So the SNP are determined to go ahead with their plan to stop the sale of “cut-price” alcohol. Why? To cut the “misuse” of alcohol.

They propose to make the minimum price of alcohol about 40p per unit and ban promotions on alcohol. How stupid can they be?

Raising the price of alcohol won’t prevent any misuse of alcohol – all it will do is cost people more. Anyone who drinks to excess won’t stop just because it costs them a bit more – they’ll just cut it out from somewhere else, which will probably harm them (or someone else) more in some way. or other.

But not only is it a bad idea, its also an extremely authoritarian one. The SNP are effectively saying that the Scottish people as a whole are too stupid to know how much they can drink. And seeking to prevent them from drinking more than they decree is the right amount.

What may well effectively scupper the plan is if Asda carries out its proposed plan to open depots just south of the border – thus outside of the SNPs totalitarian regime – and sell alcohol over the internet into Scotland.

Alcohol, like everything else, should find its own price level. It is not up to the government to set prices, but the market – whether that be higher or lower than 40p per unit.