What Do You Think Today?

[Sorus]

I don't know if I'm blocked from KW at work - actually never even tried. And never will. Big brother is watching, and big brother doesn't need to know that I grumble about work here.

[Avatar]

Bloody work.

And you Sky, you have no excuses...you can get on any time.

--A

[peter]

It is a sad but telling fact, the recent announcement of the richest woman in the UK being a lady who a few short years ago started an online gambling site called Bet365 or something like it. It absolutely reflects what a monumental problem gambling has become in the country - one that I see every day, when a good twenty five percent of the thousands of transactions we do a day feature either lottery or scratch card purchases, often the sole reason for visiting the shop. Couple this with bingo sites on television, online poker and roulette, gaming machines that allow hundreds of pounds to be bet every minute and it now even creeping into consul games and you have an epidemic on your hands. Very sad the lives that will be blighted on the back of 'freedom of choice'.

[Avatar]

Uh, gambling has always been a problem in the UK. Remember joking about the odds a bookie would give you for getting kidnapped by aliens, some character on East Enders growing a moustache, that sort of thing.

--A

[peter]

Agreed Av - but boy is it getting worse!

[Avatar]

People are bored? Maybe it's because you don't have enough risk in the nanny state...

--A

[peter]

Interesting point At - but one I think that perhaps displays a common misconception of what the nanny state actually does for us. In fact risk is in many ways far higher than it has been for many decades, while 'nanny' twitter's around the edges full of good advice but achieving little. It's a bit like my place of work where in law they must display a notice telling us that the hot taps have hot water in them, but it's perfectly ok for them to flog us to the point of collapse with brutally hard shift patterns and little or no breaks - or indeed pull our hours back to nothing with little or no warning.

[Avatar]

Hahaha, fair enough.

Ineffective nanny state notwithstanding though, on the whole (from my point of view), it's a safe, settled country, where people have, by and large, been just getting quietly on with their lives for the last several hundred years. (Sure, the occasional, mostly political upheaval, but on the whole.)

--A

[peter]

Certainly the case Av.

[Avatar]

So y'all are bored. Gambling is a socially acceptable form of risk.

Here in SA, you can get an adrenaline rush just walking down the street, so...

--A

[peter]

Minimum unit alcohol pricing is to be introduced in Scotland (prior, no doubt, to being rolled out in the UK as well) ostensibly to curb excessive drinking of cheap but strong booze and attempt to limit the social damage caused thereby.
Of course, there is more to it than simply that. By introducing a unit minimum you automatically hit only the low end liquor (purchased by the bottom end of society) while the more expensively priced brands where the unit price is already above the minimum, escape the price rise. The elements of society that purchase the cheapest booze are of course the ones that attract the least sympathy and have the lowest ability to make their voices heard in any fight against the move.
Taking it to the next most cynical level, one could even speculate that the government are perfectly aware that the price increase will in no way limit the practice of getting pissed on cheap booze (there are places in our society where anaesthetising yourself to your condition in this way might indeed seem the best option), money will simply be taken from elsewhere in the budget in order to meet the raised cost, so most of the effect will be to raise shit loads of extra cash for the Exchequer from those least able to bear the cost of to fight against it.

[Skyweir]

Hahaha, fair enough.

Ineffective nanny state notwithstanding though, on the whole (from my point of view), it's a safe, settled country, where people have, by and large, been just getting quietly on with their lives for the last several hundred years. (Sure, the occasional, mostly political upheaval, but on the whole.)

--A

Mmmm.. sounds peaceful .. then this

Av - "... here in SA you can get an adrenaline rush just walking down the street!"



Incongruent much? lol

So what is it like in SA really

[Skyweir]

Minimum unit alcohol pricing is to be introduced in Scotland (prior, no doubt, to being rolled out in the UK as well) ostensibly to curb excessive drinking of cheap but strong booze and attempt to limit the social damage caused thereby.
Of course, there is more to it than simply that. By introducing a unit minimum you automatically hit only the low end liquor (purchased by the bottom end of society) while the more expensively priced brands where the unit price is already above the minimum, escape the price rise. The elements of society that purchase the cheapest booze are of course the ones that attract the least sympathy and have the lowest ability to make their voices heard in any fight against the move.
Taking it to the next most cynical level, one could even speculate that the government are perfectly aware that the price increase will in no way limit the practice of getting pissed on cheap booze (there are places in our society where anaesthetising yourself to your condition in this way might indeed seem the best option), money will simply be taken from elsewhere in the budget in order to meet the raised cost, so most of the effect will be to raise shit loads of extra cash for the Exchequer from those least able to bear the cost of to fight against it.

?? OMG .. "minimum pricing on alcohol " .. and it's aim is to reduce alcohol abuse??? Have they not heard of the black market / prohibition?

Good lord I'm speechless!

[Kizza]

Hello all. Hope you are all well. Have been busy fending off the bad people to keep a roof over the good peoples heads.

Did I hear someone say "Minimum pricing on alcohol?" Tell me more!! You know that this conversation will bring out the dormant socialist, nihilist, fascist, libertarian or communist in us all?! apologies if I get too verbose.

Lets lay the scene down and you tell me how you deal with it. You are out at a well lit, clean pub for a drink after dinner on a hot summers night, and the first round cost you $18. You are halfway through the first drink which is going down swimmingly and you`re thinking that the two of you might stay for a few more before walking home.

Then your olfactory senses are pummelled by a person, barely able to hold the bar up, drinking cardboard cask port at $2.20 for 125ml. And this person with one eye closed for focus, spies you checking them and decides to enquire back verbally.

How does it end? ie: Do you buy them another $2.20 sherry or port drink and ask them to sit down and tell you how the world is treating them? Do you leave? Do you tell them to take their company somewhere else? Do you ask the bar staff to take care of the situation?

I put my hand up, palm out, smile, head shaking and say `No thanks, We are just talking between ourselves thanks`........ before they retort with, `buy me a port!` Me, I go back to the head shaking hand up palm out, `No thanks`. (but then again I get away with it most of the time maybe due to my height and shoulders)

[Avatar]

So what is it like in SA really

It's great. I love it.

There's widespread corruption, rampant crime, frequent murder, ridiculously high road deaths, and terrible inequality.

But I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

--A

[peter]

You're not selling it to me Av!

Hi Kizza! I don't do bars anymore, principally to avoid that kind of scenario, but when I did I always tended to take the soft course through any situation. I knew a chap who had a tendency to sooner or later beat up anyone who he was drinking with and I found myself unavoidably in his company one night. I explained almost immediately that both he and I knew he could beat the crap out of me and I was worried that he might decide to do it. He put his hand on my arm and said "You have my word Peter, I'll never lay a finger on you" - and he didn't.

[Avatar]

Hahaha, speaking of gambling... the odds of being murdered on any given day in South Africa are literally a bit higher than a million to one. Who wouldn't take those odds?

(I really do love it here...I've visited and lived in other countries...but wouldn't want to live there.)

--A

[Skyweir]

Hello all. Hope you are all well. Have been busy fending off the bad people to keep a roof over the good peoples heads.

Did I hear someone say "Minimum pricing on alcohol?" Tell me more!! You know that this conversation will bring out the dormant socialist, nihilist, fascist, libertarian or communist in us all?! apologies if I get too verbose.

Lets lay the scene down and you tell me how you deal with it. You are out at a well lit, clean pub for a drink after dinner on a hot summers night, and the first round cost you $18. You are halfway through the first drink which is going down swimmingly and you`re thinking that the two of you might stay for a few more before walking home.

Then your olfactory senses are pummelled by a person, barely able to hold the bar up, drinking cardboard cask port at $2.20 for 125ml. And this person with one eye closed for focus, spies you checking them and decides to enquire back verbally.

How does it end? ie: Do you buy them another $2.20 sherry or port drink and ask them to sit down and tell you how the world is treating them? Do you leave? Do you tell them to take their company somewhere else? Do you ask the bar staff to take care of the situation?

I put my hand up, palm out, smile, head shaking and say `No thanks, We are just talking between ourselves thanks`........ before they retort with, `buy me a port!` Me, I go back to the head shaking hand up palm out, `No thanks`. (but then again I get away with it most of the time maybe due to my height and shoulders)

Sounds like you handled that situation perfectly.

[Skyweir]

Hahaha, speaking of gambling... the odds of being murdered on any given day in South Africa are literally a bit higher than a million to one. Who wouldn't take those odds?

(I really do love it here...I've visited and lived in other countries...but wouldn't want to live there.)

--A

Hahahahaha... sounds like paradise

I have a gf who lived in SA - she married a South African .. but she loved it!! She got to work in an animal sanctuary feeding lion cubs. She loves the bush and the wildlife, you know the important appealing stuff. LOL

But yeah she said where she lived everyone had bars on their windows and knew not to wander at large

Now as we're talking about SA - in law school I had a SA lecturer and I have to admit I hung on every word that he spoke! I loooovvve the SA accent!!! It's sooo appealing! I don't know what it is about it - its music to my ears!!

Trev has a SA Endicrinologist and she's SA, my GP is SA and truly, no bullshit, they are some of the nicest people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. I've had my SA GP for several decades, and Ill never change! One, I get to listen to her accent and 2. She's incredibly competent and caring. Now I'm sure that's not true if all SAs hahaha .. but the ones I know are awesome. Trev's GP w is her husband hahaha

There are a lot of SAs here! My gf moved back with her hubby (yeah he's not super) maybe he's the exception to the rule???

[Skyweir]

You're not selling it to me Av!

Hi Kizza! I don't do bars anymore, principally to avoid that kind of scenario, but when I did I always tended to take the soft course through any situation. I knew a chap who had a tendency to sooner or later beat up anyone who he was drinking with and I found myself unavoidably in his company one night. I explained almost immediately that both he and I knew he could beat the crap out of me and I was worried that he might decide to do it. He put his hand on my arm and said "You have my word Peter, I'll never lay a finger on you" - and he didn't.

Hahahaha!!! Sounds like it was your lucky night

Hopefully it was a promise in perpetuity