The demon drink

Arguably, there are occasions when it is necessary, perhaps even laudable, for a Minister to be seen to be doing something, whether or not that something leads to a desirable outcome. I fear that Mr MacAskill's proposed crackdown on supermarkets and shops selling booze may not be one such occasion.

Mr MacA states (in his press release):

"From young people rampaging the streets shouting abuse at passers by to people dying in our hospitals of alcoholic liver disease - alcohol misuse has a lot to answer for. The facts are stark - over 60 per cent of prisoners admit they were drunk when they offended, and six people die every day from alcohol related illness."

I do not dissent from this analysis. But is there any evidence that the "young people rampaging the streets" (btw when did 'to rampage' become a transitive verb?) got liquored up from booze acquired in shops or supermarkets? Those in Lothian Road of a Saturday night seem more likely to have consumed their alcohol in pubs and clubs. But, if there is any evidence that shops and supermarkets are to blame, it has yet to be produced. The same lack of evidence applies to offenders - admitting drunkenness is not the same as admitting having acquired the necessary alcohol in shops and supermarkets. And cirrhosis of the liver requires a long-term commitment to the consumption of alcohol, rather than the opportunity purchase of three cans of lager for the price of two.

But look more closely at the press release. What is Mr MacA actually proposing? As far as I can see, there are three propositions on offer:

1. "Any promotion that provides alcohol free or at a reduced price on the purchase of one or more of the product or another product will be outlawed."

2. "... mandatory conditions will require shops to have separate alcohol display areas."

3. "The Scottish Government is also looking at the practices of deep-discounting. The Cabinet Secretary has asked for legal advice on how this practice can be ended as part of our wider alcohol strategy."

With regard to the first of these, what is to prevent Tesco's or Sainsbury's simply reducing the price of the individual item, so that instead of three cans of lager for £1.50 with the individual price at 75 pence, the individual unit price would be set at 50 pence. This might of course have the overall effect of increasing the sales of lager, but Mr MacA seems to have no plans to deal with the question.

As for separate display areas, my experience of supermarkets is that most of them already have separate aisles where alcohol is displayed (if only to cope with the ludicrous ban on Sunday morning alcohol sales). I suspect what he means is that they will be required to have separate tills, which would be unworkable in most corner shops (which only have one till anyway), irrelevant for off-licences (where sales of non-booze are negligible) and a damn nuisance in supermarkets where the Saturday morning shopping would be needlessly prolonged by having to queue twice.

I don't really know what "deep-discounting" is but the fact that Mr MacA is having to seek legal advice to end it suggests that ending this practice may be far from straightforward.

To sum up, B+ for aspiration, D- for evidence-based policy-making and E for thinking it through. It's enough to drive you to ... (Stop there! - Ed)