Opening Time
UNIFORMITY in pub closing hours—according to Sir Frank Soskice, the Opposition spokes• man on the Licensing Bill—'is highly desirable to prevent would-be drinkers dashing at the last moment from one place where they could not get a drink to another where they could.' Perhaps so : but uniformity in closing hours has its attendant disadvantages. If Sir Frank cares to examine the chart (published a few months ago in the Observer) of the times of day and night that road accidents occur, he will see that the rate shoots up alarmingly at the uniform PO closing time—ano for obvious reasons.
This excessive concern with drinking hours is unfortunate; it distracts attention from the much more serious problem of what to do about people who need to be protected from the effects of drink. Prohibition has shown itself to be no solution—even if there was any chance of its being adopted; but the rising accident rate on the roads and the addiction rate for alcoholics suggest that it is not enough simply to remove the present restrictions. silly though most of thcol arc, and hope for the best.
There is also the problem of the young -as Pamphlet, Advertising Alcohol, issued recently by the Advertising Inquiry Committee, reveals. In a foreword, Francis Noel-Baker points out that the pamphlet's author, an economist, was asked simply `to assemble the available, relevant facts and to present them in an objective and fair way—but not to draw conclusions. Readers must do that themselves.' One of the conclusions Is inescapable : that certain sections of The Trade are striving to increase their appeal to the young. According to the pamphlet the brewers of Skol lager admit in the trade press that they aim to capture the support of the teenagers—girls as well as boys—in 'the biggest advertising campaign Britain has ever seen for any lager.' If a firm of drug manufacturers were to advertise Preludin (or some similar pill) on the same basis there would be a fearful public outcry, though the dangers of addiction to alcohol are vastly greater than those of addiction to pep pills.
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