Alcohol problem

I'm a bit late on picking up on the fact that Scotrail banned alcohol on trains between 9pm and 10am. Firstly on the in-station posters themselves, they're quite nicely done. The forbidden strike through the circle of the figure 9 is an obvious shout, but the stylised execution is nice. 'Calling time' is a well-worked phrase, coming from the bar cry, and although something of a juxtaposition, it works nicely.

I'm pretty much against any nannying of this sort, but there's clearly been a few incidents, among passengers and against staff, so I can go along with the reasoning. If I'm heading home after working late or from a social evening it's never crossed my mind to crack open a bottle but my journey is only 18 minutes. I can see that people would want a drink on a longer late-evening journey, but in the bigger picture of Scotland and alcohol, I can see that a ban would be necessary. I can though drink on a train at 10am although pubs don't open til 11.

We pretty much have it wrong with our attitude to alcohol. I think though it's the hard-liquor side of things that creates this. The 'continental' idea of being introduced to alcohol at an early stage to become accustomed, and for it not to be a shock makes sense. But not if it's heavy and vodka - the 'wee glass of wine with a meal' is fine and dandy, but we're not really wired that way. 'Getting hammered' is a goal, the destination is almost more important than the journey if you like. Which brings me subtly back to the transport side.

Most cities have a street ban on alcohol, and it follows that Scotrail would have the train ban too. The hours are a bit odd, but that aside, I can see the argument of no alcohol on trains. Underground and bus though? And what of those worse the wear - are they banned too? The libertarian side of me struggles with the fact that Scotland does have an alcohol problem, and the advertising side of me likes the ad and the thinking. In sum though, the ban is a wee bit too isolationist - the alcohol problem though is bigger than eradicating it from train journeys for thirteen hours in a day.