"Then it is dark; a night where kings in golden suits ride elephants over the mountains." - John Cheever

Friday, January 15, 2010

Ah takes me back

The Buckfast Code

9 comments:

Col said...

Think I'll watch that

Col said...

It seems the youth like to film themselves downing bottles of buckie in a oner and to post the results on YouTube (search for "buckfast challenge"). The horror, the horror

Tom said...

It's testament to the power of the stuff that, nearly 20 years after I last touched it, even the thought of the Buckfast Challenge makes me feel queasy.

Tom said...

I didn't see the programme, but have just read this and it does seem pretty damning. I can't quite see why the monks need to put so much caffeine into it.

Col said...

Apparently some of the pesky youngsters participating in the buckfast challenge are actually drinking ribena from an empty buckfast bottle, the cheaters.

How the monks square buckie abuse with their beliefs is a mystery. They make millions from it. The distributor was on the programme, and was far from convincing. He wouldn't even consider using plastic bottles (which can't be smashed in people's faces) on the grounds that it would cost too much.

Tom said...

Similarly, I've never understood why a drink like Special Brew isn't banned. It must be exclusively drunk by alcoholic tramps, almost all of whom live entirely off the Social Services. Why do governments just let the drinks industry cause such monumental social damage at the taxpayers' expense?

Col said...

I completely agree - at least Buckfast can pretend it's only meant to be a tonic for little old ladies to drink sherry glasses of. Nobody drinks special brew for fun - it's deeply cynical.

Interestingly, many homeless alcoholics seem to have strong super lager brand loyalty. Bill Drummond and the Jimmy Cauty once made a massive super lager sculpture in their K Foundation days. After the stunt they drove it to a homeless hostel and started handing them out. They were surprised to find that half the recipients turned their noses up at the offered brand. Then some care workers came out and - quite rightly - asked them what the hell they were thinking by giving unlimited free booze to a bunch of severe alcoholics and chased them away.

Col said...

PS - sale of super lager probably generates quite a lot of revenue for the Treasury too

Tom said...

Ha - love the Drummond story. I'm sure the super lagers do generate tax revenues, but the social costs (many of which have to be paid for by the government) must be enormous. It's one of those all too frequent things where everyone knows it's a total disaster, it could be reasonably easily dealt with and yet no one does anything about it.