Minimum pricing goes to court (again)

I've written a piece for Cap-X about the bollocks above, which was released on the day that the Supreme Court took a look at minimum pricing.

In the article I mention the fact that the job of evaluating minimum pricing has been given to the Sheffield Alcohol Research Group, which has been pushing the policy for the best part of a decade (see job spec below).

It's difficult to put into words quite how scandalous this is. Even if you thought that the Sheffield Alcohol Research Group's work was of high quality (which it isn't) and that they were impartial (which they aren't), the fact is that they have made their name producing research that purports to show that minimum pricing will be a roaring success. This gives them an inevitable and massive conflict of interest when it comes to evaluating it.

If they don't show that minimum pricing works, it will be an admission that their numerous reports - for which they have been amply remunerated by taxpayers - have been garbage. This would be enough to tempt a saint to massage the figures (and the Sheffield Alcohol Research Group are not saints). They are the last people you would turn to for an independent review. The fact that they have given the job is proof that the 'public health' racket is shamelessly and incorrigibly corrupt.

I'll bet you a pig to the pork scratching that when their evaluation is published in a few years' time, it concludes that minimum pricing has saved lives and worked even better than predicted, but that the unit price needs to be increased.

Anyway, do have a read of my Cap-X piece.