Booze
Happy Valentine's Day
Thanks to AH for this reminder that the Victorians – and many since – were right to think Scotland a land of romance and all that stuff.
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Let Them Eat Gruel: The Government-Health-Security Complex Invades Your Kitchen - Spectator Blogs
Addressing the American people for the final time as President, Dwight Eisenhower warned that: This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the… Continue reading
35 CommentsWhat’s Next: Plain Packaging for Booze?
Hats-off to Dick Puddlecote and Chris Snowdon for being quick to notice the latest absurdity being considered by the Commons health select committee: plain packaging for alcohol. Yes, really. The… Continue reading
15 CommentsYes, the NHS Must Treat Fat Folk
A truly repellent piece by Cristina Odone in the Telegraph in which she argues for NHS-rationing by liefestyle and wealth. That’s not quite how she puts it, for sure, but… Continue reading
39 CommentsThe Department of Something Must Be Done & the Drink Police
Even if you accept that the government’s plans for a minimum alcohol price in England and Wales are well-intentioned you can be pretty sure that it’s a bad idea. How… Continue reading
10 CommentsSurviving the Ides of March…
I’m indebted to Patrick Kidd for unearthing this terrific advertisement for Scotsh Whisky, published in the Western Morning News in 1927. These are indeed treacherous times so it is pleasing… Continue reading
0 CommentsThe Public Health Racket
A fine catch by Tim Worstall who rightly scoffs at this passage in today’s Telegraph report on the (Westminster) government’s plans to "tackle" alcohol consumption: [M]inisters are expected to unveil… Continue reading
5 CommentsThe Legend of the Patriotic Drinker
This is one hell of a statistic: In Britain, taxes on all types of alcohol contributed 36 percent of national revenue in 1898-99, but they were also 19 percent in… Continue reading
4 CommentsA Bloomsday Puzzle
As yer man said "a good puzzle would be to cross Dublin without passing a pub". A better puzzle would be why anyone would think this a good idea or… Continue reading
1 CommentPolitician of the Year
Andrew Stuttaford says Alexei Kudrin is Finance Minister of the year but, surely, that understates matters? Russia’s finance minister has told people to smoke and drink more, explaining that higher… Continue reading
3 CommentsMore Booze-Related Fraud
To return to a subject we considered the other day, it seems there’s no end to the mendacity ministers are prepared to endorse if it furthers their efforts to tell… Continue reading
11 CommentsWhat’s the Real Cost of Booze?
A reader asks if I might write something about the "ridiculous assertion that alcohol abuse costs every Scot £900 a year". Happy to do so! We all know that if… Continue reading
12 CommentsNanny’s Intemperate Insistence Upon Temperance
Angela Harbutt of Liberal Vision and Samizdata’s Jonathan Pearce say much of what needs to be said about the British Medical Association’s depressingly predictable demand that all alcohol advertising and… Continue reading
7 CommentsLocalism Is Barred From Your Local
One of the things that’s happened as a consequence of devolution is that sometimes Westminster finds itself following Holyrood. It’s almost as if the latter has actually become a mini-laboratory… Continue reading
3 CommentsBurning Issue: Does Hogwarts Have A Drinking Problem?
Lord knows there’s almost no idea too dumb to appear in a newspaper, but this recent effort from the New York Times is a cracker: Does Hogwarts have a drinking… Continue reading
1 CommentBig Business & Big Government, Together Again…
There are plenty of reasons to be skeptical of the Scottish government’s desire to set alcohol prices. Not the least of them is that, in addition to the usual health… Continue reading
3 CommentsThe First Quiet Drink of the Evening
Further to this post on Dublin pubs, my father reminded me of the great, wistful moment in The Long Goodbye when Terry Lennox tells Marlowe: "I like bars just after… Continue reading
4 CommentsThe Decline of the Dublin Pub
The Long Hall: photo by Flickr user inaki_naiz. Used under a Creative Commons License. An important article in the New York Times on the decline of the traditional Irish pub.… Continue reading
12 CommentsKingsley’s Rules
Roger Scruton reviews Kingsley Amis's Everyday Drinking, now happily reissued: At the start, Amis announces certain 'general principles' to be followed in creating drinks, all of which can be derived,… Continue reading
1 CommentFrom Gin Lane to Faliraki
Ah, Sarah Lyall. Bless her. The New York Times' London correspondent has an entertainingly gruesome piece on the lagered-up misbehaviour of Brits on tour. No-one who has spent any time… Continue reading
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