Drinkuary an update

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As the concept of Drinkuary has now been launched for a whole five days I thought I’d share a small update. Rather gratifyingly the FaceBook event has already over taken Alcohol Concerns “Dry January” by a respectable margin, despite not having months of planning, media consultants and tax payers money to call upon. At the moment Drinkuary is ahead 620 to 513 and improving, apparently people are rather fed up with being told what to do and seeing more and more costs applied to the things they enjoy.

If you’ve not joined in already do join in the fun, and come January take a minute to write to your MP. Meanwhile here’s a round up of what other people have been saying, that was originally posted over at Drinkuary.org

“As alcohol remains in the news I thought it only right that I should link to what a few other people are saying about “Dry January”, Drinkuary and minimum pricing. So in no particular order:

  • Real Ale Up North doesn’t want to be preached to.
  • Leg Iron thinks that Dry January is a lunatic idea as well
  • Katabasis thinks the government is making a mistake with minimum pricing
  • Heresy Corner identifies Camerons personal commitment to minimum pricing as the reason it will be forced through
  • The Spectator observes that the health benefits won’t happen as predicted, as drinking has already fallen by more than minimum pricing is aiming for
  • The thing is has one of the best explanations of the evil of minimum pricing that I’ve read

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    The EU our allies

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    There’s an awful lot being talked about the EU at the moment, apparently due to some budgetary discussion or other, it seems that due to the large number of well paid terribly clever people running everything for us over in Brussels that it simply isn’t possible to shave a single penny* of the budget lest the sky fall in. It’s ok though as those nice chaps tell us that we get loads and loads of benefits from being part of the happy EU gang, and they all like us as we pay in a fair bit more money than we get out and..oh oh dear it seems they don’t like as much after all. That’s ok though they’ll all stand with us, if some other country starts to have a go and attack our interests and citizens overseas, oh not so much. Still at least it’s kept the peace in Europe, the EU got the Noble peace prize for the lack of war after all, so all those European lands grabs and territorial disputes are a thing of the past, oh not that either.

    But it does keep Ed and Dave’s old pals in cushy jobs and jollies, so worth every penny, after all we’ve got the money to spare… haven’t we?

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    #alcoholaware2012 – dry January no thanks

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    Drinkuary - Calling time on the Puritans Just as No-Smoking day became no smoking month, so the puritans and killjoys are following up Alcohol awareness week with “Dry January”. Not only do they want people to not drink during January – which is fair enough if you don’t want to and it’s traditionally the time of year for new resolutions and the like; but they’d also like people to be sponsored to do this to raise more money for them so they can nag us better. Dick Puddlecote has the details and in some ways it’s heartening to see a fake charity having to make it’s own way in the world. However a quick look through the governments e-petions shows the purtian impulse is alive and well. Of course just because Alcohol Concern are no longer getting as much of our tax money, doesn’t mean that various other state funded “health” organizations aren’t happy to spend our money telling us not to drink, smoke, eat nice food or generally have fun.

    If there actually was a drinking problem in this country maybe it would be understandable but

    • Pubs closing at a rate of 18 a week
    • The amount we’re drinking is falling year on year
    • The average strength of beer is falling

    So even if there is a problem it would seem to be resolving itself (I’m sure the killjoys will claim this si due to their nagging), which is why they need to continue with things such as:

    • Over a third of the price of all drinks is tax
    • Duty on beer rises by 2% above inflation every year
    • Our Government is considering minimum pricing on booze

    Our MPs still drink in subsidized bars whilst happily pushing up prices for the rest of us, after all we’re picking up the bill for their drinks. There is of course no slippery slope, just ask the smokers about that, I think it’s about time we said enough to this. So I have a bit of a plan and one I hope you’ll join me in, to coincide with the Puritans dry January lets have our own Drinkuary, drink as much or as little as you like, ignore the Kiljoys nagging but take a few minutes to sign some of the e-petitions and write to your MP tell them that you’re fed up with it all. It only takes a few letters for MPs to think something’s an issue which is why small pressure groups have such a profound effect. Beyond that though lets spread the word, lets try and get everyone who’s fed up with being nagged to join in. I’m getting beer mats printed to take the message out of the internet and into pubs, go on over to www.drinkuary.org to see the designs. Please spread the word and if you want to help get more mats printed or be sent some mats to distribute in your local area get in touch (my budget only runs to 1,000 mats so I’m afraid there won’t
    be that many to go around, but the designs are free to download so print your own, or print flyers but lets get the word out there).

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