Figures from the Department of Health show that male drinkers are more worried about the price of Beer than its impact on their health.
While the ‘know your limits’ survey revealed that 37% of men would cut back on drinking to reduce the calories they consume, 44% were concerned about rising prices.
Public health minister, Gillian Merron, said: “It is encouraging that they are also thinking about their health.
Men who drink too much are at risk of conditions such as liver disease and stroke, as well as getting out of shape.”
Last week the British Beer and Pub association revealed that British drinkers are paying tax of nearly 46 pence per pint, the third highest in Europe.
Neil Williams from the BBPA said: “it’s a pretty dire situation. We’ve had an 18% increase in beer duty last year and another 2% in the spring budget.”
Only Finland and Ireland impose higher levels of tax, while consumers in France and Germany pay under 7 and 5 pence per pint respectivley.
Steve Howe from the British Innkeeping Institute said; “it certainly would appear to be unfair, we are heavily taxed to the point of it being a penal tax.”
2 comments:
(Sorry about being awkward with this comment, but I mean it to be helpful as you'll get things like this in a journalism career!)
I note that the two statistics given don't support the beginning statement.
(1) The statements are not related. Although one percentage is higher than the other one cannot generalise back from the population statistics back to individuals (i.e., you can't say that men are more worried about the price of beer than the impact on their health because one percentage is higher than another). All it says is that more men are worried about rising prices than would reduce calorific intake (if that makes sense).
(2) The two questions don't relate to the statements in the opening statement. a. cutting back on beer to reduce calorie intake is not a linear indicator of health concerns. b. being 'concerned' about rising prices is not the same as prices per se.
Of course the initial survey may have said a lot more than is reported. But I wanted to provide some feedback to think about - I'm not being purposefully awkward!! I enjoy reading your blog mate :-)
Hey Scott thanks for the comments any feedback is useful, looking at the story with fresh eyes I can see what you mean in regards to the statistics perhaps a better phrase would have be to put
more men are worried about rising prices than health concerns
rather than
men are more worried about rising prices than heath concerns
(still not perfect but better)
The report in question did go into much more depth than was possible when I was writing this article (think it was only supposed to be 200 words in total) and did perhaps elude to what you are saying in point two more directly.
It's good to know that someone is reading my blog! There will be quite a few stories on the pub closures theme in the next few days taken from my project website.
And if you can't wait here is the link! http://journalism.bournemouth.ac.uk/2009/mlane
Enjoy ;-)
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