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  • "The fact is that once I was playing again I was automatically available for everything on the schedule and that meant Stanford. I make no apologies for that and, as for the suggestion that I should waive the fee or give it to charity, I don't see why I should be a special case."
    Steve Harmison feels strongly about suggestions that he came out of one-day retirement in order to play the Stanford Twenty20 for 20

    Sep 7, 2008

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    Beer’s up

    By Will 6 months ago Leave a comment on this post

    A sojourn from the cricket with the news that Alistair Darling, the bushy-eyebrowed bastard who controls our taxes, has added 4p to a pint of beer, 14p to a bottle of wine and generally raised his “six taxes” at an extraordinary rate. This simply will not do, and Fraser Nelson provides further info on the travesty at the always-excellent Coffee House:

    The biggest story in today’s Budget – ie, what will hit the public immediately – is the booze hikes. From 6pm tonight, they take effect. An extra 4p on a pint of beer, 3p on a glass of wine (touchingly, the Red Book says 175ml is typical – has anyone from the Treasury ordered a glass recently?), and 55p on a 70cl bottle of spirits. These increases will rise at 2% in future years on top on inflation (itself expected to be 2%). So, congratulations Gordon: a line of cocaine (on Dec07 street prices) is now cheaper than half a pint cider. What a wonderful country we live in.

    Do any CoffeeHousers know of research that suggests such prices rises actually deter drunkenness? I don’t. Drink has become steadily more expensive, and the mayhem on the streets has hardly calmed. I suspect the Friday night chaos the BBC loves to show us has more to do with the scandalous fact that the number prosecuted for being drunk-and-disorderly has collapsed from 30,700 prosecutions to 16,400 each year between 2000 and 2006 as police chased other targets – and started imposing these daft £40 fines instead of taking people to the cells.

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    3 Responses to “Beer’s up”

  • Sean (a different one) wrote:
    March 12th, 2008 at 6.22 pm

    Can’t help thinking of Captain Darling. Have the press done that one yet?

  • Electric Dragon wrote:
    March 12th, 2008 at 8.06 pm

    Actually, alcohol has become considerably cheaper relative to income over the last dozen years or so. According to these statistics, alcohol prices fell marginally in real terms between 1995 and 2005, while real disposable income increased by over 30% in the same period. The same research also shows a strong correlation between affordability and amount of alcohol bought. (Correlation does not necessarily imply causation, of course.)

  • Marcus wrote:
    March 13th, 2008 at 7.54 am

    Captain Darling… Ha! And his journal entry on the day of the election- “Bugger.”

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