A recent headline stated "Beer is cheaper than water". In fact, I think you'll find that "water is more expensive than beer" is a more accurate headline (why the hell is water so expensive in this country!?). People don't drink too much in this country because of the price of booze (it's certainly not cheap as it is) - they drink too much because:
1) Pubs are geared up to make people drink as much as possible (and I don't mean happy hours!) - music is too loud, there are no tables to sit and have a nice chat, soft drinks are more expensive than beer, tea/coffee is unavailable or too expensive etc etc
2) Britain is bloody boring - what else have we to do (go to the cinema? - can anyone actually afford to?)
3) Restricted licensing laws glamorise alcohol and force a "damn, it's closing time so better get the drinks in" attitude.
Sweden (for example) is an expensive country and still has a drink problem similar to that in the UK. In Iceland the prices are so high in bars that people drink as much as they can before they leave the house (classic binge drinking) which means that by the time they reach the pubs they're already too drunk (anyone who's been a student knows how this works!). Restricting something glamorises it - let alcohol be part of "normal" society and people won't get so hooked up on it. Make it possible for people to have a "few pints" without breaking the bank and they're more likely to stick to just a few - On more than one occasion I've thought "well, I may as well drink a skinful if I'm going to pay for a beer". And for those who don't want to drink alcohol, give them a cheaper choice - £2 for a coke is just plain wrong. Why drink a soft drink when you can have an alcoholic one for the same price (and NO, the answer to this is not raising the price of alcohol but DROPPING the price of soft drinks!)
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