Leg-Iron looks at a headline which is So crazy, even the Mail can't sensationalise it and LFAT asks Did the entire world go mad yesterday?
Continuing the theme, can anybody think of a rational explanation for this Tory proposal as reported by the BBC (and yes, it is correctly reported, he was on Radio 4 this morning):
The term "units of alcohol" should be scrapped in favour of centilitres of pure alcohol, the Tories have said. The party said there was confusion over units and the UK should adopt specific measures, as much of Europe does, to help encourage safer drinking. They also called for extra information to be given on labelling, including calorie content, as part of a voluntary agreement with the drinks industry.
Can anybody imaging people saying things like "I'm in two minds about Tory tax and spend policies, and I don't think they go far enough on immigration, but I think I'll vote for them because they're going to make drinks manufacturers change the labelling on bottles and cans of alcohol"?
CLARIFICATION: In the UK, one "unit" of alcohol is defined as "one centilitre of pure alcohol". So this idea will make absolutely zero, zilch difference to anything apart from having to re-design all the labels. It's about as radical as when "centigrade" were renamed "Celsius". It's the same thing. That was the most f***witted bit.
Wednesday 13 January 2010
Units
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13 comments:
Attempted murder, 6 months, suspended.
Beating a burglar who imprisoned your family, two years, not suspended.
Ah, the judging classes!
THey're not proposing minimum pricing so they're doing no harm.
Units are a bollox measure, so ML of pure Alcohol is neater, clearer, compatible with the labling on the continent.
Apart from the "Tories are stupid and crap, I'm voting BNP/ LIB UK/ UKIP" nuttery, I can't see anything wrong with this at all.
Caught this on the 1 o'clock from Pravda.
First thoughts were that Brown is on the ropes, spent a week in his bunker, Campbell fingers him over Iraq, the salt mines fail to meet their 5 Year Plan (or global warming fails to meet its 100 Year Plan) and yet... the Tories are redesigning the labels on beer bottles!
Anyone suspect the Conservatives perhaps don't really want to win this election?
Then again, the same might be said of the Labour (lets keep Brown) Party and the Liberal (lets ditch all our policies) Democrats. At this rate we're going to wake up one May morning to find Plaid Cymru running the country.
Aren't centilitres of alcohol and "units" the same number?
I really must stop listening to the "Toady" programme while driving to work because I'm convinced it's far, far more injurious to my health than alcohol could ever be.
Words failed me. Even expletives. We stand on the event horizon of extreme economic unpleasantness, a few months from an Election, and what's HM Opposition worrying about?
I'm tempted to agree with John Pickworth that they aren't serious about winning. Maybe they've decided that the way to perpetual Conservative triumph is to let the rotting carcass of the country be scavenged upon by Gordon Brown's Loonies for another year or two.
I tried to listen to Lansley on about it this a.m. on the talking type radio. It sounded bollocks then and time hasn't made it any less bollocky.
@reason. Yes.
I suppose it makes slightly more sense to express measurements in standardised units rather than arbitrary ones, though in my experience cL is infrequently used in the UK, which might cause some confusion. The contents of bottle/cans always seems to be in mL, after all.
But MW makes the point: how much sodding difference would this likely have on the turning of the world, or possibly even success in a general election? The Tories should bear in mind that's their sine qua non.
As I understand, the unit of measurement is irrelevant. All our benevolent government (and Her Majesty's loyal opposition) want to do is to make it easier to determine which drink provides most bang per buck. For those who are interested in that, anyway.
Or have I missed something?
It currently takes me 8 units to get drunk, and I consider anything over 15 as "properly A-holed". Can someone tell me if there will be a conversion table made available so that I can add up all the centilitres I've drunk and find out how pist I am?
I am sitting here, now, drinking a triple (in pub measures) whisky and water. Not enough to get a 'nice glow on' - to quote Raymond Chandler, but relaxing nevertheless. Later on Mrs Lola and I might have a glass of wine or two with dinner. Soup and cheese and biscuits since you ask (large business lunch including a glass of very drinkable house red). I drink. I cause no problems to anyone else. Why should I pay more because a very small percentage of louts get keeleyed in city centres on weekends? That's a zero tolerance policing matter. Not a nannyist tax matter.
Well, the pro-Labour Cameron-Clarkes could be expected to say that. The conservatives though are another matter.
The reasojn for this proposal can be found here.
This is a report by the "Public Health Commission". Recommendation 3.3 of the report is:
"Establish a European ‘standard drink’ expressed in centilitres (cl) of alcohol, communicated through labelling and at the point of choice in a consistent way."
This is in fact about European standardisation, since at the moment "units" of alcohol has different definitions in different member states.
The clue was in the "as much of Europe does" in the BBC report.
Government would rather do "something" rather than admit that this is an area outside their competency. Changing the labels allows them to have "simplified" or "modernised" the system without actually doing anything. Drinks all round.
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