expensive (feel free to shoot that down, I am sure I have got it wrong). But I think the quoted reason of alcoholics would drink less is rubbish, have I misunderstood the meaning of 'addict'?

hopwas
02-06-2010, 11:42
Fear not.. there is always faithful JDW :whistle:

oldboots
02-06-2010, 12:12
Fear not.. there is always faithful JDW :whistle:

Maybe Tim could make it work , the minimum retail prices at 50p a unit would be

3.6% = £1.02
3.7% = £1.05
3.8% = £1.08 etc up to

4.5% = £1.28
5% = £1.42

so probably no more 99p a pint unless you want the weakest MILD (or Carling?)

As a comparison for a litre of 13% wine it would be £6.50 and £15 for a 75cl bottle of spirits.

50p a pint wouldn't effect most pubs but what happens when the neo-pros decide it hasn't worked so we need to go to 75p or £1 a unit, then that doesn't work so we end up like Sweden with beer at £6 a pint. Then they start charging for hospital treatment if they suspect you're drunk, insurance becomes more expensive and on and on it goes. The only way is to say enough right now and don't let drink end up the way smoking has.

If anyone wants me I'll be dusting off my old brewing kit.

oldboots
02-06-2010, 12:36
I'm struggling with this one as on a certain level it makes sense to me, in that if supermarkets are forced to raise their prices significantly it may make pubs look less expensive (feel free to shoot that down, I am sure I have got it wrong). But I think the quoted reason of alcoholics would drink less is rubbish, have I misunderstood the meaning of 'addict'?

I don't think you've got it wrong but what normally happens with supermarkets is that they protect margin by squeezing their suppliers, in this case the supplier will get the same and the supermarket will pocket the increase, that's why Tescos are in favour of minimum pricing. I don't know how much cross over there is between pub drinkers and home drinkers but relative pricing is only one small part of the equation. Anyway pubs and supermarkets have totally different business models and I think each appeals to different requirements, even if supermarket sales drop slightly I don't think there would be a corresponding increase in pub sales.

By definition an addict or alcoholic will not be influenced by cost, the argument is more about so called binge drinkers, which includes people who drink more units than some figure thought up on the spot by medical advisors being harassed by a Minister bothered by tabloid tripe about binge Britain. The idea may be to discourage top or front loading but people like getting pi55ed so it wont stop drunkeness, price doesn't do it in Sweden so it wont do it here. Price doesn't stop people consuming other drugs either. As a confirmed conspiracy theorist I just think it's part of a greater plan to ban alcohol altogether.

Bah, I need to lie down in a darkened room or start drinking earlier tonight.

Conrad
02-06-2010, 12:51
So basically this new policy is driving you to drink.

Thanks for the explanation, I needed it. I may be mistaken but they were discussing alcoholics this morning on R4, as usual though I would place it as part of the conspiracy that they are trying to broaden these terms.

oldboots
02-06-2010, 12:58
It was binge drinkers on the BBC TV news, (before I turned the t*at off). Yes it does drive me to drink, I don't get passionate about much, (ask the wife) but Pubs and Beer are different.

ETA
02-06-2010, 13:41
... Anyway pubs and supermarkets have totally different business models and I think each appeals to different requirements, even if supermarket sales drop slightly I don't think there would be a corresponding increase in pub sales.
...

Thank goodness for OldBoots's insightful and incisive understanding of this - a voice of reason, I feel, to counterbalance modern myth that it is supermarkets who are putting pubs out of business.

In addition to Sweden, I have been in Norway a fair bit recently and the situation is more marked (average price per pint is about £8.00 in the pubs and £5.00 in supermarkets for equivalent beer), so alcoholics - of whom there are many more per capita than UK - either brew and distil their own or, more likely, buy cheap aquavit (legal) or cheaper vodka from the immigrant communiy (illegal but it happens).


Banning alcohol altogether - look what happened when the USA tried it in the 1930s.

Every argument I've seen just reaffirms my view that properly run pubs promote responsible drinking over the long term.

Harrumph.

arwkrite
02-06-2010, 13:48
I am off too Halfords , see if they have a special on antifreeze. It might go with lime juice and I like to keep up my five a day.

ONLY JOKING..DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME. ITS DANGEROUS.:sick::eek::muppet:

Conrad
02-06-2010, 13:53
I have to admit I was in favour of the change to the licensing laws to allow pubs to have broader opening times, made a lot of sense to me as my experience had certainly been of queuing drinks up on the table prior to closing time and whilst people would still want to get drunk I hoped it would do away with that hell bent attitude. Not sure if it worked, but it definitely needs other factors to come into play, so the removal of happy hours (which I do see far less now). Would be interested to know what the net effect actually has been though.

Antifreeze? Are we back to talking about the Romulan Ale?

oldboots
02-06-2010, 13:54
Antifreeze? Are we back to talking about the Romulan Ale?

Nah, it was Austrian wine IIRC, not all antifreeze is blue.

arwkrite
02-06-2010, 16:52
Apart from the blindness, liver damage , severe headaches and uncontrollable shakes that Austrian wine wasn't to bad. Better than meths or WKD .