There Goes The Neighbourhood

Sounds nasty.

A dazed inventor was found outside his home in blackened underpants after his attempt at making vodka went badly wrong - and he blew up his home.

Lawrence Toms, 43, was tinkering with his vodka distillation equipment in his bedroom when neighbours suddenly heard a massive blast, which blew out the windows and the roof of his home.

South Wales Police said they believe that the explosion was caused by home-made alcohol. "The windows were blown out of the property and it was lucky no one in the street was injured."

It's becoming quite common, isn't it?

Five men have been killed and another seriously injured in a huge explosion at a Boston industrial estate amid claims it was sparked by an illegal vodka making operation.

Authorities were amazed that no more residents were killed during the "rapid explosion".

D'ya think it might have something to do with the UK imposing amongst the highest alcohol duty rates in the EU?

Imagine the carnage, then, if Baroness Murphy were to get her way.

The price of beer and cider has fallen by about 30 per cent in real terms since 1990, while wine and spirits have fallen by about 20 per cent.

Put the price of alcohol up to where it was twenty years ago and the problem would more or less be solved.

Or, worse still, bansturbator-in-Chief Kevin Barron?

We believe that alcohol duty should continue to rise year on year, but unlike in recent years, duty increases should predominantly be on stronger alcohol drinks, notably spirits.

[...] if the duty on a bottle of spirits had increased since the early 1980s at the same rate as earnings, it would now be £62. If the rate had increased in line with the retail prices index and not with average male earnings, the duty on a bottle of spirits would now be £38.60.

With rates that high, we wouldn't need fireworks night. Houses and flats in some areas would be going up as regularly as party poppers at an office Christmas party.

H/T IPJ