Debate on Alcohol's Minimum Pricing at Holyrood

The debate on the minimum paricing for alcohol has continued in Holyrood and different points of view have been aired. In the views of Nicola Sturgeon The Deputy First minister and Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing, "We all agree, too, that education, partnership working with the alcohol industry and investment in alcohol treatment services are all components of an effective alcohol strategy, which is why they are among the 41 actions in our alcohol framework. However, we believe—this view is strongly backed by doctors, nurses, the police, the churches, public health experts, all four UK chief medical officers and a host of children's charities—that no package of measures will be truly effective without real and effective action on price. We believe that it would be a dereliction of our duty to ignore the clear evidence and expert opinion from the World Health Organization, advisers to the European Commission, the British Medical Association and the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, which tell us very clearly that price intervention is one of the most effective tools in tackling alcohol misuse."



It seems that the views against minimum pricing are coming from organisations that have a vested interest in the financila implications of this, whilest institutions with a more impartial view on the issue like churches, health organisations and professional medical bodies are all supporting the minimum pricing. This view was clearly expressed by Ian McKee (Lothians) (SNP) .



The debate continues, but it is clear that pricing must be a part of a concerted solution for the alcohol abuse problems within Scottish society.

Designer clothes for children

The Daily Mail is running a story today on Suri Cruise who apparently owns a £1 million wardrobe at the tender age of four. Her parents applaud her fashion sense and are happy in getting for her whatever she wants. The article goes on to report that this example is now influencing consumer habits of ordinary people, where parents overspend on designer clothes for their children. Examples cited are Dior T-shirts etc.

Everyone knows that children and teenagers are subject to peer pressure and that their fashion sense is heavily influenced by the people they ahng out with, however, I wonder about what motivates a parent to indulge their children in such a way. Could it be that as parents we want to compensate our children for soemthing lacking in thier lives? Don't get me wrong, I applaud the efforts of committed parents who work hard to bring home the bacon, and I do understand the pressures of parenthood and full time employment particularly now, when jobs are scarce... but it might be that what our children actually want is time spent as a family doing fun things together without constant pressure to spend spend spend.

Could it be that we as parents seek retail therapy whenever something is not quite great in our lives? Are we actually training our children into believing that buying stuff feels good? We might be sending a very confused message to our children when we buy things for them (or for ourselves for that matter) as a substitute or compensation for attention and affection.

Who feels good after consumption binges ? The parents or the children?