The Future is not far away !
David Nutt suggests alcohol sensors in every car

By Danny ShawHome affairs correspondent, BBC News

Under Prof Nutt's proposal, all drivers would have to breathe into a device and be within the legal drink drive limit before their car would start

Alcohol sensors should be in every car to cut drink-related road deaths and injuries, says the government's former chief drugs adviser.

David Nutt says motorists would have to breathe into the devices before starting their car, to test they were not over the limit.

Prof Nutt was sacked from his post three years ago after clashing with Labour ministers over drugs policy.

He later set up the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs.

That body ranked alcohol as a more harmful substance than heroin and cocaine.

He also said people in the UK would be less inclined to get drunk if they were able to smoke cannabis at Amsterdam-style "cannabis cafes".

Alcohol suggestions

Prof Nutt, president of the British Neuroscience Association and a professor at Imperial College, London, said Britain was facing a "public health crisis" of "immense proportions" because of a rise in the number of alcohol-related illnesses and deaths.

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You could potentially have it so that was true of all cars - everybody would have to breathe in [to the device] before they were able to drive away”

Prof David Nutt

Although he welcomed plans for minimum unit pricing in England, Wales and Scotland, saying it will have a "big impact" on heavy drinkers, Prof Nutt said much more must be done.

In his new book, Drugs - Without the Hot Air, he suggests seven ways to reduce the harm caused by alcohol.

They include shorter licensing hours, compelling pubs and supermarkets to sell non-alcoholic lagers and beers alongside alcoholic drinks and devising less dangerous alternatives such as drinks which give people a moderate "buzz".

One of his most controversial suggestions is for the "wider use" of alcohol detectors that won't allow cars to start if the driver's drunk more alcohol than the legal limit.

Prof Nutt told the BBC that some countries used the in-car breathalysers, known as alcohol ignition interlock devices, to ensure that people convicted of drink-driving don't take to the wheel, but he had an even more "radical" idea.

"You could potentially have it so that was true of all cars - everybody would have to breathe in [to the device] before they were able to drive away," he said.

"You hear about terrible accidents when four or five young people die simultaneously in the one car because the driver's been drunk. It could save a lot of lives."

'Worth investigating'

Provisional figures for 2010 show there were 250 drink-related road deaths in England, Wales and Scotland. A further 1,230 people were seriously injured and 8,220 were slightly hurt.

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We are always willing to consider new initiatives to combat drink driving and of course would consider any new research or technology in this area”

Department for Transport

Robert Gifford, executive director of the Parliamentary Advisory Committee on Transport Safety, gave the idea a cautious welcome, but said it would have to go hand-in-hand with lowering the drink-drive limit from 80 mg/100 ml of blood.

"It's certainly worth investigating," Mr Gifford said.

But the Department for Transport said it had no plans to install in-car breathalysers in cars - or to use them to test drink-driving offenders.

A spokesman said: "These schemes are very difficult to manage because offenders can get round the lock by changing the car they drive. We are also not persuaded as to their effectiveness in changing long-term behaviour."

He added: "We are always willing to consider new initiatives to combat drink driving and of course would consider any new research or technology in this area."

Professor Nutt also re-iterated calls he has made previously for drugs to be decriminalised, saying there should be a system of "regulated access" from pharmacies.

Drug laws

He suggested establishing a network of coffee shops, similar to those which exist in the Netherlands where people can buy small quantities of cannabis for personal use.

"I've spoken to a lot of young people and they would prefer to go out and have a joint than get drunk - but they have no choice. "

He said if cannabis cafes were set up in Britain up to 25% would switch to smoking the drug rather than drinking alcohol, leading to less drunken behaviour and violence.

Prof Nutt is due to give evidence in June to the Home Affairs Select Committee, which is conducting a wide-ranging inquiry into the effectiveness of Britain's drugs policy including the arguments for decriminalisation.

But the Home Office has made clear on a number of occasions that it has no intention of liberalising the drugs laws.

Sober-up Scotland !

Scottish parliament backs cut-price alcohol clampdown

Introduction of a 50p minimum price for alcohol could happen by April 2013 after Scottish National party wins Holyrood vote

• Severin Carrell, Scotland correspondent
• guardian.co.uk, Thursday 24 May 2012 19.10 BST

Scottish health secretary Nicola Sturgeon says the clampdown will help Scotland achieve a 'cultural shift' in its unhealthy attitudes to alcohol. Photograph: Murdo Macleod for the Guardian

Cut-price wine, beer and vodka will be outlawed in Scotland from as early as April next year after the Scottish parliament on Thursday overwhelmingly passed a bill to introduce a 50p minimum price foralcohol.

The new measures setting the first legally-binding minimum price within the European Union are expected to get royal assent later next month after the Tories, Scottish Greens and Liberal Democrats voted alongside the Scottish National party at Holyrood.

The legislation– which could be followed by similar price controls for England and Wales – will mean that whisky will cost a minimum of £14 a bottle, average strength wine will cost £4.69, four cans of own brand supermarket lager £3.52 and standard strength vodka £13.13 a bottle.

It will also finally stop supermarkets, shops and pubs, which are already legally prevented in Scotland from selling alcohol at bulk discounts or two for one offers, from offering single bottle cut-price promotions which push the cost of the drink under the 50p a unit level.

Labour, which had earlier signalled it could finally support the bill, became the only party to abstain after failing to win the Scottish government's support for new measures to claw back extra profits the supermarkets will now earn from higher prices.

Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish health secretary, is now braced for possible legal challenges from the drinks industry or overseas producers which could prevent the law coming into force from 1 April next year as planned.

The Scottish government must notify the European commission about the new legislation and the legal basis for the policy within weeks. The commission will begin a three-month consultation on the measures which is expected to quickly trigger legal action by its opponents.

Sturgeon's advisers believe the commissioners will accept the price control is legal under EU law because it is a proportionate measure which will have a significant positive impact on Scotland's health and crime levels.

She said the new measures would help Scotland achieve a "cultural shift" in its unhealthy attitudes to alcohol.

"This policy will save lives – it's as simple as that. It is time to turn the tide of alcohol misuse that for too long has been crippling our country," she said. "Minimum pricing will kickstart a change by addressing a fundamental part of our alcohol culture – the availability of high-strength, low-cost alcohol."

However, individual drinks companies or overseas suppliers whose sales are based on cheap prices are now expected to challenge the measures in the Scottish courts and the UK supreme court, potentially delaying the new measures until 2014 or later.

Critics insist the legislation has an unjustified impact on responsible and less well-off drinkers, is illegal under EU and global competition laws and would also ruin the Scottish whisky industry's efforts to counter price controls and high tariffs in overseas markets. The drinks industry in the rest of the UK is threatening similar action if David Cameron presses ahead with similar measures for England and Wales.

Whisky is Scotland's single largest and most valuable export, worth £4.2bn last year, and the Scotch Whisky Association has insisted that minimum pricing is likely to be illegal, breaching European and global rules on free trade and competition.

Gavin Hewitt, chief executive of the Scotch Whisky Association, said minimum unit pricing (MUP) "has consistently been found to be illegal in Europe. It was first ruled to be a barrier to trade by the European court of justice more than 30 years ago. No doubt those opposed to MUP across Europe will draw on this case law in the coming months.

"We expect legal challenges to emerge once the Scottish government notifies its proposals to the European commission. We hope the UK government will take due note and drop its own proposals for minimum pricing of alcohol."

With alcohol abuse and alcohol related crime estimated to cost several thousand early deaths a year in Scotland, a study by health experts at Sheffield university estimated that a 50p minimum price would save about 60 lives in the first year and 300 within a decade. The cumulative social and economic benefits would see a "harm reduction" worth £942m within 10 years.

Angel's Share - journey continues !

Ken Loach bemoans censors' cuts

By Kev GeogheganBBC News Entertainment Reporter, Cannes

Loach is in competition for the Palme d'Or six years after winning the festival's top prize

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Film director Ken Loach has criticised British film censors for asking him to remove swear words from his new film in order to qualify for a 15 certificate.

Loach said the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) asked for cuts to some language in The Angel's Share.

The British middle class is "obsessed by what they call bad language", he said at the Cannes Film Festival.

The BBFC said the film company chose to reduce the number of uses of very strong language in order to get a 15.

An 18 certificate was available for the uncut version, they said.

The Scotland-set comedy tells the story of young, unemployed father to be who discovers a talent for whisky tasting.

It is in competition for the Palme d'Or, six years after Loach won the festival's top prize for The Wind That Shakes the Barley.

The director said the BBFC should pay attention to "the manipulative and deceitful language of politics" rather than "our ancient oaths and swear words".

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"The British middle class is obsessed by what they call bad language," he told reporters. "But of course bad language is manipulative language.

"They're very happy with that. But the odd oath, like a word that goes back to Chaucer's time, they ask you to cut."

The film's producer Rebecca O'Brien said the film's script represented "natural" language spoken by young people.

"We have made films with heavy scenes of torture and waterboarding and fingernails being torn out - they have been 15 certificates," she said.

"If they're looking for diversity in Britain they should look no further than this film and Glasgow and see that there are different ways of speaking and see that that should be acceptable to all and sundry and should not be censored."

The film, Loach's eleventh in competition at Cannes, had its first screening on Monday with English subtitles for those unfamiliar with the strong central Scotland accents used by the cast.

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Loach said it would not have English subtitles for its British release.

"They were for the benefit of those for whom English is not their first language," he said, but added: "We did fight the matter quite hard because it's perfectly comprehensible."

Writer Paul Laverty admitted that he "had no problem" with the subtitles.

"I think if someone genuinely can't catch it or understand it and it helps them, then I've got no problem with that," he said

"I think it's much better than someone trying to dilute their language or find some mid-Atlantic accent to suit the US."

The central role of Robbie, who comes up with a whisky scam which will see him and his oddball gang of misfit friends either rich or in jail, is played by newcomer Paul Brannigan.

Film 'saved me'

He was discovered working part-time as a football coach in a Glasgow community centre and said the character of Robbie is not too far from his own background, raised in a tough part of the city with few prospects.

"After this I'm unemployed, that's just the way it is right now," he said. "Paul found me and came with Ken and they saved me.

"Things were tough, I had no money, it was around Christmas time. I'd say hands-up he saved my life because I had nowhere to turn, got a kid, who knows what I'd have done for money?"

The film is a broad comedy but writer Laverty insists the film reflects the huge scale of youth unemployment in the UK.

"You have to breathe in what's around you and you'd have to be blind not to notice this crisis in Scotland and around the world. I heard the figures, 75 million 15-24 year olds out of work," he said.

"That doesn't make a film but what we wanted to do was tap into that and go into the life of one young person."

Angel's Share,    a Journey !

Movie newcomer Paul Brannigan tells how he won chance to star in new Ken Loach film Angels' Share

May 16 2012 By Rick Fulton

angel's share paul brannigan Image 5

IT’S been dubbed Scotland’s answer to the Full Monty – but a fairer description of Ken Loach’s new comedy Angels’ Share might be Whisky Galore crossed with Trainspotting.

The comedy heist follows the fortunes of Robbie, a young father and ex-offender who has narrowly avoided being handed a jail sentence.

While serving a community sentence he meets Rhino, Albert and Mo who, like him, are finding it impossible to get work because of their criminal records.

Searching for a way out of his old life, Robbie turns to Scotland’s finest malts to forge a brighter future for his young family. But the lads soon get involved in a scheme to make money stealing a rare whisky.

Angels’ Share will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, where it has been nominated for the event’s prestigious Palme d’Or award.

Robbie is played by new Scots acting talent Paul Brannigan, who was forced to develop a taste for malt whisky for his debut movie.

The 24-year-old Glaswegian was urged to develop an appreciation for the “water of life” as “homework” for The Angels’ Share.

Paul said: “They gave me 10 miniatures to take home for homework, some books and a little notebook.

“I thought I was being daft. I was smelling and it smelled like wet dog, leather, sea weed, salt, peanuts – all different things.

“Then I would refer to the book and nine times out of 10 some of the things I’d written were right.

“So I started to take a wee interest. It was like a game. Now every time I’m in the pub I give it a go.”

Loach, who also made Kes and My Name is Joe, has made a habit of discovering new Scottish talent – most notably Martin Compston for the Greenock-based movie Sweet Sixteen.

Martin was a professional footballer before he found acting. Paul, on the other hand, has spent time homeless and has had a tough upbringing. He now hopes landing a role in the film has turned his life around.

He was discovered by Loach’s scriptwriter Paul Laverty who, while researching the film, visited the Violence Reduction Unit in Strathclyde and met John Carnochan.

John collaborated with people who ran football matches in Glasgow to stop kids drinking and fighting.

John put Paul Laverty in touch with one of those working on the scheme, Paul, who spoke of his upbringing in Glasgow’s Barrowfield and how drugs and alcohol affect people and being in a gang.

Paul grew up hating his mum and dad for taking drugs, and came to realise that if he ended up taking them himself then his son would grow up hating him too.

He also spoke eloquently about how youngsters can stay out of trouble through sport and family.

Paul said: “Paul asked me to go and speak to Ken. But by this time I’d lost my job at the community centre.

“The way I’d lost that job was pretty bad. I felt as if I’d been stabbed in the back. I was gutted.

“Then Paul phoned and basically gave me a kick up the backside.

“He said, ‘Get your a*** down here, this is a chance for you. Maybe not a big part but something’. Because I had a wee boy and I was tired and it was just after Christmas I was feeling really, really low.

“I went down and I just gave it everything I could possibly give.”

His efforts impressed Ken, who took a chance on an unknown, like he did with David Bradley in Kes and Compston in Sweet Sixteen.

But being part of this new film world was daunting to novice Paul.

He said: “To go into that environment not knowing what these people think of you is quite daunting. But within the space of about an hour I realised that they were the same as me – they just want to get on with the work, see everybody as equal.

“They’ve been so good to be – made me feel really comfortable.”

Paul was able to give filmmakers first-hand experience of what it’s like to live in poverty. His character has a scar on his neck in the film. In real life he has one too but it was made bigger for the part. He got the scar in a fight with his brother not long after he got out of prison after being convicted for reckless conduct and discharge of a firearm, aged 16.

He didn’t shoot the gun but was there when it happened. He served three years and eight months. When he was released, he started football coaching.

Becoming a father also helped him turn his life around.

He said: “I was still thinking, ‘Will I go and fight here or will I not?’ But then I thought, ‘You know, it’s not about me it’s about him’. It changed me a lot.”

As he prepares to be lauded in the world’s most famous film festival, Paul is getting used to his new career, and since The Angel’s Share finished has won a role in Scarlett Johansson’s movie Under The Skin.

He said: “It’s worked out brilliantly for me.”

Once again, Loach is in Glasgow and the film has its UK premiere there on May 29.

For Angels’ Share – which is the name given to the whisky that evaporates as the spirit matures in casks – he filmed around Dennistoun.

The film also goes to Edinburgh, the Highlands and three distilleries – Balblair, Glengoyne and Deanston.

Rutherglen actor Scott Kyle, 28, plays Stephen Glancy in the film. His character tries to corrupt Robbie.

Scott admits seeing himself on the big screen is an experience he won’t forget and he can’t wait for the Glasgow premier.

“It’s phenomenal,” he said. “I was in Paisley the other day and there was a billboard for it.

“That really hits home how big this is. I’m really looking forward to the premiere. That will be my first red carpet event.”

● Angels’ Share is out on June 1.

Josh's whisky-tasting sheet template.

A Historic Tale !

Astonishing life of Scots woman who took whisky to Japan

May 13 2012 By Heather Greenaway

rita taketsuru Image 3

FEW know her name in Scotland but in Japan Rita Taketsuru is a legend.

The doctor’s daughter, from Kirkintilloch, near Glasgow, is hailed as one half of a pioneering couple who took whisky to Japan, where their distillery is today creating drams hailed as the best in the world.

In 1920, Rita married chemistry student Masataka Taketsuru and together they took the secrets of Scotch to the Land of the Rising Sun.

Every year, members of The Rita Taketsuru Fan Club make a pilgrimage to her grave in Yoichi, Japan, and her life and love story have even been turned into a cartoon book.

Her story is so incredible, her great-nephew Harry Hogan, 64, from Newton Mearns, near Glasgow, is surprised no one has made a film about Rita and Masataka.

He said: “My great-aunt was a remarkable lady and I’m always surprised at how few people in Scotland know about her.

“In Japan she and Masataka have legendary status and are celebrated as ‘the mother and father of Japanese whisky’.

“Their story would make a fabulous film or TV drama.”

“This year, their distillery’s Taketsuru blended malt was declared the best in the world for the fourth year in a row.

“It’s thanks to them the Japanese are beating the Scots in the whisky stakes.”

Born in Scotland in 1896, Jessie Roberta Cowan – known as Rita – enjoyed a happy middle-class upbringing with her sisters Isabella and Lucy and brother Campbell.

But in World War I her fiance was killed in Damascus and, in 1918, her dad died of a heart attack.

In 1919, her mum Robina decided to take in a lodger to help with the finances. The man she chose was Masataka, from Hiroshima.

The 25-year-old worked for a drinks company and had been sent by his bosses to learn the secrets of whisky-making.

He took courses in organic chemistry at Glasgow University and travelled to distilleries all over the country.

Dad-of-two Harry, who runs a catering equipment firm, said: “While staying with my great-grandma Robina, love blossomed between Rita and Masataka.

“One legend has it that they fell in love during a duet of Auld Lang Syne and another has them pulling the ring and sixpence from a Christmas pudding and realising their future lay together.”

In January 1920, the couple married at the Calton registry office in Glasgow and, 10 months later, they arrived in Japan, with Masataka ready to start making bona fide Scotch whisky.

But his managers were more interested in turning a quick profit with cheaply flavoured spirits and did not take on board his ideas. Disillusioned, Masataka resigned from the firm and Rita started teaching English to children and housewives to bring in money.

Harry, whose grandmother Lucy was Rita’s sister, said: “Rita was so brave to move thousands of miles from home to a country where no one spoke English and the culture was so different. My gran was very fond of her.”

By 1923, word had spread of Masataka’s research trip to Scotland and he was hired by Shinjiro Torii – the founder of the Suntory group – to help build a whisky distillery in Yamazaki.

But he quarrelled with Torii over the fineries of whisky production and he quit, realising he would have to set up his own firm if he wanted to make proper Scotch.

In 1934, he set up the Dai Nihon Kaju firm – now called Nikka Whisky – with the help of two investors and built a distillery at Yoichi, on the island of Hokkaido. Harry said: “Masataka was determined to do everything right and make true Scots whisky. He built his distillery in the style of a Highland still and planted heathers round the door to make it more authentic.”

The war proved a blessing for the distillery. Before the conflict, the Imperial Japanese Navy had been among the nation’s most avid consumers of imported Scotch whisky. Now, with imports from enemy countries banned, the sailors grew thirsty.To ensure they wouldn’t go without, the Yoichi distillery was classified as a war industry. It made its first profit in 1940.

The war was not so kind to Rita. As a Japanese citizen, she was spared internment and allowed to stay in Yoichi but the secret police suspected her of being a spy.

They accused her of having radio equipment to contact Allied submarines and staged a series of raids on her home. They also shadowed her every move. Harry said: “As the war escalated after Pearl Harbour, her neighbours turned against her – the town’s children pelted her house with rocks and adults ignored her in the street. It was a distressing time.

“I don’t know how she stayed strong in those years. It must have been frightening being so far from home and everyone suspecting you of being the enemy.”

After the war ended, the distillery continued to prosper and the Taketsurus began to think about who would take over the business when they were gone.

The couple, who adopted a daughter, Rima, in 1930, took on Masataka’s 20-year-old nephew Takeshi as their heir.

Takeshi married a local girl Utako and Rita became a proud grandmother to Khotaro and Minobu.

In 1959, Rita’s youngest sister Lucy travelled to Yoichi. It was the first time Rita had seen any of her family since her last trip home in 1931.

In January 1961, Rita passed away after a long struggle with liver disease. Masataka outlived her by 18 years. They are buried together on a hillside near the distillery.

Takeshi took over Nikka Whisky – owned by the Asahi beer firm – who now run the Ben Nevis distillery in Fort William.

In 1998, a museum was built in memory of Rita and her husband. Harry and his mum Valerie travelled to Japan for the opening.

He said: “There are huge pictures of Rita on the wall and they have recreated her Scottish living room. Takeshi, who is now retired, showed us round and we laid flowers on their grave.

“It was incredible to see first-hand the legacy my great-aunt left behind. I’m proud of her and Scotland should be too.”