Unwelcome legacy of the blokes who got stoned in the Stone Age
In ancient, times our early ancestors decided we would be an omnivorous species.
To survive and get through the leaner times, they discovered the critical factors were food and sex: everything else was in some way linked to the big two and after thousands of years we still exist largely on the same terms.
Early humans ate and drank just about everything they could lay their hands on and that included the nuts and berries routine. I fear the sexual aspect ran much along the same lines.
Bingeing was essential on the basis that they did not know when the next meal or gene distribution opportunity would wander into view.
It was therefore only a matter of time before one for them consumed some previously gathered berries which were past their best-by date, having gone into fermentation. The juice in the bottom of the pot tasted different, leading to the lucky consumer feeling very good for an hour or so, after which he was quite ill for the rest of the day. Yep, he had stumbled upon alcohol, and at the same time invented the hangover; not bad for a day's work I suppose.
Since that time alcohol has been a blessing and a curse on mankind as we struggle to find ways to enjoy it without killing ourselves by a variety of means. Primitive man might have used booze to get enough bottle to take on a sabre toothed tiger, his modern equivalent often needs a hefty snort just to get through the day or even to return home at night.
Enough of the whacky history stuff, it seems the main alcohol issue of today is the difficult task of restraining people from overindulgence, given the stuff is so freely available.
Alcohol is everywhere and no matter what is said, far too cheap. Try figuring out the cost by calculating an average of how long you have to work to earn the price of a pint and you will see it is still very cheap. By all standards this should signal an immediate tax hike, but after a decade and a bit of New Labour, the current chancellor has little left to tax without being lynched.
Without this reliable means of alcohol control, the choices dwindle;so now we are standing at the threshold of minimum alcohol pricing. This bright notion was possibly a joint idea from the major supermarket chains who will see it as a licence to print money, with the government taking the blame for the increased price.
As usual, those at the bottom of the human pile will suffer the most and because they are voters, it is easy to see why nobody in government wants to be the one who makes it happen.
Minimum alcohol pricing is a crap idea which, if pursued, will lead to an expensive and difficult enforcement fiasco - if it gets past the many challenges it will face.
Any move to control the consumption of alcohol by raising the cost is doomed to failure. The folk who drink to excess will soon find ways to obtain the stuff, initially by adjusting their spend patterns, thereafter consuming noxious substances such as meths or Brasso – or they will take less hazardous route of shoplifting. There is always the prospect of alcohol becoming a currency in itself.
The real answer lies with identifying and dealing with the real binge boozers. Alcohol education is the best route, it is cheap, and over the long term can be effective. After that, sanctions should be imposed; we need a big crackdown on public drunkenness, starting with a return to our old and reliable charges of drunk and incapable, maybe even drunk and disorderly. A night in the slammer or drunk tank is a salutary experience for all but the most hardened drinker, better if backed up by an eye-watering fine or stint of community service.
Spending a few Sunday mornings cleaning up the streets in any drinking district is a horrible task but in its own way educational.
Best of all, our seriously stretched health services should be allowed to refuse treatment or at least levy a big charge for any injury or ailment caused by drink, and that makes sense because at the bottom of it all, there is a pressing need to make Joe and Josephine public more responsible for their own conduct and safety.
Read of the week
It is a sad fact that a large proportion of world history is written by authors who, although very knowledgeable and held in high esteem by their peers, tend to write learned works on their particular subject which are firmly in the category of watching paint dry.
Not so Philip Mason, who might be seen as a readers' historian in his chosen subject – all matters concerning the British Indian Empire. His book, The Men Who Ruled India, reveals the story of this aspect of British Colonial power without falling into the trap of trying to justify what was a morally illicit practice.
The book is well written, well illustrated and well presented and will be a kept rather than a read-and-throw volume. There seem to be more of these nowadays, but where can I put them all? Our European masters will object as they see a threat to the colossal amounts of drink their members ship to the UK each year; we might even see a situation where those on welfare are given beer vouchers to ease their shortage.
Any move to control the consumption of alcohol by raising the cost is doomed to failure. The folk who drink to excess will soon find ways to obtain the stuff, initially by adjusting their spend patterns, thereafter consuming noxious substances such as meths or Brasso - or they will take less hazardous route of shoplifting. There is always the prospect of alcohol becoming a currency in itself.
The real answer lies with identifying and dealing with the real binge boozers. Alcohol education is the best route, it is cheap, and over the long term can be effective. After that, sanctions should be imposed; we need a big crackdown on public drunkenness, starting with a return to our old and reliable charges of drunk and incapable, maybe even drunk and disorderly. A night in the slammer or drunk tank is a salutary experience for all but the most hardened drinker, better if backed up by an eye-watering fine or stint of community service.
Spending a few Sunday mornings cleaning up the streets in any drinking district is a horrible task but in its own way educational.
Best of all, our seriously stretched health services should be allowed to refuse treatment or at least levy a big charge for any injury or ailment caused by drink, and that makes sense because at the bottom of it all, there is a pressing need to make Joe and Josephine public more responsible for their own conduct and safety.
Read of the week
It is a sad fact that a large proportion of world history is written by authors who, although very knowledgeable and held in high esteem by their peers, tend to write learned works on their particular subject which are firmly in the category of watching paint dry.
Not so Philip Mason, who might be seen as a readers' historian in his chosen subject - all matters concerning the British Indian Empire. His book, The Men Who Ruled India, reveals the story of this aspect of British Colonial power without falling into the trap of trying to justify what was a morally illicit practice.
The book is well written, well illustrated and well presented and will be a kept rather than a read-and-throw volume. There seem to be more of these nowadays, but where can I put them all?
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Weather for Selkirk
Sunday 05 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 1 C to 6 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: South west
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Sunny spells
Temperature: -1 C to 5 C
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