Minimum price would cement change in attitudes to alcohol

Violent crime levels have fallen, especially on the part of young people, according to a much-publicised research report from Cardiff University. The academics have attributed the fall, with some confidence, to a significant reduction in alcohol consumption as a result both of increased costs and some level of cultural change in the drinking habits of the young. Fewer young people in their mid-teens have ever drunk alcohol at all, and fewer have been binge drinkers.

Less than a decade ago, there was a sudden shift in thinking about both research and policy in relation to violence and alcohol. The previous focus on policing and licencing moved to more concentration on Accident and Emergency hospital admissions. In turn, this enabled collective attention to "hot spots" in the night-time economy, through monitoring and analysing where incidents had taken place, and more individual intervention exploiting the "teachable moment" that arises when somebody ends up in hospital after a fight.