A bit of a tiz over a survey which purports to show 56 per cent of people are behind an increase in the price of cheap alcohol. This would be a survey commissioned by the Health Sponsorship Council, a government body whose purpose is? Well to commission surveys and write reports I guess.
And those who wring their hands over sights like those portrayed above are claiming that Peter Dunn suppressed the results of the survey. It is hard to come up with a reason why he would, a motivation for doing so if you will.
But anyone with half a brain knows that pricing alcohol out of the range of the poor will fix nothing.
The gentlemen in the photo above have not secured cosy sinecures in obscure Government bodies filling their days commissioning surveys and writing reports that nobody will read, then going home to their comfy abodes to bask in the glow of their accomplishments.
No - for whatever reason there is no place for them at the table and all shreds of human dignity have fled. And if a cheap bottle of plonk is denied then something will give in order to buy a more expensive one, food most likely. And failing that some other substance, more harmful will be resorted to to blot out the agony of their daily existence.
And understanding this is the first step in fixing it - although how I am not quite sure.
But it begins with teaching people to value their dignity and making sure that as many people as possible have a stake in our society and that happens in families.