Pete Robinson: Budget blues
A siren voice trying to convince licensees that if you think it's bad now you ain't seen nothing yet.
Last week, having erred on the pessimistic side, I still failed to forecast the full extent of Brown & Darling's malicious budget plans. An initial 6% above inflation, 4p on a pint.
But I was in the right ballpark with most of it, including my shrewd prediction of the evil 'alcohol accelerator'. This vicious tax-grabbing scam works like compound interest, taking annual above-inflation increases in duty that build on previous hikes.
Make no mistake this budget had nothing to do with curbing binge drinking. Any binge drinking occurs on cut-priced booze in the home and in the streets. Where pubs are involved it's merely for 'topping-up' purposes. Yet the nation's moderate drinkers are penalised purely as a revenue-raising exercise.
It sometimes makes you wonder what planet politicians live on. Look at the comparatively low rise in duty on cider for example - 3p per litre. They must believe cider is still virtually non-alcoholic.
A two-litre bottle of Asda Strong Dry Cider will go up from £1.20 to £1.26. So even with the duty increase you could still buy nearly a gallon of the stuff for the price of a pub pint. And what about White Lightning 'cider', the cheap fermented corn syrup beloved of young teens and vagrants alike? I pride myself on having "hollow legs" and haven't been truly drunk in years.
Even so I steer well clear of the white stuff because it makes my behaviour, erm... unpredictable.
Young folk mix this with Gold Label barley wine to create a mind-bending cocktail called "White Death". Probably the cheapest 'legal high' on the market. But for youngsters who don't share the moral constraints of legality this budget was a drug-pusher's charter.
The bottom has fallen out of the ecstasy market with the average street price of a pill now as low as £2.40. Or you may prefer a 'line' of low-grade cocaine available at around the same price. Heroin prices are now 20% cheaper than cannabis resin. However 'speed' is the real bargain of the drugs market with a decent 'hit' costing less than a can of pop. Why pay more?
The Government must, I'm sure, realise all this will end in tears. The treasury uses advanced computer models so they 'must' be aware of the misery they are about to inflict. After audiences with the BBPA and other industry spokesmen they 'must' know it could be the final nail in the coffin of the Great British Pub.
They DO know. They just don't care. Nu-Labour has an agenda to enforce their own vision of a utopian, multi-cultural, state-administered society in which Pubs play no part.
If you don't believe me then heed the words of ex-Blair bruiser Alistair Campbell, and HE should know. At The Publican Conference last year Campbell criticised the pub trade for failing to speak with a single lobbying voice over issues such as the smoking ban.
Last month he said effective lobbying by the hospitality trade was needed to tackle a crackdown on alcohol sales and 'unhealthy'food.
Again I warn you all - it's WAR on Pubs.
Sooner or later what's left of the trade must make a united stand or fade into virtual extinction. Anyone who cannot see that deserves what's coming to them.
