THIS week the Conservatives have announced their plans regarding alcohol.

They plan to curb the sales of cut-price alcohol and look again at 24-hour drinking. But, will this really solve the problems of binge-drinking?

In the Conservatives' own words, they say that raising tax on alcohol is a foolish idea as it is just a blunt instrument' and the perception of drinking is what needs to be tackled. Surely, introducing laws against cut-price alcohol is exactly the same thing?

Perhaps the answer is more education about the effects of alcohol in schools. This would challenge current perceptions and could lower the number of people who wish to drink. Raising the price of alcohol would just mean that the people who do choose to drink have less money left for other things.

On the other hand, increasing the price of alcohol would mean that people could afford less. Although, as the majority of binge-drinkers are aged between 30 and 50 and who tend to be earning a decent wage, it will not hit them as hard as other sections of society. How would we, as teenagers for example, cope with higher prices of alcohol?

In the end, we must acknowledge that binge-drinking is a problem that affects our society, although the answer to how to solve it is hard to understand. Many tactics have been tried, many more will be tried and maybe one day we will find a reasonable solution.

DAVID WILLIAMS