How ironic that Tesco are supposedly at the forefront of the campagne to increase alcohol and yet only yesturday I saw their advert for buy 2 get one free bottles of wine. I guess they must have meant expensive wine?!?

Penny Gilham, Norwich, England

The culture of booze is endemic to the UK and has very little to do with the price or availabiity. Just take TV, how many programs revolve around drinking and celebrations that all seem to take place in pubs. In how many TV shows has the contestant replied that he will be off to the pub after winning or loosing the contest. How can we forget the way in which English cricketers celebrated the World cup by drunken displays that was considered just a joke by all the press. Until there is a change in the English culture drunken behavior will be very much associated with England

stanley , Haifa ,

I lived in Italy for 5 years and beer + wine is much cheaper there. You can get a decent table wine for a quid and 660ml of Stella for about 50 pence.
I never saw a single problem with young people drinking, or adults for that matter. Cheap alcohol is not the problem.

In Italy kids don't hang around on the streets there are social clubs linked to local churches. We've lost our social foundations. We need to have more youth centres, better sporting facilities, give kids things to keep them off the streets and doing something.

Of course Tesco wants the prices to be fixed, they'll make more money from it. It hits responsible adults who drink at home and not youth drinkers. Youth drinkers will either find the money to keep drinking or move on to cheap drugs.

Julian, Bridgend,

increasing the price of alcohol wont do a damn thing. how short sighted can people be. kids who want to drink will drink no matter what the price is. an increase of 20 or 30 pence on a can of beer ,even a pound would still not solve the problem. as the kids will just ask the parents for more pocket money or save the money they would of spent on other things instead. it will only be used as a way to raise taxes and penalise the ordinary sensible folk.

keith, chester, uk

O K if we are to have a debate on alcohol,lets start where the worst abuse takes place; in the Palace of Westminster. Special drying out rooms are set aside for members to "sleep it off". Others are in the Chamber trying to legislate whilst not fit to do so. Can I suggest that the Times undertake some serious research and publish the findings of alcohol abuse at Westminster. I would also like to be aware of prices at the many bars in parliament.

John Eadie MacGregor, Doncaster, South yorks

Alcohol is not the problem - the problem is the people that abuse it. Why do the law abiding heavily burdened taxpayer have to pay the government more tax, for them not to deal with the issue in hand? Harsh detergents are needed for the criminal elements of our society, and make them pay heavily for their misdoings! Otherwise, the youngsters or those that cannot afford the increase in alcohol prices will have to steal/pickpocket/burgle more...While the government, WHO ACTUALLY WORK FOR US - THEY WERE ELECTED IN BY US, reap all our hard earned cash, and still do not deal with the problem.

over burdened by yet more taxation, Birmingham,

Oh come on, it is not the price of drink that decides whether you are going to drink to excess or not, it is the British media and youth culture thing. As I tuned into Capital radio this week there is a competition for your most embarrassing moment, which involved a girl getting sooooo drunk at her friends company Christmas party and "pole dancing without a pole" etc and it is all treated with a ho ho ho and bring her with your other winning ticket to the concert, she sounds like fun. As long as the media is promoting youth to believe that being drunk is cool and fun thing, then of course they will keep getting drunk.

Bon Viveur , France,

I drink within the recomended medical limits - why should I be punished by having to pay higher prices for the drink I do consume?
Surely you can buy 3 cases of beer for £20 and drink the over an extended period? You of course don't take all of your weekly shop home and eat it in one go.
A number of young drivers drive too fast and cause accidents it would be crazy to think that we would make every single car cost over £50,000 just so the young drivers could not afford one?!
Some folk eat too many cakes leading to heart disease and obesity problems - the solution is not to increase the prces of cakes so fatties can't afford them!

Skinner, Aberdeen, UK

Parents should stop buying alcohol like alcopops or vodka for there teenagers this would stop this.

If under 18's can't get the Alcohol they get someone else to get it for them.

John, Leicester, Leicestershire UK

The Tesco lager shown for 22p per can is 2% strength. You would have to drink 2.5 cans to get the same amount of alchohol as one can of Stella or Budweiser. It is probably a good way of reducing drunkenness - it is pretty hard to drink a lot of it.

Rob, Salisbury, UK

the whole thing is a farce, they should stop selling and promoting alcopops that would be a start. also parents and other people over 18 should not be intimidated into buying alcohol for young people. ever since alcopops have been on the market, underage drinking has risen.

Sarah , Blackpool, Lancashire

If they put prices up it could end up like in Russia - poor people would start making alcohol at home! Result - lot of blind people!

daria, Ripon,

Bernie, Helston, UK.

In your thinking it is clear that you are a card holder. This is not a viable option as a number of people in the UK find it very hard to open a bank account and if they are able to then the banks will only offer tehm a cash card. This means that a 35 year old who has been made bankrupt for example would not be able to then buy any alcohol!

The solution to this is very simple.

Stop the Supermarkets from selling below cost price, stop the silly offers of 3 cases for £20, stop the buy 3 bottles for the price of 2, only allow supermarkets to stock alcohol in one location of their store. The best thought that I can think of is to remove alcohol from Supermarkets, reduce the number of off-licences popping up everywhere and allow only dedicated shops to sell alcohol and nothing else.

These shops would be more accountable and they would have a better understanding of the law, after all if they lost their licence they would have nothing else!

Mark, London, UK

Increasing prices won’t deter youngsters from binge drinking; heavier penalties for supplying alcohol to under age drinkers is a far better method for tackling the problem. Plenty of youngsters take up smoking, an incredible daily cost at any age, the price doesn’t put them off. Once again the government is using this as a scapegoat to introduce yet more stealth taxes. When will people wake up and smell the coffee!

Ben, Newbury, England

Why not make credit/debit card use compulsory for all alcohol purchases ? This would make sales traceable and ensure only adults buy it.

Bernie, Helston, UK

Government intrusion is not the answer. Whatever happened to individual responsobility and freedom?

Matt, Texas, USA

It is all to do with how one is brought up. Given the correct home life and surroundings it would not matter if the booze was free. Price has nothing to do with it.

Alan, Midlands,

These changes unfairly affect those with the least money. As a student living in London money is very tight and it is great to be able to buy a cheap bottle of wine to take to a party once a week, or to share with friends.

Seems to me the answer is in education and awareness-building rather than the blunt instrument of prices.

Will, London,

We get ripped off buying alcohol in the UK, like eveything else we have to buy. It's about twice the price I pay where I live Germany. Cheap has nothing to do with it. 1) Introduce ID cards. They are there to prevent children buying things they shouldn't buy, and prevent shops from selling things that they shouldn't sell to children. 2) Make parent liable for the behaviour of their children up to the age of 18. Financial penalties, cautions etc to make THEM educate, and be responsible for their little angels. 3) Anyone given medical care under the influence of alcohol should pay their own medical costs. 4) Shops, pubs and clubs, and supermakets should be given REAL penalties for selling alcohol to minors. Closing down a couple of supermarkets should get the message across pretty quickly and make them more proactive. 5) Simple laws on violence, rowdy behaviour just need enforcing. Ok, over to 'working groups' and 'experts' now. England, I'm ashamed of it and don't miss it at all

MJ, Frankfurt,

Our drink is expensive enough -- we should have cheaper prices more inline with mainland Europe. THEY don't have our problems.

It's the government's fault for losing control of the streets to the yobs because of the "Weak on Crime --- Weak on the causes of Crime" agenda. Simple as that.

Now we have target chasing police, no disci[pline in schools, anti family laws & taxes and no punishment.

Phil, Preston,

So the poor will be targeted again while those with plenty of money in their pockets will continue to binge on.

Time to boycott Tesco methinks

A Ros, darlington, UK

Last time I looked this was a free country and alcohol wasn't illegal. The answer to everything seems to be taxation. The best way to tackle binge drinking is by reducing the working week.

Anthony, Manchester, UK

here's a crazy idea (at least for this country): why don't individuals take responsibility for their own actions (and be punished if they fail to do so). why should i have to pay more for alcohol just because some idiots can't control themselves. bottom line, irresponsible drinkers will not become responsible just because you raise the price. I am so sick of this nanny state.

rudy, london,

There is no need for new laws. The Supermarkets should police their sales better. Why the police do not take action against the youngsters drinking, using the existing laws I do not know. Back when I was a lad I was foolsih enough to get arrested for damaging a derilict building and was charged with Criminal Damage. I was also charged with consumption of alcohol and the purchasing of alcohol whilst being under age. That was in 1983 and I had to pay £120 when the fines and costs were added up. The £80 on the spot fine for rowdy behaviour is useless it should be at least £400. Not only did I get it in the wallet the licensees of the premises that I had been drinking in received a visit from the police with a stern warning. Like the laws about knives there are plenty of existing laws to deal with the problem should the police and other concerned groups would act on them. Also how come alcohol is cheaper abroad and yet they do not seem to have the problems? Expensive alcohol will not solve

John, london,

I'm not convinced that a higher tax on ALL alcohol is necessary. The tax should be aimed at the kind of alcohol most used by teenaged drinkers.
I, for example, as an adult with a job, enjoy a decent bottle of wine , would only ever drink higher-end beers and ciders, and wouldn't touch an alcopop.
The aim above would not be furthered by slapping extra tax on drinks that are already expensive (and therefore outside the budget of most teenaged drinkers) because of the inherent quality of the product. Of course, not all teenagers are restricted by budget, but that minority would be able to afford alcohol with the extra tax anyway...

sally, london,

Giving information to alcoholics is pointless they already know WHE THE ALCOHOL IS IN THE SENSE IS OUT VOILA!!!!!

john, nice , france

Is it possible for the ordinary population to tell the BMA to look after its own members and then mind their own business? If the problem is young people drinking too heavily then target them - one does not need a hammer to crack a nut. Mind you if Nu Labour puts thetax on alcohol up that might just persuade people to vote against them.

Ian Burgess, Bristol,

I agree with Dellboy. The Government will use any excuse it can to raise additional taxes. Why does the average man-in-the-street have to be penalised because a small (in real terms) amount of youngsters abuse alochol.

Vanessa, Southampton, England

I am a UK student currently studying in Sweden, here yes, the price has a huge influence on the amount consumed, but a quick trip to Finland sorts that out, it is not so much the price that needs to be tackled it is the culture, I see a completely different attitude towards drinking and parties over here, the other night there was a party with free drink, but yet i never saw 1 person act the way that you would if you were in england.
The problem stems far deeper than the price and access, and as soon as the uninformed at the big house we call Westminster realise that, the sooner the real problem can be tackled, don't be ignorant!

Rob B, Lulea,Sweden,

If the government wants to cling on to any popularity at all it will have a big rethink about putting our taxes up even higher on things like booze.

It isn't just the nasty yobs who like a drink, a great many of us enjoy alcohol responsibly (it is one of the few things still legal) and we won't continue to be pushed around by the mummy-knows-best (but always gets it wrong) government.

24 hour drinking, what on earth did they expect? Utter stupidity.

Leave us ordinary folk alone!!

David, St Albans, UK

I often spend time in Spain and Italy where the price of most alcoholic drink is about 1/3 that of the UK. There is little or no binge drinking except on resorts frequented by tourists from the UK. Trying to control every problem in the UK by increasing the price is simply discrimination against the poorer people in the community. There is one clear message, if you are rich you can drive your car in town, speed and pay paltry fines in relation to your income, binge drink, ruin the environment or do whatever you like. On the other hand if you are not rich, just sit in the corner and die quietly while the greedy pigs feast at the trough.

Tony Woods, London, UK

The government should have read its own proceedings related debates in the house in the past, as well as a few history books. The problem of excessive drinking by Brits is centuries old. It was reported heavily as far back as the Middle Ages. All this government has done is make it easier for people to drink by giving more money to those that don't earn it in the first place. It's called buying votes.

KR, Stockport,

Here we go again! if you want to change peoples behaviour the only solution this government and its friends have is to increase tax.

what a blunt measure, ar we really saying that if booze were free the whole country will be slozzled the who time?

it seems to me people often abuse alcohol because they are ignorant, have nothing better to do, and it is an escape from their miserable existence and in certain segments of society it is a way of life along with drug abuse and I'm not just referring to those at the bottom of the heap.

far better to raise the drinking age to 21 , and
stop supermarkets selling it to kids full stop!

I won't be preached to by MPs with their 24 hour cheap booze lifestyle..

delboy, peterborough, cambs

The problem where I live is the 'off licences' who sell alcohol to people under the age of 18 either through others buying it for them (when pressured on the way to) with the licence holders under no pressure to stop selling alcohol to them.

People who buy alcohol in supermarkets will more often than not be the parents; there are in my opinion stron enough identity checks are the supermarket check-outs.

Simon, Redhill, England

Tolal 'cr*p!' The supermarkets will sell off booze as cheap as they can get away with. They probably have huge warehouses of stock that they are desparate to unload, and selling it cheap to Binger Drinkers, Morons and the Addled Pated is all part of their 'Marketing Policy'.

Get your Customers addicted to your products, and you have a 'captured market'.

B Clarke, Chelmsford, Essex UK

I know I still get asked for ID in supermarkets and I am 25, so surely most young girls that are drinking irresponsibly are taking the alcohol 'on the sly' from their parents. Increasing prices or duty on these items won't have an effect on teenagers drinking habits, it is more likely increase the likelihood of them stealing alcohol from other sources.

Naomi, Newport,