Wine Tax

In one of the songs on his famous Graceland album Paul Simon uses the tongue-in-cheek line “why don’t we get together and call ourselves an institute?”. The anti-alcohol lobby is obviously a big fan because it appears to be using this as the basis for its PR strategy.

Dammit woman, stop drinking yourself to oblivion. Actually, fetch a glass for us. Photo: Thinkstock

Any time members get together to peddle their message they call it a summit or a forum or something similar that will offer the media promise of serious discussion and new ideas. There have been three such events quite recently.

On September 6 they held a “panel discussion” (comprising a group of people who share their views) to add gravitas to a media conference calling for changes to wine tax.

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  • wayne says:

    08:06pm | 21/11/11

    “the anti-alcohol lobby is guilty of highlighting studies that support its views but dismissing as “industry spin” valid research that doesn’t.” Replace “anti-alcohol” with any other topic (for or against), and you could be talking about any public debate. Read more »

  • Chris says:

    09:23pm | 03/11/11

    Comparing the cost of water and wine? I mean, Jesus Christ! Seriously though, whatever the relative cost, people are supposed to drink 8 glasses of water a day (I read somewhere); plus, we wash ourselves, our clothes and our cars with it, cook with it, and water the garden, and… Read more »

 

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