Missing the Point
I do love the way the government "hide" what is in effect a taxation, probably to pay for the tax cuts they have announced as a rather sycophantic attempt at vote winning... This rather patronising "We are doing it for our country." is the bleating of the desperate and deluded.
It isn't the cost of beer that is the problem. Nor is it the age of people that is endemically the problem. The problem lies within the subculture that we have created within our society, were it is deemed "street" and "cool" to sort out problems via fist / knife / gun. Alcohol gives many the impetus to act out these savage tendencies. It blurs rationality, but that wanton destructiveness is there whether alcohol is £1 a bottle, £2 a bottle or £10 a bottle.
Make any form of alcohol too expensive and many disenfranchised young people will find an alternative way to amuse themselves for £10, £20, £50 a night. And my guess is not all of them will be legal and for the benefit of society as a whole.
The rationale behind this thinking is that by making it expensive, we deal with the problem. By the same token, why not make all cars at least £500,000, then we can solve the problem speeding on the roads!
Oddly enough, this issue will not impact me much at all. I rarely drink, if I do go the pub I am inevitably driving so I always drink soft drinks. I seldom drink at home. If I do have a drink I'd like to think I am responsible and sensible with it. Like I think the vast majority of the population of the country...
So why should we pay for the few?
There's no easy answer to the problem of violence in society. But please, don't try to pass of a blatant stealth tax as a form of social control by a concerned and streetwise government.