Chocolate liqueurs

I mentioned this on Twitter earlier today, but felt it needed more coverage.

The Sun has an article in which is says that young people can get drunk for half he price of a chocolate bar.

According to the Press Association, the report comes from a group known as "Core Cities". Unfortunately, the report itself doesn't appear to be on their website.*

Leaving this aside, the Sun's article - and, to be fair, those in other newspapers - is misleading for one simple reason: it completely ignores the fact that there is an age limit on buying alcohol.

When it comes to children, you can't just compare chocolate and alcohol on a simple unit price as it does - one is freely available for children to buy, one isn't.

If the Sun is going to complain about underage drinking, it needs to have a go at how they get access to booze.

* If anyone does have a copy of the report, I'd be grateful if you could leave a comment.

Nutting the man, not the ball.

Cross-posted from my weekend links post, so excuse a proper entry this once:

The winner though in my eyes is a staggering hatchet job on Professor David Nutt in the Sun, which rather than attacking the man himself instead goes for his children via their social networking profiles. They reproduce a photo of his son Steve with a roll-up in his mouth, claiming it shows him "apparently smoking dope". I'm no expert, but it looks suspiciously to me like an ordinary roll-up rather than one containing a substance more exotic than tobacco. Not content with that, his daughter is the next target, her crime having uploaded a photograph with herself with friends carrying a bottle of spirits, possibly when she was underage! Lastly, eldest son Johnny is raked over the coals for having photographs on his profile of himself naked in the snow in Sweden. No hypocrisy there whatsoever, then.

Instant arsehole, just add tea

Independent Minds...
Further to the reference in the paper [The Independent]on 14 June to Rebekah Wade allegedly hitting her first husband, Ross Kemp, after a "drinking bout" with David Blunkett, Mr Blunkett has been in touch to correct the record: "The alleged 'drinking bout' was a cup of tea at 5.30 in the evening (with witnesses including Rupert Murdoch)... There was no 'drinking bout', I've never been involved in such a 'drinking bout' ? with or without Rebekah Wade."

No booze was needed, then.

The ghost of Hillsborough

Hillsborough still haunts The Sun.

The Morning Advertiser:

Carlsberg has teamed up with The Sun newspaper to offer readers a free pint of Carlsberg on the August bank holiday weekend.

The promotion will run in The Sun on 23 August, offering 3.2 million readers a voucher that can be redeemed for a free pint of Carlsberg on Sunday, 24 August in more than 13,000 UK pubs.

Erm. Not anymore:

Carlsberg's Sun promotion: Probably worst idea in the world

RED-FACED Carlsberg bosses have apologised to outraged Liverpool fans for their aborted beer promotion with The Sun.

The Danish brewer yesterday axed a deal with the tabloid newspaper to give readers a free pint over the August bank holiday weekend.
...
Mr Strudahl, part of the [Carlsberg] team which sealed the Anfield sponsorship deal in 1992, confirmed hundreds of strongly-worded letters and emails were sent to their Scandinavian headquarters from all corners of the world.

Probably for the best