The current system is already permissive: applications are approved unless objections are raised, and over 90% are granted. But decisions are made by elected councillors – providing accountability in principle. And they can apply conditions to mitigate risks.

The Government's response to the recent industry-dominated Licensing Taskforce report is quite a thing to behold. Regulatory capture as marketing copy... www.gov.uk/government/p...

Lots of mine, too. Including the 1869 classic 'Regarding the effects of remedies upon language' 😡

And, secondly, what is the role of policy in all this? Does it lead cultural change, amplify existing trends, or neither? E.g. in the UK there was restrictive reform in the 1910s, but liberalisation in the mid 60s and (even moreso) 00s. What to make of it, in relation to consumption trends ...? 👇

At least it is honest about it #deepseek

Thanks to the amazing team that carried out the research inc @arjmcauley.bsky.social, @andyperkins.bsky.social, @kirstentrayner.bsky.social and those who I don’t think are on here yet (please shout if you are!)

Nothing at all to do with pharmaceuticals, but I was recently at Utrecht's museum of mechanical instruments - which was delightfully insane. Definite recommend if you're ever there. E.g. that piano below is a piano ... but with tuned dinner plates instead of strings 😘

The drinks industry certainly exploits appeals to personal agency to fend off population policies, but this kind of thing troubles me. Do we really want the entire notion of responsibility around drinking behaviours to be framed as stigmatising or merely an industry ruse? www.bmj.com/content/387/...

I’m just intrigued by the imagery of the earliest (?) edition! I wondered if any other books had been through similar revisions. I haven’t seen any.

Can’t promise to do much other than like (though I do have a Dick Whittington question…!), but 👋

So what? Well, I think alcohol control advocacy could acknowledge its ethical priors more explicitly. The comparison with temperance helps do that, because we tend to *assume* temperance was driven by morals, but that public health discourse is driven by evidence.

But both share an axiomatic moral view that alcohol intoxication has no experiential or social value. Or, at least, that any perceived value can (and should) be discounted compared to e.g. longevity and health (or the pursuit of moral rectitude, however defined..).

Short version – I don’t think the comparison is unreasonable. But I also don't think this means contemporary control advocacy is simply socially conservative nannying - because temperance was very diverse and, in some dimensions, progressive.

Here’s a short thing I wrote recently for the Institute of Alcohol Studies. They invited me to reflect on whether accusations that they (and alcohol control advocacy more generally) are ‘neo-temperance’ were fair.

www.ias.org.uk/2024/09/30/t...

2/ Customary ‘awesome gig I’ve just been to’ pic. Nick Cave in Cardiff last week. Awesome, indeed.

Okay, second attempt to kickstart life on Bluesky. Here goes.. 🧵

1/ Customary cat pic. My dumb cat smokey.