NEWS
HOSPITALITY charity HIT Scotland is tapping into Strictly Come Dancing fever with the entertainment at its forthcoming Christmas fundraiser.
Bash is strictly for charity “ ”IN THERE IS NO
Guests at the HIT Christmas party, which takes place at Glasgow’s Grand Central hotel on December 1, can look forward to a show by professional dance team Gangsters of Groove after a four-course dinner. BBC presenter Rob Matheson will carry out MC duties at the event and preside over a charity auction; all money raised will go towards supporting HIT’s emerging talent
SAME ICONIC FLAVOUR - NOW SPELT WITH A “V” The HIT festive fundraising dinner returns to Glasgow’s Grand Central hotel.
programme, which aims to develop careers in the industry.
Tickets cost £75 and can be purchased from www.
hitscotland.org.
Policy chief tells conference nation is drinking too much
Why we need a minimum price
THE case for minimum pricing was set out by Scotland’s top civil servant on alcohol before a major licensing conference in Glasgow last week. Addressing board clerks and solicitors at the Scottish Licens- ing Law & Practice Big Briefi ng, Mary Cuthbert OBE, head of al- cohol and tobacco policy at the Scottish Government, said she was aware of the opposition to the new minimum pricing Bill, currently out for consultation. But she argued that the level
of alcohol consumption and the damage caused by misuse, from crime and disorder to medical and treatment costs, was such that “it’s something we have to act on”. “I know a lot of people disa-
gree with what we’re doing, [but] we’re drinking far more than we should as a nation,” she said. “The ‘whole popula- tion’ approach is being taken because we’re all drinking too much – it’s not something as a society we should be proud of.” Cuthbert shrugged off the
suggestion put to her by one solicitor that fi gures on alcohol consumption in Scotland may have been infl ated by tourists and the infl ux of people from the European mainland who have settled here in recent years. Stating that misuse has “been
price of, say, a 12-pack of beer must not be less than the cost of 12 individual units, but re- tailers have easily been able to get round the restriction by not offering single units for sale. “If that had been matched by minimum pricing supermar- kets wouldn’t have been able to do what they’ve done with sin- gle unit prices,” she said. “It was always meant to be
“We’re drinking far more than we should as a nation,” Cuthbert said.
a rising problem” over the past ten years, with consumption levels driven by the off-trade, she said it was having a det- rimental effect on the perfor- mance of the Scottish economy. “The whole ethos of the Scot- tish Government is [based on] a buoyant economy, but health, criminal justice and wider eco- nomic costs are [undermining that],” she said. “It’s a huge burden.” Cuthbert stressed, however,
that minimum unit pricing alone was not the solution to Scotland’s alcohol problems, but part of a package of meas- ures needed. She also admitted the impact made by the ban on quantity discounts, ushered in by the Alcohol Act, had been lessened without the support of minimum unit pricing. The legislation states that the
matched by minimum pricing.” The Scottish Government is taking evidence on the mini- mum pricing Bill until Decem- ber 12. Cuthbert confi rmed ministers had asked the Uni- versity of Sheffi eld to re-run its modelling to help them reach a suggested price per unit (45p was proposed in the last par- liament), and pledged that the government would have the regulations underpinning it ready for consultation by the time the Bill arrives at stage two of the process. Meanwhile, it has been
warned that the introduction of minimum pricing could lead to a rise in crime. Dr Laura Williamson, a Wellcome Trust Research Fellow at Glasgow Caledonian University, was re- ported in The Sunday Times as saying it could lead problem drinkers to turn to theft to fund their habit, or drugs – unless help they’re helped to dry out.
AVAILABLE FROM ALL YOU MAKE EVEN MORE PROFIT, AVAILABLE FROM
STOCK IT NOW
QUALITY WHOLESALERS FREE POINT OF SALE KITS TO HELP
VC-2.COM 0800 073 0901
DON’T GET HEAVY WITH THE BEVY
November 24, 2011 - SLTN - 5
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56