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Lesley Riddoch: Why we should say no to under-21 alcohol ban



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Published Date: 22 September 2008
DRUG dealing is illegal. Short selling has been banned. But across Scotland, young people have been short-sold the world's most damaging drug without a care for their long-term future. Freshers' Week means student unions, supermarkets, corner shops and off-licences offer four bottles of wine for the price of two, five vodka shots for £1, and double measures for an extra 50p to make sure a "normal" student's first habit is the drink habit and their brand or outlet is the pref
Alcohol retailers during Freshers' Week exhibit as much care for young people as the short-term-minded spivs and speculators who brought down HBOS, but there's no outcry about the impact of their irresponsible behaviour. Freshers' Week mayhem is a ri...



The full article contains 980 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 21 September 2008 9:07 PM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
  • Related Topics: Lesley Riddoch
 
1

Guga II,

Rockall 22/09/2008 06:08:48
The main problem is caused by that waste of space, Kenny MacAskill. This former Labour man has brought along a lot of Labour's Stalinist, totalitarian, control freak ideas to his new job.

Wee Eck should get shot of him before he does any more damage to the SNP.
2

Itchy,

22/09/2008 06:25:17
#1 spot on. Kenny MacAskill's plans are just a crude attempt to nationalize the drinks industry and to bring supermarkets under state control.
3

PJ07,

22/09/2008 10:15:11
Plenty of shops already ban under 21's from buying alcohol.

They are also banned from most clubs, casinos and other,"adult," establishments in this city.

Drunken scum deserve to be demonised. Walk throught the city centre on a Saturday morning and admire the puddles of vomit, broken bottles and p**s lakes enhancing the cityscape.

Most 18-21 year olds don't vote either so get stuffed.

4

Urban Guerrilla,

Edinburgh 22/09/2008 11:49:14
Kenny MacAskill is a disgrace - a puritanical, repressive control freak seeking to revive the worst Calvinist excesses of Scotland's past. Get rid of him.
5

Alternative (High-Octane) Fuel Head,

Edinburgh 22/09/2008 12:29:40
Having the freedom to buy alcohol and the right not to be treated like a kid does not automatically mean that 18-21 year-olds are going to go out and get plastered.

Give them the freedom and rights they deserve and let them make up their own minds and take responsibility for their own lives.

If you treat people like idiots, they will behave like idiots. If you treat people like kids, they will behave like kids. The insane nanny state principles that have been adotped in the last 11 years have done untold damage to society.
6

Alternative (High-Octane) Fuel Head,

Edinburgh 22/09/2008 14:06:12
And as for minimum alcohol pricing, not only is it illegal under EU law, it is merely a restrictive money-making excercise and everything possible should be done to undermine it.
7

Stuart W,

22/09/2008 14:23:13
#5

The nanny state is all your head - the fact is that most pubs and clubs take a no-holds-barred approach to the sale of liqour and drunks largely please themselves how they behave on the streets.

The results in places like Cupar are probably more about a bit of pro-active policing than the under-21 ban.

Call that the nanny state if you want, but historically it's been more about rhetoric and gesture politics than the reality.
8

Alternative (High-Octane) Fuel Head,

Edinburgh 22/09/2008 15:36:03
"The results in places like Cupar are probably more about a bit of pro-active policing than the under-21 ban."

I agree. In other words they have been targetting those who break the law rather than using a blanket approach against everyone, whether they have broken the law or not.

I don't think the nanny state is in my head at all. A campaign of dumbing down has been in action ever since stupid labour got to power. Take for instance TV adverts, they are targetted at a level where the majority of people's minds operate. Agreed?

Well then, based upon that, it would seem that most people's subconcious lives in an infantile, nursery school world where everything is pink and fluffy and cuddly. Have a look at some of the sickeningly childish advertisments if you don't believe me. These adverts must work. If they didn't then they wouldn't be on TV. Which then leads on to the worrying prospect that most people's minds work like those of infants.

Compare the adverts of today with examples of similar products 20 years ago when people were expected to think and act like adults.

The nanny state has crept up on us so subtly that most of us haven't noticed yet, although the signs are all around and plain to see.
9

Urban Guerrilla,

Edinburgh 22/09/2008 15:47:39
> The nanny state has crept up on us so subtly that most of us haven't noticed yet, although the signs are all around and plain to see. <

Indeed. Everything from speed bumps to the smoking ban, and from money laundering regulations to solemn warnings that packets of peanuts may contain traces of nuts.

It's like living in a prison, except that you can smoke in prisons. I'm sick of it.
10

Urban Guerrilla,

Edinburgh 22/09/2008 16:04:11
This is the ideological justification for the nanny state:

"The Puritan hated bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators." (Lord Macaulay)

"Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy." (H L Mencken)

 

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