Saturday 8 February 2014

Alcohol: I Forgot To Remember to Forget

This last week from the BBC:

The new scheme [pretending - because it is against EU law - that there will be minimum pricing], which will be in force before the World Cup, requires retailers to use a complicated formula based on alcohol duty and VAT to calculate a floor price.
Those readers of mine whose memory has not been obliterated by the copious consumption of beer (other beverages are available) will of course remember this from January of 2011 - 3 years ago:
Under plans to be unveiled by the Home Office today retailers will be banned from selling drinks for less than the value of duty and VAT owed on them.
It's enough to turn you to drink...

6 comments:

  1. "requires retailers to use a complicated formula based on alcohol duty and VAT"

    Well, that sets the minimum at the duty (about 40p per can if memory serves) plus 20% VAT on top = 48p. How complicated is that??

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  2. And from July 2013.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-23346532

    It seems to be a dead horse which they like to dig up and flog every few months.

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    Replies
    1. Yes - every 6-8 months seems to be the pattern. It's like they've never heard of the internet.

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  3. I wish they would ban alcohol TBC...

    Then normal people that like the occasional drink can make it, or buy it in the free (black) market, in the way that some people buy their cannabis.

    Legalising something only enriches fat corporates and their political flunkies as far as I can see...

    ...(Admittedly not that far).

    Anyway, my personal tipple, is freshly roasted single origin coffee made on my expensive British made espresso machine (Londinium L1), and I have observed that the best coffee is sourced by small groups of interested people that scour the regions making small purchases for their local customers, usually craft roasters.

    For the Guardian readers, this results in more money for the local growers, and resultant better conditions for the pickers and their children.

    It is another example of the genuine "free market" in operation.

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  4. What a monumental waste of time and effort, not to mention expense.

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    Replies
    1. Aye...quite agree. Anything to cover up where our real government lies...

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