Supermarkets sell alcohol. They have an entire section set aside for it, well marked and often sud-divided and sign-posted by type - beers, wines, spirits... - and people then choose to buy them because they want to drink.

Apparently it is a bad thing that they are allowed to do this.

It seems that us mindless proles just aren't clever enough and don't have a strong enough will be steer clear of these well-marked sections, and are instead "lured" into buying alcohol. After all, we're not Professors, so we couldn't possibly be able to resist the call of supermarket advertising and make our own decisions about what we want to purchase.

Alcohol is cheap - and often sold as a loss-leader by supermarkets - because people want to buy it. They don't want to "lure" people in to buying a product which will reduce their profit margins. The best people for that are the idiots who purchase "organic" and "free trade" produce, on which supermarkets can make up to 25% profit.

We all know that alcohol is bad for us should we drink way too much of it over a long period of time. We all know that. But we drink anyway, because we want to. Like the British Retail Consortium says, no-one buys alcohol accidentally. It is a conscious choice made by a rational human being.

It's not up to anyone else to tell us that we can't buy alcohol at a supermarket any more. Especially based on such a ridiculous basis as "health" or to "combat Britain's binge-drinking culture".

Just bugger off leave us alone, Professor le Grand.

Also go and read Mr Eugenides take on this story. Well worth a read.