I noticed today via RantinRab that the Scottish socialists (Labour in disguise) have proposed a 45p per unit minimum alcohol price as part of their bansturbatory approach to alcohol.
So, our nanny has announced that the minimum price per unit for the demon drink up here is to be 45p per unit.
If the fuckwits that inhabit Holyrood think that this measure, (pun intended), will have any effect on those that ‘over enjoy’ a wee tipple, they must be steaming themselves.
The interesting point that I haven’t seen mentioned anywhere else though is that the UK definition of a unit is one of the smallest in the world.
Take the following graph from this (pdf) publication (apologies for the small size in reproduction) :
You will note there that with the exception of Austria, the UK is well behind some countries who all seem to have adopted the WHO recommended 3-4 units per day for men as a measure of safe drinking.
In Australia, for example, their 4 healthy units are the same as 5 of our units which would put us in the unhealthy category (and yes I know of the suggestions that the limits are purely arbitrary and not based on any real science).
The following table (whipped from wiki) has more detail of the figures involved :
Country |
Mass (g) |
Volume (ml) |
# in 500 ml beer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia[2] | 10 | 12.7 | 2.0 s.drinks |
| Austria | 6 | 7.62 | 3.2 s.drinks |
| Canada[3] | 13.5 | 17.1 | 1.5 s.drinks |
| Denmark | 12 | 15.2 | 1.6 s.drinks |
| Finland[4] | 12 | 15.2 | 1.6 s.drinks |
| France | 12 | 15.2 | 1.6 s.drinks |
| Hungary | 17 | 21.5 | 1.2 s.drinks |
| Iceland | 9.5 | 12 | 2.1 s.drinks |
| Ireland | 10 | 12.7 | 2.0 s.drinks |
| Italy | 10 | 12.7 | 2.0 s.drinks |
| Japan | 19.75 | 25 | 1.0 s.drinks |
| Netherlands | 9.9 | 12.5 | 2.0 s.drinks |
| New Zealand[5] | 10 | 12.7 | 2.0 s.drinks |
| Poland | 10 | 12.7 | 2.0 s.drinks |
| Portugal | 14 | 17.7 | 1.4 s.drinks |
| Spain | 10 | 12.7 | 2.0 s.drinks |
| UK | 7.9 | 10 | 2.5 s.drinks |
| USA | 14 | 17.7[n 1] | 1.4 s.drinks |
What intrigues me is whether the UK chose a small size of unit measure due to overwhelming nanny state tendencies or whether it has always planned a minimum alcohol tax pricing policy with the ultimate size of the revenue stream being inflated by the deflated unit measure.
I suppose we will never find out but nothing would surprise me from our righteous masters.
I stand corrected 🙂
Looking at the table again in the post I think I will adopt Japanese drinking measures when the doc next asks about alcohol – or just tell him to mind his own business as I did last time.
I think the unit of alcohol was defined in the sixties with the licencing act. It is supposed to be the volume of alcohol that the human body can expel in one hour. That hasn’t changed.
Its the number of units that are supposed to be safe to drink that is the arbitary figure, plucked out of the air.