24-hour Alcoholising
It is stated that:
The Government’s attempt to reduce alcohol-related disorder by introducing 24-hour drinking has failed dismally, according to a survey. (The Times)
There’s a few problems with this to start with:
- It is results concluded from a survey. Surveys aren’t consistent.
- 24-hour drinking doesn’t exist. Anywhere. It’s just an urban myth.
- It has been fewer than two years since the law came in to force
- What is “alcohol-related disorder”? It’s a nice little catch-all phrase.
So alcohol-related disorder hasn’t decreased - says a small bunch of people - in just a couple of years? This doesn’t mean that the law has “failed dismally”. In fact this time last year, the number of “alcohol-related” crimes had declined.
Regular readers will know that I regard the 24-hour drinking law as one of the very few good pieces of legislation that has been passed by this Labour government. Unlike the rest of its legislative programme, it is a law that gives people more freedom and choice.
Why should any licensed pub or off-licence not be able to serve a legal substance to anyone who is legally alloed to purchase it at any time? Anyone who believes in letting people make their own choices - good or bad - and living their own lives how they choose can possibly oppose it on any grounds bar the defence of being nearly as intelligent as two short planks.
The real reason why “alcohol-related disorder” has not fallen is because the law has not been put in to practice. Very few places have been licenced to sell alcohol 24-7. In fact, the ridiculous Sunday Trading Laws ensures that they cannot. And local councils refuse to extend licences… and then come out with these sort of surveys claiming that the 24-drinking laws haven’t helped. They would if they were actually put in to practice.
There is also the very simple reality that nothing changes overnight. Britain is not suddenly going to have a “cafe culture” - even if the law was properly actioned. It will take a decade before any real change comes through, but none will every happen unless and until the ability to purchase alcohol at any time of any day actually exists in reality, and not just in myth.
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