Lies, booze and statistics

There was a strong sense of deja-vu at the launch on Monday of the report of the National Substance Misuse Strategy Steering Group, delivered by Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer and Chairman of that group.

Remember the bold Tony? He said in the Irish Times last October that the smoking ban had not worked and the constant force being applied to smokers was counter-productive. Well, it turns out he is cheerleading a crowd who now want to do the same to drinkers.

One aspect of this 'Brave New World' we inhabit is the amount of people who want to interfere in our affairs for our own good. They will tell any lie and use any tactic to get a shot at regulating how you like to live your own life. These busybodies come mainly, but not exclusively, from the medical sphere.

They are one dimensional, doctrinal and very often too well-fed. Contrived, tortured research is their chosen weapon to justify their actions (and earn their rich rewards of course). Like Mary Harney, they believe that ‘they are worth it’, regardless of how much public money goes into their greedy pockets. These well off parasites want you to believe that they can hardly sleep at night worrying about how you feel. They have a lot in common with the politicians if you think about it.

And this concerned bunch of Government-funded busybodies have got together with the politicians to invent more taxes for you to pay. Today's event would not be complete without the dark hand of Fiona Ryan from Alcohol Action Ireland, a sort of ASH of booze. This rabid prohibitionist had – you guessed it - Dr Tony Holohan to open their annual conference last year. At this bash, paid for by the taxpayer, the bold Tony rolled off all of Fiona's figures like an actor who knew his lines.

He was at it again yesterday in Dublin, claiming that "alcohol related illness cost the health care system €1.2 billion in 2007 with alcohol-related crime costing an estimated €1.19 billion in the same year.” Fiona herself might have been disappointed with this as her organisation wants you to believe that the total figure is €3.7 billion. She makes this claim in several places and always attributes it to an "HSE Research Project". Now, try as I might, I cannot find any such research project. But then, that's how the anti-tobacco scammers did it. The nasty tactic is to turn one section of the population against the other, and what better way than to tell one crowd that the other lot are costing them money, and this is proven by research. It also provides the politicians with the motivation to interfere in the marketplace and make a bollox of it.

Fiona's figures are bolstered by adding fantasy figures of work down-time, absenteeism and accidents, and she also adds that "each fatal car collision is estimated to cost the state €3 million". How in God's name did she arrive at that figure? But on a roll with this one, she goes on to claim that, "In 2007, alcohol-related road collisions cost an estimated €526 million". That amounts to financial carnage on our roads. You're talking horeshit, Fiona.

I have heard commentators claim that smoking related illness costs the HSE €200 million a year and I have heard them say it costs €2 billion, (and many things in-between). Everybody seems to attribute their numbers to the HSE. This is the same HSE that can cost a scanning machine at €1.5m but forget to factor in the cost of somebody to operate it (there's one lying idle in Cork for three years for just this reason). So, you would have to say that any figures coming from that quarter are almost bound to be way off.

But, the big problem comes when the fools in Leinster House legislate price increases and minimum pricing based on these falsehoods. Like the smoking restrictions then, the war on alcohol has been started, based on a bunch of lies, told by people who want us to look up to them and respect them. Another great smuggling opportunity is born.