It also mixes with Gin (and lime), which is a Gin Mule. And then there’s the Moscow mule, of course.
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So does this mean England and Wales will be seceding from Scotland and Northern Ireland this time?
I recall some years ago a booze-industry company wanted to install advertisements in bus shelters which smell like booze. It never happened and I suspect they were surprised by the strength of the negative response.
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The idea behind unlimited alcohol sales was that people would stop drinking quickly (i.e. reduction in binge drinking). What has actually happened seems to be that a significant number of people are drinking more, at home, and there is also a major problem in city centres at weekends where the emergency services have to provide cover much of the night, and there is then drunken aggression in A&E.
I would also respectfully point out that the graph you show is of self-reported drinking. Other studies have shown that problem drinkers consistently under-report how much they drink, which is one reason why the boundary is set at 8 units - the reality is likely to be much higher.
It feels a little like the booze industry begging not to be thrown into the briar patch. According to the article and my math, 28-43% of their revenue comes from people who can’t stop drinking, and those people are paying £0.15 per unit. What do we think would happen if that went up to £0.50?
Also: if 43% of the alcohol industry’s revenue comes from the cheap end of the market, that implies a much higher percentage in terms of volume of ethanol. And since the UK has a regressive tax on booze (basically a fixed charge per hundred litres of ethanol), it’s likely that way more than 43% of the treasury’s booze income comes from people who can’t stop drinking.
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Made with Somerset’s finest onions.
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You really don’t want any, believe me.
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Honestly though, there are people for whom the bottom of their third drink has a 100% correlation to the bottom of their 8th. They are where the profit is in booze.
It may balance out and then some in the healthcare, liver damage being relatively easy to fix and all.
Great post btw.
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I remember when I read some similar statistics about consumption in the US, how a small percentage of drinkers consumed so much more than the average consumer. I think it was so shocking to me because if I was to have made a guess at the numbers, I would have been wildly off (similar to wealth distribution). I think this article is referring to the same survey that I read about:
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The solution is for non-drinkers to become casual drinkers. That will drive down the percentage of sales purchased by heavy drinkers.
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I can’t take my eyes off the magnificent pose by that guy in the blue. The pavement is his bearskin rug and the glare his fire light. He’s so very…regal.
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That photo received high accolades. It really is brilliant.
That depends how big your mug is.
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Yeah-- there’s something about this formula that appeals to the nerd in me.
The number of UK units of alcohol in a drink can be determined by multiplying the volume of the drink (in litres) by its percentage ABV.
Thus, a 75 cl bottle of 2010 Laztana Rioja Tempranila Reserva, at 14 percent alcohol contains 10.5 units. It took me three days to polish off, so 3.5 units per day. (and that was my drink for the week/fortnight, whatever)
But my wine goblet isn’t graduated. it averages out to 12.5 cl per pour, but for al I know, I could be drinking rather less on day 3.
Now, the Guinness I had last night was 1 pt 6oz, so .65 litres at – looks at label, finds out it isn’t marked, hmm let’s call it 6%. 3.9 units
Units of alcohol makes sense in a laboratory, but the UK is asking drunks to keep track of this… Maybe the UK marks them-- “this bottle of oatmeal stout contains 2.75 units, don’t drink more than two or three at a time.”
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Yeah, they do.
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I had trouble even keeping track of your post.
It’s a very good point. How about a mandatory QR or barcode on the can, which your phone can scan for the alchohol volume? An app can then add the units up for you.
Swipe before you drink.
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