Shock and outrage in Scotland with prices for beer dropping to, frankly, insanely low levels:

Nationalist backbencher Ian McKee said: “What’s being reported as a kamikaze supermarket beer war has started in advance of the World Cup.” Caseloads of 24 cans of popular brands are being sold for as little as £9 to attract people into stores, he told MSPs. “It’s estimated by wholesalers that supermarkets could lose £6 per case,” he added. The former GP warned this was driving beer prices down to “absurdly low levels” and called on Ms Sturgeon to act. She said: “I think the best way to tackle these promotions is a minimum price, coupled with a ban on quantity discounts.”

Let me get the calculator out. What's nine pounds worth these days? Good Lord, it's only a buck fifty-five! Which means I could buy 24 pint cans for $13.95. That is insane.

Surely, shops setting price at 60% of cost for a product with social ramifications of some degree. There must be a price below which social irresponsibility is a valid charge. At some point, it is Gin Lane, isn't it? Yet this report from the hard streets of Glasgow says otherwise. Things are better. Even without the astoundingly shocking stat that "mortality from cancer is down 16% in the last five years." Kamikazi? If that were the case, the breweries would be dead. Fratricide? Doesn't seem to be the case. Loutish? Loutish comes in all shapes, sizes and professional backgrounds as we learned this week. So what does it mean? A 24 pint cans for $13.95, I suppose.