Alcohol Awareness Week and Neddy Scrymgeour
Councillor Richard McCready
15 November 2011
This is Alcohol Awareness Week from 14th to 20th November, to find out about work in Dundee click here, and today 15th November is the 89th anniversary of Edwin ( Neddy) Scrymgeour's victory over Winston Churchill in the 1922 General Election in Dundee.
It is clear that Scotland, Dundee included, has a difficult relationship with alcohol in the twenty-first century.
Unfortunately, in some respects little has changed since Neddy Scrymgeour advocated prohibition in the early part of the twentieth century.Scrymgeour's solution, Prohibition was tried in the USA and proved to be impractical, however perhaps we should see him as a figure worth reflecting on.
Although elected as a Prohibitionist MP, he took the Labour whip in the House of Commons.
In terms of the left at the time his views were close to being mainstream, the STUC supported prohibition at this time.
For much of the 1920s his fellow MP in Dundee was Tom Johnston, the future Secretary of State for Scotland during the Second World War.
Johnston supported Temperance and he and Scrymgeour argued over the issue throughout the period.
Scrymgeour wanted to ban alcohol, while Johnston wanted people to make their own decision not to drink alcohol.
Johnston was successful in making his home town of Kirkintilloch a 'dry' town.
Pubs only opened in Kirkintilloch in the 1970s.
It is clear that these two stalwarts of the left tried hard to find a solution to the problems caused by alcohol and addiction in their day.
They realised that alcohol could be the curse of the working man, or working woman and their families.
They recognised the problems caused in society by alcohol.Alcohol has been joined by drugs in the twenty-first century and the problems caused by addiction continue to be a curse on many in our society.
I think that this is an issue which the left should be looking for solutions for in the present day.
The SNP Government has focused on the issue and their chosen solution of minimum pricing.
Price is an issue worth looking at but minimum pricing will not solve all of the problems.
Indeed prices in Scotland and prices in England are roughly similar but Scotland seems to have worse problems with alcohol than England.
I think that we need to look at a wide range of issues and that changing the culture with regard to alcohol in Scotland should be the priority.
This will not be easy but trying to find a way to deal with this issue is hugely important to the future of our country.Minimum pricing as currently proposed will add to the profits of supermarkets.
This is such an important issue to the future of our country that there should be attempts to find a consensus on a wide range of measures which will deal effectively with alcohol abuse.Labour should reflect on the legacy of the Labour movement in the early twentieth century who saw alcohol abuse as one of the key scourges to be challenged in the new society they were trying to build.History does not repeat itself and the solutions of the 1920s are not the solutions for the present day; but perhaps we should consider the principles which inspired people in the past and apply them in a modern setting.
Councillor Richard McCready
15 November 2011
This is Alcohol Awareness Week from 14th to 20th November, to find out about work in Dundee click here, and today 15th November is the 89th anniversary of Edwin ( Neddy) Scrymgeour's victory over Winston Churchill in the 1922 General Election in Dundee.
It is clear that Scotland, Dundee included, has a difficult relationship with alcohol in the twenty-first century.
Unfortunately, in some respects little has changed since Neddy Scrymgeour advocated prohibition in the early part of the twentieth century.Scrymgeour's solution, Prohibition was tried in the USA and proved to be impractical, however perhaps we should see him as a figure worth reflecting on.
Although elected as a Prohibitionist MP, he took the Labour whip in the House of Commons.
In terms of the left at the time his views were close to being mainstream, the STUC supported prohibition at this time.
For much of the 1920s his fellow MP in Dundee was Tom Johnston, the future Secretary of State for Scotland during the Second World War.
Johnston supported Temperance and he and Scrymgeour argued over the issue throughout the period.
Scrymgeour wanted to ban alcohol, while Johnston wanted people to make their own decision not to drink alcohol.
Johnston was successful in making his home town of Kirkintilloch a 'dry' town.
Pubs only opened in Kirkintilloch in the 1970s.
It is clear that these two stalwarts of the left tried hard to find a solution to the problems caused by alcohol and addiction in their day.
They realised that alcohol could be the curse of the working man, or working woman and their families.
They recognised the problems caused in society by alcohol.Alcohol has been joined by drugs in the twenty-first century and the problems caused by addiction continue to be a curse on many in our society.
I think that this is an issue which the left should be looking for solutions for in the present day.
The SNP Government has focused on the issue and their chosen solution of minimum pricing.
Price is an issue worth looking at but minimum pricing will not solve all of the problems.
Indeed prices in Scotland and prices in England are roughly similar but Scotland seems to have worse problems with alcohol than England.
I think that we need to look at a wide range of issues and that changing the culture with regard to alcohol in Scotland should be the priority.
This will not be easy but trying to find a way to deal with this issue is hugely important to the future of our country.Minimum pricing as currently proposed will add to the profits of supermarkets.
This is such an important issue to the future of our country that there should be attempts to find a consensus on a wide range of measures which will deal effectively with alcohol abuse.Labour should reflect on the legacy of the Labour movement in the early twentieth century who saw alcohol abuse as one of the key scourges to be challenged in the new society they were trying to build.History does not repeat itself and the solutions of the 1920s are not the solutions for the present day; but perhaps we should consider the principles which inspired people in the past and apply them in a modern setting.