Who will rule the nation of drunks?
Pubs and drinking will be high on the checklist of any potential voter when choosing a candidate to support in the next election. If, as the media would have us believe, we are a nation of drunks, then the political parties’ policies on alcohol are going to have an effect on how we vote. Labour have shown what they think of working class drinkers with their disastrous recent budget, the Lib Dems have some sort of potty ‘hey, let’s drink smoothies instead of beer’ policy, the Greens want to tax all alcohol at higher rates, ban advertising and reduce the size of pub measures. The Tories say tax alcopops and super-strength drink but reduce tax on lower-strength real ale and cider. This may seem to point towards a Tory vote, but could you go through with it? Only you can decide. Maybe we should all go for a drink with David Cameron, who talks real ale in an interview you can read here. He’s always down the pub, apparently. Cameron may be a toff but he is also a shrewd enough politician to
