Tuesday’s Daily Post carried a story by reporter Sam Lister about a big rise in fines for drunkenness. In the same edition an editorial says "Alcohol remains as much a menace to society as it ever has," then argues for increasing alcohol prices, more prosecuting for selling to under 18s, emphasising the health risks and so on.(This is the same newspaper that only a few months ago appeared to be supporting a half-witted campaign to reduce the prices of alcoholic drinks to save pubs going out of business.)
Banning the sale from anywhere other than bona fide pubs and off-licences might be a good way to start if accompanied by doubling of the prices and halving of the licensing hours. County councils could take the lead right now by stopping the sale of alcohol on premises that they either own or subsidise.
There would be no need for councils to wait for a change in the law; they banned smoking on their premises long before there was a legal necessity to do so.
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