THE Scottish Whisky Association is blaming the Chancellor for the sales loss of a million bottles (“Whisky sales tumble by a million bottles after launch of ‘spirit tax’”, The Herald, October 12). There may be other reasons.
The trade has given the angels a deliberate challenge by replacing properly aged malts with strange drinks with fancy names. On a less celestial level, the association has set back public health by several years, trying to overrule Parliament's decision to impose minimum charges on alcohol. It has also cost the rest of us tens of thousands of pounds in lawyers' fees by doing so. It is hardly surprising that the association is not the nation's favourite supplier. As the angels are probably saying, "You had it coming".
Martin Axford,
18 Bonar Crescent, Bridge of Weir.
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