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james73 · Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 4:47 pm Post subject:

RADICAL plans to change tactics in Scotland's battle with the bottle will start
with young consumers and look at pricing them out of drinking too much,
often using methods familiar to smokers.

A minimum price would be aimed at making it more expensive for under-age
drinkers to get drunk but also to narrow the gulf in price between drinking in
a pub and staying at home with a carry out, which has become common in
recent years.

The price of strong drink could rocket with spirits likely to be hit hardest
because of their high alcohol content.

A bottle of Glen's Vodka would be likely to go up by 23% while the price of
Strongbow cider - a favourite with under-age drinkers - could rise by 27%.

But some drinks traditionally associated with social problems and abuse by
teenagers, such as tonic wine, would not increase as much as spirits and
cheap own-brand lagers.

A minimum price of 35p per unit would not necessarily reflect the final
price charged by an off-sales but these are examples of the minimum that
retailers would be allowed to set.

A litre bottle of Famous Grouse, currently on sale at a leading supermarket
costs £14.99.

With a 40% alcohol content, the large bottle holds 40 units, giving a
minimum legal price of £14, nearly a pound less. Party packs of lager
would also be affected.

Tesco offers an 18-can slab of Tennent's lager for £10, working out at less
than 56p per can.

That price would have to rise to at least £11.09 for the same case of beer,
bringing the cost of a can to nearly 62p.

And stores who currently offer own-brand drinks at even lower prices will
have to raise them to at least the same level.

But drinks popular with under-agers would not be hit by a 35p minimum.

A bottle of Buckfast tonic wine, which at 15% has a slightly higher alcohol
volume than typical table wine, could be sold for just under £4. That's less
than the typical selling price of about £5.50 to £6 currently charged.

And alcopops such as Bacardi Breezers, which currently sell for more than
£2.70 for a large 70cl bottle, could be discounted further under the new
scheme.

James H

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The blinding obvious is what you showed to me.....

james73 · Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 4:49 pm Post subject:

HollowHorn · Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 4:50 pm Post subject:

What is the reasoning behind leaving out Buckie & Alcopops?
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james73 · Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 5:02 pm Post subject:

The whole reasoning behind this seems, to me, to be about raising more cash as
it simply doesn't tackle the causes of people drinking too much only the symptoms.

James H
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The blinding obvious is what you showed to me.....

escotregen · Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 12:13 pm Post subject:

Hmmm James I don't agree. All the evidence from research over a long time shows that alcohol is a highly price-sensitive product. I myself used to assume that people would just move onto a cheaper dring, but in fact it seems that the biggest group of worse 'problem drinkers' are often already on the cheap stuff.

Since the facts now show that alcohol contributes to Scots men being TWICE as likely as men elswhere in the UK to commit alcohol, I wonder when we are going to see that it ain't no joke, and that having hard-drinking culture is in fact a squalid, humiliating and destructive aspect of Scotland... on no, now I'm gonna get told off for being a killjoy... but in fact it's the drink that's the killer.

Right now in Cambuslang Main Street in an off-sales window are little timber boxes with doors. On the door is inscribed 'The Liver is evil, it must be punished'. Inside the half opened door is a bottle of Buckfast! Oh isn't that funny, stop it, it's killing me; well it's not cause I never drink the stuff.
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Well I am.

escotregen · Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 10:10 am Post subject:

Extracts from the Herald today:

A new commission aimed at addressing Glasgow’s chronic health record, pulling together individuals and agencies from across the public and private sectors, meets for the first time today…. to capitalise on the 2014 Commonwealth Games and address some of the worst cancer and heart disease rates in the Western world… The Health Commission will also widen the conventional parameters of health improvement by looking at issues including housing and employment and how to tackle the “poverty of aspiration”.

As a worker in the regeneration field I gotta say that I'm thinking that this 'bigger picture' approach is probably the way to tackle these problems.
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HollowHorn · Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 5:27 pm Post subject:

Jesus! Kin yeeze no let us die in peace

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james73 · Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 11:30 am Post subject:

City’s slum housing ‘could end with deaths’

CAMPAIGNERS against slum housing in Glasgow have won promises of
urgent action after a stormy public meeting heard the state of some homes
could kill.

Almost 150 people turned out to vent their anger over filthy streets,
overcrowding and racial tension in Govanhill.

Now Glasgow City Council and the Scottish Parliament will consider
demands for an inquiry and funding for the area's "unique" social
problems.

Tempers boiled over at Hollybrook School as residents said closes and
streets had turned into dumping grounds, with rotting rubbish attracting
rats, cockroaches and maggots.

Householders said problems with rubbish uplifts and anti-social tenants
meant rubbish bags and mattresses were left piled in closes.

The meeting heard from a 12-strong panel, including representatives from
the police, fire brigade, council services and local politicians.

Lawyer Mike Dailly, principal solicitor with the Govan Law Centre, which
advises people affected by poverty, said: "We can tackle slum landlords
and gangmasters or do nothing and watch it go further into decline."

Mr Dailly said tackling slum housing was the priority.

He warned: "Maybe some of the flats will collapse. Maybe a fire will break
out in a tenement cellar filled with rubbish and children will be killed."

Local MSP Frank McAveety was forced to intervene when some audience
members blamed all the area's problems on Romany families who recently
arrived in the area.

Mr McAveety said his grandfather, who was Irish, faced the same abuse
when he "came off the boat 80 years ago" to work and live in Glasgow.

He reminded the audience, which included people of Irish, Asian and
African descent, of Govanhill's role as providing a gateway to Scotland for
generations of immigrants.

James H
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The blinding obvious is what you showed to me.....

escotregen · Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 9:42 am Post subject:

Purely subjective and anecdotal but on my odd trips into and through Govanhill to socialise with some friends, I have had the impression that somehow the locality has been on the slide again over the past few years.
It always did strike me as odd that the area did not classify for Social Inclusion Partnership status a few years back given the esxtent of its problems (there are some pretty OK areas elswhere in Scotland that diod get such status and the cosnequent public funding, but wihtout much obvious merit).

It's a nasty side of the current problems that the Romany folk are being scapegoated for problems that cannot be attributed to them. I remember a few years back the offensive accusations that it was the 'Packies' moving in that brought the area down - when in fact their enterprise and hard-working was one of the positive features of the area.

Another issue is that we have here an area of continuing deprivation and really bad housing, with the problems seemingly growing - and yet it is the base of Govanhill Housing Association, one of the biggest and well-resourced and well-staffed community-controlled housing associations in the city. Seems an issue, that after decades of who knows how many tens of millions of pounds funding for the Association, that we still seem to have progressed so little, especially in the core activity of housing?
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james73 · Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2008 4:18 pm Post subject:

Some good news for a change...

Dying in Glasgow is far cheaper than in Edinburgh (BBC)

Edinburgh is the most expensive place to die in Britain, according to a UK
Government study.

The capital is known to be one of the most expensive places to live but
now a comparison of funeral prices shows dying is also a costly business.

The Department for Work and Pensions' survey found the city's funeral
directors charge up to twice as much as those in England and Wales.

The council's cremation fees are also higher than everywhere outside
London.

The DWP researched the cost of a "simple" funeral, which includes director
fees, a coffin, transfer of the deceased and provision of a hearse - but not
burial, cremation or embalming.

For a funeral not including the burial costs, Edinburgh topped the chart at
£1,600. The same funeral in South London would be £500 less at £1,075.

A person dying in Cardiff would have the cheapest funeral, at a cost of
£798. Cardiff was again the cheapest for a simple funeral including a
burial at £1,572, compared with Edinburgh's £3,300.

For a simple funeral including a cremation, the cost in Edinburgh would be
£2,130 but again far cheaper in Cardiff, where it would cost £1,113.

For a burial only, it costs £855 in Edinburgh, compared with £590 for a
burial 50 miles away in Glasgow.

James H

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The blinding obvious is what you showed to me.....