Every little hurts – updated

Tesco has “caved in” to Government pressure and joined the growing chorus of holy joes begging Gordon Brown to increase the price of alcohol.

According to the Guardian, Tesco want New Labour to “bring forward legislative proposals” to increase the price of booze at all supermarkets.

Tesco is a cynical monopoliser. They know that if they unilaterally raised the price of drink, customers would go elsewhere. So they are calling for Government-set price controls that must ”apply to all retailers of alcohol”, knowing that their share of the market won’t decrease but their profit margin will.

Tesco – a big supporter of New Labour - never miss a trick when it comes to making more money. Labour  - a big supporter of Tesco – never miss a trick when it comes to new ways of raising revenue and curbing personal freedom.

Several papers report today that the Government has asked the Borg-like accountants KPMG to produce a report on raising prices, with the big raise to come in the summer.

Meanwhile, the British Medical Association, completely coincidentally (wink, wink)  have today issued a call to make booze more expensive, outlaw happy hours and bring in a virtual zero-limit drinking and driving limit.

A 10% rise in beer prices would save thousands of lives they argue, claiming that deaths from alcohol related illnesses have doubled since 1991 to 8,700 a year. First of all the population of the UK has grown by more than 1 million in the period, so the number was bound to rise. Secondly how many people are killed by driving, say, or diseases caught in hospitals? Thirdly, how come the Office of National Statistics show that alchol consumption has been constant (see graph below) despite a rising population?

These plans are designed to make the poor poorer, the rich richer. They will cause more problems than they solve, for example hoodies on cider may find heroin a cheaper alternative.

Are brain-dead yobbos suddenly going to stop drinking and join debating societies and Christian associations because there’s an extra 50p stealth tax on a can of Colt 45?  

Take a tip from me. Stock up on cheap booze now because hard times are a-coming.