lupestripe (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
lupestripe) wrote2008-06-18 12:51 pm
lupestripe) wrote2008-06-18 12:51 pm
Civil Liberties
This morning I was reading a copy of the Daily Mirror (it was left on my kitchen table, it's not my rag of choice) and they are reporting that the Scottish Government are talking about making it illegal for under 21s to buy alcohol in shops. Unsurprisingly, Labour MSPs are said to be "supportive" of the move. Furthermore, it says that there is increasing pressure on Gordon Brown to implement this policy in England and Wales.
If this happens then not only is it another attack on civil liberties by this useless government but it will also mean that you can vote, drive, have sex and buy a gun before you can consume alcohol in this country.
I don't see why this is necessary - strong alcohol laws are clearly not working and if you look at other European countries who have a more mature attitude to booze, you have to wonder what they are doing right and where we are going wrong. Is it a British mentality, is it a lack of education or is it simply down to little parental responsibility when broaching this subject?
After the whole 42 day detention issue last week and the new punitive laws governing the Internet, this is yet another attack on our freedoms. House prices are already too high for me to afford a mortgage (I am 25 and on an average UK salary) and the cost of living (particularly food and petrol**) has increased substantially in recent weeks.
What is happening to this country and how much more of this are we going to take?
What's going to happen next? Perhaps the next attack on liberty will be doing like they did in the seventeenth century when Justices of the Peace came round to people's houses to check if young boys were masturbating in fear that the spilt seed could be used by the Devil to form a legion of demons?
*Addendum - this is also being reported on the BBC website here: Alcohol clampdown plans unveiled
** However, it is worth noting that the cost in road travel in real terms actually fell 10% between 1997 and 2006 and between January 2005 and April 2008, motoring costs fell 4%. The price of public transport, meanwhile, has increased by as much as 25% in some areas and on average 13% between 1997 and 2006. Source: Private Eye
If this happens then not only is it another attack on civil liberties by this useless government but it will also mean that you can vote, drive, have sex and buy a gun before you can consume alcohol in this country.
I don't see why this is necessary - strong alcohol laws are clearly not working and if you look at other European countries who have a more mature attitude to booze, you have to wonder what they are doing right and where we are going wrong. Is it a British mentality, is it a lack of education or is it simply down to little parental responsibility when broaching this subject?
After the whole 42 day detention issue last week and the new punitive laws governing the Internet, this is yet another attack on our freedoms. House prices are already too high for me to afford a mortgage (I am 25 and on an average UK salary) and the cost of living (particularly food and petrol**) has increased substantially in recent weeks.
What is happening to this country and how much more of this are we going to take?
What's going to happen next? Perhaps the next attack on liberty will be doing like they did in the seventeenth century when Justices of the Peace came round to people's houses to check if young boys were masturbating in fear that the spilt seed could be used by the Devil to form a legion of demons?
*Addendum - this is also being reported on the BBC website here: Alcohol clampdown plans unveiled
** However, it is worth noting that the cost in road travel in real terms actually fell 10% between 1997 and 2006 and between January 2005 and April 2008, motoring costs fell 4%. The price of public transport, meanwhile, has increased by as much as 25% in some areas and on average 13% between 1997 and 2006. Source: Private Eye
no subject
I don't think banning things from people works, in fact I believe the opposite and that it only exasperates the problem. Granted, I believe that prostitution and drugs should be legalised as it would cause a hell of a lot less social problems but when it comes to drink it simply boils down to education. If parents were more mature and the media less happy to show Amy Winehouse etc drinking themselves stupid as if it's a massive badge of honour, then maybe we would have less of a problem.
The lack of cheap alcohol may work in the short term but if you look at pub pricing policies, you can see that it can only go so far. The reality is the lack of parental responsibility, like most things in life, is the real reason why we have this problem.