Buckfast & The Curse of Red Biddy

Is anyone else starting to feel really sorry for the makers of Buckfast? Every time a Ned goes mental and stabs someone in the head its Buckfast‘s fault. Sure it’s loaded with caffeine and booze but the Buckfast monks only ever meant for us to drink “three small glasses a day” not down three entire bottles in 60 seconds!

Despite this MSPs and other doves from above are hell bent on banning the stuff out-right. According to a BBC investigation Buckfast was mentioned in 5638 crime reports across Strathclyde between 2006 and 2009. Sounds impressive but last year alone Strathclyde Police recorded 179,254 crimes in total. So even if Buckfast was mentioned in 5638 reports last year only (as opposed to the 3-4 years) it would only relate to around 3% of all the crimes. Hardly worth panicking about, is it?

My point is that every few years the Government finds a scape goat for society’s ills. In the 1930’s for example, everyone was up in arms about ‘Red Biddy’ drinking and it‘s effects. Red Biddy (sometimes referred to as Kinky Dew) was a home-made concoction consisting of British red wine and menthylated spirits. You can imagine how that affected people!

In 1930 for example, a young servant girl was arrested for drunkenness and wilful damage after a night of Red Biddy drinking. The court was told that “this cheap but intensely powerful liquor had temporarily turned her into an animal,” and the magistrate implored her to stop drinking this “rubbishy stuff that makes almost a fiend of a woman!”

Such was the public hysteria at the time that the Scottish Secretary of State was forced  into launching an inquiry into the matter. Many people even called for British red wine to be banned altogether (sound familiar?)

Should today’s MSP squawk loudly enough Buckfast may well be banned but as Conservative MEP said, “do people honestly think that if Buckfast wine is banned hooligans will start drinking tea?” Will they fuck!