Liberal Vision

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

HAT TIP : The Drinkers Alliance  have put together this very nifty little video, made in response to the fear that alcohol taxes are going to Sky Rocket at the upcoming budget. 

Yes we know this Government has spent money like a man with no arms, brought the country to its knees and we’ve got to find the money from somewhere. But taking away the anaesthetic, (or at least making it so damned expensive we can’t afford it) while our arms and legs are being chopped off, is downright insulting.

It’s less than a minute long and jolly well made…..definitely worth viewing in our book..

 

Tags: alcohol, drinkers alliance, tax

Chavez: all that fun stuff is “hell”

Fresh from his latest efforts to ruin everything, Hugo Rafael Chavez has launched a scathing tirade on lots of fun stuff.

The Venezuelan despotic nut-job said in his Weekly Address to the Proletariat:

“[Capitalist countries] promote the need for cigarettes, drugs and alcohol so they can sell them.”

Having displayed this unparalleled ability to unravel the evils of ‘the West’, the Dear Leader concluded:

“That’s capitalism, the road to hell.”

Which is funny, because usually when I peer lovingly at a seemingly-perspiring chilled glass of gin & tonic I think: “Bejesus, this is the road from hell. Deliver me to happiness, my sparkling transparent friend!”

It turns out, strangely enough, that the real source of Mr Chavez’s ire is a piss-take of himself–in the form of a video game. So he explained, to gasps (or giggles) of his people:

“Those games they call ‘PlayStation’ are poison. Some games teach you to kill. They once put my face on a game; ‘you’ve got to find Chávez to kill him.’”

Find Chavez? Kill him?

It’s poison, readers, poison.  Vive la revolution.

Tags: alcohol, Chavez, Cigarettes, drugs, Fun stuff

Conservatives show their true colours – all that talk of being liberal was just that – “talk”…

I should be grateful really – for all the pretence at liberalism we have heard from David Cameron of the “nice” party over the last year or so, it was Chris Grayling, the anonymous-looking Conservative home secretary, that actually showed us the real face of the Conservatives in his speech today.  Perhaps his speech was off-message; perhaps after all the talk of action over Europe (or lack of it) the high command felt the need to offer the Right a bone;  I suspect however that this is, actually what Conservative liberalism actually looks like…

…an all out assault on the under-classes of this country – on the immigrants, the foreigners and the working classes. Wholly illiberal and discriminitory if you are not or dont aspire to be part of the privileged white middle class elite of this country.

 Working classes should not be allowed to drink late – or shop late for that matter….

First off, the Conservatives pledged today to  ”tear up” the Government’s licensing regime and give “local residents” the power to block late alcohol licenses. Local councils will also be able to charge higher fees for pubs and clubs wishing to open after 11pm and they will impose a levy on corner shops and takeaway outlets that stay open beyond 10.30pm and sell alcohol.

 This is supposedly in order to pay for the extra policing – and will we see more police on the streets ? Of course we wont. Will we see more pubs,clubs and corner shops close? Yes we will. We poor working folks that get home late from work and pop into the corner shop to grab a much needed ready meal and bottle of wine will of course suffer,  but this should not affect the leafy lanes of Surrey and Richmond.

 Actually working classes should not be able to enjoy low cost alcohol anytime

 In the same speech, Grayling announced that supermarkets will be banned from selling alcohol at below cost price as a loss leader  and taxes on certain drinks (including alco-pops and super-strength beer) will be rapidly increased. Never mind that most wine is stronger than so-called super-strength beer or cider. Of course wine and  ”traditional” drinks  are definately NOT to be touched- so the affluent middle classes can still have their pint of “Badger Blandford Fly” with their Sunday roast or quaff  their bottle of wine or three at home (and beat their wives) without fear. All will be well in Victorian Cameroonian Britain. As long as this does not spill onto the streets they will be happy.

 And lets pledge to lock up more people than the current govt no matter how many they lock up

 Having dealt with the working classes, Grayling then moved onto the “youth of today”,  announcing new plans for teenage troublemakers to be “grounded” for a month or made to undertake voluntary work. (Hmmm that’s so00 going to work if the parents are working and the authorities dont have the resources to police it…wasnt that the problem with ASBOs and tagging?)

 And ignoring the fact that we already have overcrowded prisons and one of the highest prison populations in Europe, he then pledged to send thousands more convicted people to prison. But we need not have worried about the  overspill, the Conservatives will pledge to build 5,000 more prison places than whatever Labour goes into the election promising.  Now lets be clear – this is not about building what is necessary – Just “outbuild” the current government.

 And lets stop those pesky foreigners pointing out our illegal wars – actually lets just stop them full stop!

 And Grayling was not finished yet. We must sort the foreigners don’t you know. In another nod to the Right, Grayling then spoke of  restricting rights and freedoms to some groups in the UK  - banning extremist groups and protests by groups considered (not clear who will do the considering??) to be extremist,  and restricting entry into the UK to those seeking work. Er..never mind that the UK already has one of the tightest points-based immigration systems in the world and never mind that the very same Conservatives have already complained (this week in fact) that we have a lack of skilled labourers in this country. Yep the Conservative will make a bad situation worse just to LOOK TOUGH on immigrants.

This is the same party that was saying how shameful” it was that Labour had undermined or taken away certain civil liberties or rights. They obviously mean middle-class white folks civil liberties.

So Tory right wingers, you may not get your vote on Europe but the fear not, the Tory party is still your home – where we will return to days of old when the working classes knew their place and foreigners did not get to speak until spoken to (and then only if you are not “considered” extremists).

Yes people. Today we were given a revealing insight of what Cameroonian Britain will look like. It may be many things but “liberal” it aint.

Tags: alcohol, Chris Grayling, Conservatives, immigration, taxes

Dave’s Tories to impose minimum price on booze?

The Telegraph today outlines a predictably tedious announcement from Dave’s Nu-Lite Conservatives regarding a

“late night drinking crackdown”

Jolly good, can’t have anyone drinking late at night now, can we?

Apparently Dave is considering a minimum price on alcohol:

“Mr Cameron said that a Tory government would look at the ‘unbelievably low prices of some alcohol’.”

Yes, unbelievable. Amazing the efficiencies a market can produce, eh?

The announcement happily provides even more evidence of the ever-closing gap between the three main parties, as we all bundle pointlessly towards the centre of the bell curve.

Sadly I can see Dave using this not just as a pre-election vote-winner, but actually implementing it once in power.  Chocolate Orange Dave’s paternalism is forever evident, and in spite of alleged “gaffes” from Andrew Lansley he is still on course to become Cameron’s “Minister for Public Health.”  I’ve personally seen Andrew Lansley at policy events surrounded by and milling with lobbyist from alcoholics’ groups, anti-obesity groups (et cetera, et cetera) and wouldn’t be at all surprised if this is the kind of “progressive conservatism” we all have to look forward to.

Joy.

But worry not, everyone. For as you can see from the link – getting pissed is fine. So long as you can afford it and behave obnoxiously in the right places, old chap.

Tags: alcohol, Conservatives, David Cameron

An (almost) two thousand per cent tax rise on nice, frothy beer

Some people, strange folk, think Liberal Vision’s all about fags and booze. Yes, we do like fags and booze, and yes, this post is about booze. So maybe they’re onto something.

T’other day I railed against Lord Avebury, as I’m prone to do, for his comments on alcohol tax. I am quite appalled at the level of tax on various alcoholic beverages in the UK, but as this story from over the pond shows, things could be worse:

Oregon state to raise beer tax by 1,900%

Yes, really. 1,900%.

Of course this will absolutely hammer their micro-breweries, while the likes of Bud and MDG will be able to ride the storm.

Not cricket, Oregon, not cricket.

Tags: alcohol, beer, tax