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Alcohol Review – issue 90, March 19th 2023
In this issue: Public health welcomes end of alcohol tax freeze; Asian flush linked to cancer; Ads create harmful online environments
Public health welcomes end of alcohol tax freeze
Public health advocates this week welcomed a UK Budget heeding its call for alcohol duty to rise at least in line with inflation, as well as a move intended to lower pub prices relative to retail.
It could have gone further still, public health representatives said, including by closing the loophole responsible for ultra-cheap cider. Pubs themselves argued that more effective support would come by helping with their energy costs, VAT and business rates. It remains to be seen how much of the duty fall reaches pump prices. Big alcohol interests expressed their unhappiness, but saw their share prices rise.
The government estimated that it had given away £405m to the alcohol industry by freezing duty in December (see table below). The lower tax rate for pubs announced in this budget will cost £80m a year, the same estimates say, just over a twentieth of the £1.3bn annualised loss of public income forecast had it kept the blanket duty freeze.
The inflationary linkages of duty may be the new normal, with Chancellor Jeremy Hunt saying it was done “in the usual way” though it is a rarity in recent years. News of the special rate for pubs was leaked via the Bloomberg news service, which hosted Hunt at an event on budget day evening also attended by owner Michael Bloomberg, a proponent of heath taxes.
Press materials released by the Treasury also quoted Michael Bloomberg giving a glowing assessment of the UK’s economic prospects.
In brief
East Asian people with a low tolerance to alcohol, commonly known as “Asian flush”, have an increased chance of developing a hard-to-cure type of stomach cancer if they drink alcohol, according to a study in Nature Genetics.
Alcohol companies are creating online environments for harm, according to a new report which found nearly 40,000 alcohol ads are placed on Facebook and Instagram each year in Australia. They are often come with a button saying ‘shop now’.
Break-ins were down 45%, domestic violence was down 30% and youth disturbances were down 36%, said a leaked police briefing a month after the reintroduction of alcohol restrictions in parts of Northern Territory. Others doubt the figures.
solution 001
Unreal: Safe life-appreciation booster on trial
This is fiction.
Scientists are trialling a suite of life-affirming placebo dangers to perk up listless middle-life men.
A disproportionate number of men around 50 try to rekindle the devil-may-care attitude of their youth by taking risks which lead to harm.
Motorbike accidents among middle-aged men rose by nearly two thirds in the years since 2013 thanks to this phenomenon, for example.
“We can now treat men going through this common ‘kamikaze phase’,” says Dr Tracey Compton of MomentoMori. “A wake up call is all that is needed to restore balance.
Forcing people to confront their mortality rather than maintaining a state of denial has been found to reduce people’s appetite for risk taking, Dr Compton explains.
To deliver this jolt Dr Compton’s clinic offers patients a range of worrisome medical adventures. “We do everything from heart palpitation to testicular cancer. ”
“I was absolutely bricking it,” says Eric, who was given the impression he had a dangerously clogged carotid artery as part of secret 56th birthday gift from wife Jane.
“I was quite peeved when the wife first told me it was a wind up, but I was so relieved I wasn’t dying I forgave her,” says Eric, who dropped paragliding for gardening.
Relatives can choose from a range of placebo health crises, all guaranteed reminders that life is short enough as it is, without finding new ways to end it early.
“A convincing simulation of impending doom takes patients on a journey, leading most to the firm conclusion that they probably best playing safe,” said Dr Compton.
The cutting edge technique has caused some rifts, she admits, when patients are not as understanding about the well-meaning prank as Eric.
“The strange thing is that we have also had several repeat customers,” says Dr Compton. Eric told Untrue he would be keen to repeat the experience.
“I can’t say I enjoyed the experience, exactly, but I did come out feeling more alive than before.” ■
How’s this possible?
Why does a one-square hole open up when we rearrange these shapes, as shown below?
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The longest sides of what appear to be “triangles” are bent. You can read a more thorough explanation here.
I’ll try and come up with a more satisfactory explanation.
Divide your timer
Can you draw two straight lines to cut the clock dial into two sets of numbers with the same sum? And can you do it with five lines to create six groups with an equal sum?
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