I’ve paraphrased the famous line from the 1948 film, Naked City, for my headline. It makes the obvious point that BBC Scotland had many other options but chose this, on examination, pointless and empty little story because, regardless of its inadequacies, it fits the agenda. Readers will know, of course, that the SNP’s minimum pricing policy has been a quick and impressive success:

Immediate impact of minimum unit pricing on alcohol … https://www.bmj.com/content/366/bmj.l5274

BBC Scotland reported yesterday:

NHS experts have found no evidence that minimum pricing for alcohol is having an impact on underage drinking. A study of 50 drinkers aged between 13 and 17 found there was no change in their consumption habits after the policy came into force. They said more research was needed to understand the impact the minimum price of 50p per unit had on young people. The Scottish government said it was a small sample, and it was taking other measures to address the problem.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-51209927

The SNP minister responsible was of course door-stepped. Can you imagine 50 Welsh kids drinking being blamed on a Labour minister there, in a BBC wales report? No, me neither.

You only have to read this to realise that we are looking at a pilot study prior to more reliable research with a bigger sample. A sample of 50 is utterly unreliable beyond offering guidance to subsequent researchers. The authors have said that more research is required. Required before what we wonder? Well, duh, before reporting obviously. The BBC editor should have understood this qualification, ignored the report, and looked for a better story but, agenda-driven, an SNP-bad story proved irresistible.

Interestingly, but not found by the BBC team, earlier researchers had already cast doubt on the importance of such schemes for underage drinkers:

The Sheffield researchers also said that heavy drinkers could gain significant health benefits from reducing their consumption (although underage and young binge drinkers may benefit less).

https://www.nhs.uk/news/2012/03march/pages/alcohol-strategy-minimum-unit-price.aspx

Strangely, or perhaps not, BBC Scotland seemed to have forgotten their own report in September 2018 on teenage drinking in Scotland which would have helped readers contextualise the story of the 50 underage drinkers:

Teenage drinking in Scotland has dropped “dramatically” in the last decade, new research has indicated.A World Health Organisation study led by the University of St Andrews found Scotland’s teenagers are consuming far less alcohol than previously. The drop was the second largest for girls and fourth largest for boys out of 36 European countries surveyed. But the study warned alcohol consumption remained dangerously high across the continent. The new WHO report on adolescent alcohol-related behaviour between 2002 and 2014 revealed that since 2002, weekly drinking among 15-year-olds in Scotland has declined from 41% to 11% in girls and from 41% to 14% among boys.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-45645295