Never Enough

• Never enough is being done for X - more must be done.
• Not enough is happening as a result of Y - more must be done.

No matter what 'progress' is being made, it's still not enough. For example in the minimum pricing argument, where for instance alcohol must be priced at a minimum amount per 'unit' sold:

We fully expect the public health establishment and temperance groups to demand above inflation rises in the unit price on a regular basis once this Pandora’s Box is opened. Indeed, they are already doing so. If the policy is seen to work, there will inevitably be calls for the government to “build on its success” by increasing the unit price. But if, as we expect, the policy fails to make any impact, these same groups will insist that its failure derives from the price being too low and, therefore, should be raised. In either instance, the introduction of minimum pricing will give a powerful weapon to groups who will forever believe that the price of alcohol is too low.

That is clearly an expectation of what will happen if/when minimum pricing of alcohol happens in the UK.

Balance North East - drinking rates down - still not good enough

Colin Shevills, Director of Balance, said: “It’s good news that fewer young North Easterners are choosing to drink. Young people and their parents deserve credit for this, especially in a society where pocket money prices, widespread availability and heavy marketing have established drinking as a social norm.

Every silver lining, however, appears to have a cloud:

“However, we could do better. The North East still has the highest rates of young people who have ever drunk alcohol and who drank last week.

This is bound to happen somewhere - if you arrange a list of numbers in order of magnitude, there will always be at least one number which is larger than the others, unless all those numbers are zero.

Worryingly, they are England’s heaviest young drinkers – consuming, on average, at the upper end of the Government’s recommended weekly limits for a female adult. Health experts recommend that children enjoy an alcohol free childhood until at least the age of 15.

It's well known that the government's recommendations regarding alcohol limits were plucked out of thin air, and that banning children from doing something is more likely to encourage them to try it out .

“More 11-15-year-olds in England have drunk alcohol than have smoked or taken drugs combined. Alcohol significantly increases the risk that our children will be victims of crime, will try drugs or have unprotected sex.

Ah - so there isn't a smoking problem among our children; ASH will be pleased to know that they can stop with their plain packs campaign. Then again, if more kids are drinking alcohol than trying drugs, but alcohol increases the 'risk' of them trying drugs then... Sorry - I'm losing the logic there.

“We need to do more to protect them. A key part of the solution is the introduction of a minimum unit price, which the Government has backed and will consult on later this year. It’s a targeted measure which will increase the price of the cheapest, strongest alcohol – traditionally purchased by younger and heavier drinkers. We also know that consumption increases as price decreases and that young people are particularly sensitive to price increases.”

Increasing the price of alcohol will not stop the amount children drink, since it's illegal for children to buy the stuff in the first place. Cheap alcohol isn't strong alcohol. Strong alcohol isn't cheap. The 'cheap alcohol' myth is taken from some 2% larger that Tesco's were selling at about, or less, than the price of the most expensive (per ml) bottled water they were selling at the time.