'Call to back minimum alcohol price'

MSPs have been urged to seize a "historic opportunity" and back Scottish Government proposals to introduce a minimum alcohol price. Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, chairman of the Alcohol Health Alliance UK and former president of the Royal College of Physicians, warned it would be a "great disappointment" if the measures are again rejected when the Alcohol Bill comes before Parliament on Wednesday - Press Association ​

The rate at which people are quitting smoking has slowed down at the same time as economic worries have increased, data suggests. A survey found that the number of smokers has been on the decline, partly fuelled by the smoking ban in 2007. However, the rate of quitting slowed down when the recession hit the UK in the latter half of 2008, and there has been little change since - Daily Express​

Britain's economy is sitting on a timebomb of debt on course to break through the £10tn barrier within the next five years, according to a report out today charting the country's two-decade long addiction to borrowing. The study by consultancy group PwC found that property speculation by individuals and companies, coupled with an explosion of debt-financed City deals in the past decade, had resulted in the ratio of debt to national income more than doubling since the late 1980s - The Guardian​

Undercover drunks managed to get served in pubs despite slurring, knocking over tables and chairs, and telling bar staff they'd "been drinking all day". The team of fake boozers were sent into bars in a sting to test whether they could get served while pretending to be intoxicated. And in 42 of the 49 bars tested, staff sold drinks to the "drunks", despite them looking wobbly on their feet, wearing stained, dishevelled clothing, or even wandering about carrying bottles in and out of the premises - North Wales News​