A night out in Helsinki
A BBC correspondent accompanies a Finnish police patrol as they deal with the Friday night drunks in Helsinki…
We saw our first really drunk man at around 10pm, picked out by the headlights of the police van as it cruised slowly down the road.
He looked like an office worker in his 40s, dressed in a suit and overcoat, with a laptop bag slung over his shoulder, weaving and staggering along the pavement, narrowly avoiding obstacles like lamp posts and trees.
The two enormous policemen we were travelling with were unfazed. They see a lot of this kind of thing on their regular Friday and Saturday night patrols. So they ignored the office worker. He looked like he was on his way home to sleep it off.
Then the Biased Broadcasting Company throws in this one…
Alcohol consumption has soared in Finland following a tax cut
We’ve seen sales of spirits drop this year, and alcohol consumption has dropped, then it was reported that the number of drink drivers have remained the same or even decreased - and the number of arrests for drunkenness have dropped significantly - and we’ve seen a nice chunk of change sitting in our wallets at the end of the month thanks to these tax breaks, considering the price of a 12-pack of beer at the supermarket has dropped in half.
Hat Tip to FinnPundit for the link!
The price of a 12-pack beer has not dropped in half.
Comment by MyName — Tue, Nov 1st, 2005 @ 12:25 am
The reason why the price of beer has dropped (but not in half) has little or nothing to do with the tax cuts (which were quite small anyway for beer). It has everything to do with good old market competition (Lidl anyone).
Comment by Erik — Tue, Nov 1st, 2005 @ 12:38 am
Where does it say that alcohol consumption has gone up? I couldn’t see it anywhere.
Comment by Philip M — Tue, Nov 1st, 2005 @ 1:01 am
And what about this one then?
- Alcohol-related deaths in Finland jump 20 pct
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/10/31/051031173726.k691fy35.html
- In 2004, 1,860 deaths in Finland resulted from illnesses or injuries related to alcohol abuse.
- Two-thirds of the 1,477 men who died were between 45 and 49 years old.
- Studies have revealed a link between cycles of economic growth and increased consumption of alcoholic beverages.
- Finns on average drank 7.7 liters of pure alcohol annually by 2003
- Alcohol is involved in two-thirds of all deadly acts of violence in Finland
Add it to these findings:
- sales of spirits drop this year
- alcohol consumption has dropped
- number of drunk drivers have remained the same or even decreased
- number of arrests for drunkenness have dropped significantly
So the only thing I can make of it is that we are in a downward economic cycle (drinking has decreased), where middle aged men get layed-off, beat their wives amd start to drink, drink more and more. And more. And then some.
And then end up in a barfight or in the ‘drunktank’.
Guys, in case you are living in Finland and would like to integrate, this is your future window of opportunity..
Comment by Walter — Tue, Nov 1st, 2005 @ 1:02 am
There was a report in the news about the rise of alcohol related deaths, wasn’st there? Middle-aged men doing most of the dying, so to speak…
But me, I’m not middle-aged yet, so I’m all for lower alcohol taxs!
Comment by M — Tue, Nov 1st, 2005 @ 8:50 am
Two points:
1. Don’t most of these alcohol related illnesses take years to develop?
2. Even if the death toll increases a little it doesn’t mean we should start taxing like hell again.
Comment by Topias — Tue, Nov 1st, 2005 @ 10:39 am
“The price of a 12-pack beer has not dropped in half.”
Yes it has. From ~14e to under 7e
Comment by Lauri — Tue, Nov 1st, 2005 @ 10:54 am
“1. Don’t most of these alcohol related illnesses take years to develop?”
Yes, alcohol related illnesses do take some time to develop. Alcohol related deaths, however, include also accidents and acts of violence as well as poisoning cases. Becoming part of the social sphere that drinks a lot and kills each other probably takes a while but as far as poisoning is concerned, the less practice you have the more likely is death by poisoning.
Comment by Tom — Tue, Nov 1st, 2005 @ 12:09 pm
Phil, I was wondering about this officer Tom thing. Finnish-Californian Tom of Finland created this whole macho gay subculture with his pornographic drawings of Finnish soldiers and lumberjacks, if I’ve understood correctly. I thought I’d google some data on him and I came across this hilarious account of Tom’s personal history. Only in America can you present Finland’s World War II history like this:
http://www.glbtq.com/arts/tom_finland.html
“In April 1940, after Finland had capitulated to the Soviet Union, Laaksonen was drafted into the army and, in late 1944, saw military action resisting the German invasion of Russia.”
This might in a sense even be factually correct if Tom indeed participated in the campaign to drive the Nazis out of Lapland, which Finland did as requested by the USSR but it sure gives a funny picture of Finland in World War II. I don’t know about that but I think he was fighting the Russians for most of the time which is the impression you get from the wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_of_Finland
Wikipedia says Tom’s “most prominent comic series is the ‘Kake’ comics”. Maybe your caption should be “Officer Kake”?
Comment by Helsinkian — Tue, Nov 1st, 2005 @ 2:05 pm
He looked like an office worker in his 40s, dressed in a suit and overcoat, with a laptop bag slung over his shoulder, weaving and staggering along the pavement, narrowly avoiding obstacles like lamp posts and trees.
Ah, my 15 minutes of fame - though I object, I was trying to avoid the pink penguins…
Comment by Hank W. — Tue, Nov 1st, 2005 @ 3:47 pm
“The price of a 12-pack beer has not dropped in half.â€
“Yes it has. From ~14e to under 7e”
If you paid 14e for a 12-pack before the tax-cut I feel sorry for you. I paid 11.90. today a 12-pack is 7.90. that is 4e. that will say 33%.
(Same brand, no special prices)
Comment by Anonymous — Tue, Nov 1st, 2005 @ 7:34 pm
this blog is very interesting. some day i will probably start to write my bad jokes too.
Comment by howDumbMi — Tue, Nov 1st, 2005 @ 10:58 pm
“We saw our first really drunk man at around 10pm, picked out by the headlights of the police van…He looked like an office worker in his 40s…He looked like he was on his way home to sleep it off.” This seems not to be a problem only in Finland. I see this same guy almost every night here in Silicon Valley. Only here he is driving a car. Seriously, I just saw a guy leaving a San Jose downtown bar after some post-work drinks and hitting two trafic signals just trying to get off the parking lot. Good thing there is no pedestrians here.
Comment by Sammy Lee — Wed, Nov 2nd, 2005 @ 8:38 pm
But that Officer Tom is magnificent! Bravosimos! Almost feel like going all out homo or something! But no..I need three holes after all from my partner but look at that picture, your bitch is most definitely uglier than this beauty
Comment by tim73 — Thu, Nov 3rd, 2005 @ 1:31 am
Don’t worry, tim73. You might be bisexual. Don’t run from it, just embrace it.
Comment by Ã…boy — Thu, Nov 3rd, 2005 @ 8:47 pm
“We saw our first really drunk man at around 10pm, picked out by the headlights of the police van?He looked like an office worker in his 40s?He looked like he was on his way home to sleep it off.†This seems not to be a problem only in Finland. I see this same guy almost every night here in Silicon Valley. Only here he is driving a car. Seriously, I just saw a guy leaving a San Jose downtown bar after some post-work drinks and hitting two trafic signals just trying to get off the parking lot. Good thing there is no pedestrians here.
Sammy Lee - I share your pain. Americans can’t drink and they sure as hell can’t drive
How’s the hang over?
Comment by Juicy Salama — Mon, Nov 7th, 2005 @ 11:17 pm
“We saw our first really drunk man at around 10pm, picked out by the headlights of the police van?He looked like an office worker in his 40s?He looked like he was on his way home to sleep it off.†This seems not to be a problem only in Finland. I see this same guy almost every night here in Silicon Valley. Only here he is driving a car. Seriously, I just saw a guy leaving a San Jose downtown bar after some post-work drinks and hitting two trafic signals just trying to get off the parking lot. Good thing there is no pedestrians here.
Sammy Lee - I share your pain. Americans can’t drink and they sure as hell can’t drive
How’s the hang over?
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