Comments on: Who are the Responsible Drinkers Alliance ?

By: Andy

Andy — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 20:22:07 +0000

Thanks for pointing out the broken link Iggle. It seems the “Responsible Drinkers Alliance” have changed their name to the “Drinkers Alliance” for reasons that we can only speculate upon, and moved their website accordingly. It can now be found at http://www.drinkersalliance.com/ I’ve no idea why they didn’t arrange for the old site to forward browsers to the new one.
The link to the cider facebook page used to work for public browsing but currently Facebook seems to be forcing people to log in to view, which is a shame.

Nothing stands still does it.

By: Iggle

Iggle — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:14:41 +0000

Considering the 2 links listed above don’t even work, this leaves a good impression of what people have to say about the responsible drinkers alliance!!!

By: Mark Shirley

Mark Shirley — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 08:01:56 +0000

I’m (very small-scale) industry too, and am very pro-choice with regards to alcohol. Unfortunately this site will do little good if it continues to post-up biased messages which are almost entirely from the industry’s point of view.

For example, the latest ‘discussion’ about the possible raising of the legal age for buying alcohol in shops in Scotland, is backed up by a poll which convenietly says nothing about shops. The poll implies that government are proposing to raise the legal drinking age to 21, when in fact what they are actually proposing is to do this for off-sales from shops and supermarkets.

We may not agree with this proposal, though it’s just possible that a law which would encourage young drinkers into the (more) controlled environment of pubs etc. might be a good thing, but distorting the facts, and 100% industry-centric ‘discussions’ won’t persuade me that this site is of any use in combatting the ‘New Prohibitionists’.

By: Matthew Hughes

Matthew Hughes — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 14:59:09 +0000

In fairness, the website is pretty up-front about where it comes from. My understanding is that, although the forums have normal levels of moderation to avoid inappropriate comment, there is no censorship, so people are all able to express their views…

If you think the industry is to blame; fine – say so. For my part I’m up front too – I’ll admit that I’m part of that industry so I’m likely to be biased. Obviously I believe that market forces (which are driven by consumers) result in alcohol pricing levels. I also believe that alcohol pricing levels have no material connection to the irresponsible use of alcohol.

My view has been expressed before. Lucky me.

The point the WSTA is making (rightly in my view) is that the politicians, the media (and yes, the industry) have their say regularly enough, but consumers (voters, readers) don’t necessarily get theirs.

Surely anything that lets them do that is worthwhile?

By: Mark Shirley

Mark Shirley — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 08:53:13 +0000

From the RDA webiste: ‘The Responsible Drinkers’ Alliance was founded with assistance from the Wine & Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) who felt that for too long the voice of the responsible consumer has been left out of the debate over the future role of alcohol in British society’

Hardly grassroots. I’ve had a look at some of the ‘debates’ and there is very little suggestion that the industry should shoulder any of the blame for the current media and government obsession with alcohol misuse. Apparently Supermarkets selling alcohol as a loss leader is not the problem, it’s people buying it that leads to binge drinking!

Utter oen-eyed corporate shite, and I certainly won’t be endorsing it.