DRINKING

I'm getting a little confused. The Scottish Executive (sorry — Scottish Government as they prefer to be called) have made it clear they want to discourage the consumption of alcohol. Sometimes they refer to the behaviour of yobs on our streets and sometimes to health issues. As far as yobs are concerned one can only only ask why not deal with the perpetrators rather than penalise all drinkers. If people are urinating/vomiting in the streets or being violent or intimidating law-abiding people they should be severely dealt with. As for the health issue we seem to be following the same route as was taken with smoking. From informing people about the risks to heavy-handed regulation. So when a drinks company decided to close a factory I would have thought the Scottish Executive would be delighted. What better way to restrict drinking than close down the factories that make the stuff. But no, they're up in arms and hassling about a few hundred jobs rather than celebrating the thousands of lives that will be saved by people being unable to buy their favourite tipple. What hypocrisy!! Similar concerns apply to the closure of a steel works in England. Millions of "green" people in UK have been determined to de-industrialize and go back to the Iron Age. Our own government in Westminster puts a "carbon tax" on industrial effort in an attempt to put back the clock 2 millenia. And yet politicians are worried about the closure of a plant which must have a huge "carbon footprint". Make your mind up guys.

AIRGUNS

The Scottish Executive are proposing a ban on airguns. To some extent this is political posturing as weapons control is at present a matter which is reserved to Westminster. A ban would have minimal effect. Restrictions on firearms were tightened after Hungerford and again after Dunblane when it became illegal to possess a pistol/revolver/automatic weapon/rifle. Nevertheless as we have seen in the past three weeks a large number of teenagers seem to have no problems in getting hold of one. I expect the illegality just increases the value as a "status" object. Unless the police make a determined effort to prosecute anyone they find with such a weapon, and the men in red dressing gowns send them to prison, new laws are a waste of time.