Paper Palate

Alcohol is a funny thing. It can be used for so many purposes: disinfecting wounds; as a source of fuel; enhancing the flavour of food and obviously, getting utterly drunk. One association I have never made, was that of confidence and alcohol. I know that bravado and alcohol are inextricably linked - look at those swaggering fools, collapsing out of pubs on a Friday night and ending up in fights with their friends - but not political or economic confidence. However, two recent articles in The Times about the current position of champagne in London and beer in the Palestinian territories gave me pause for thought.

The end of January is the time of the year that estate agents, jewellers and car dealers get excited in London, because that is when the investment banks pay their bonuses. 2005 was a bumper year, with several enormous deals, so a lot of bankers have made a lot of money. Apart from those listed above, some of the main beneficiaries of the delighted bankers have been the swanky, central London bars selling champagne. According to The Times article, one bar sold 14 jeroboams of champagne on Saturday, each one costing £3,500 ($6,200). Now, apart from that being an obscenely large amount of money on extreme quantities of drink, it is very good news for the rest of us. It means there is considerable wealth swilling around the economy. Obviously, lots of money among a smallish group of people does pose some economic problems, but generally it is positive, most notably it means that the housing market will stay afloat. Overall, it means that economic confidence will be high. So while we recoil in horror at the size of the bonuses and the amount of money being spent on alcohol, we can take comfort that in some small way it will benefit those of us further down the financial food chain.

Whilst in the UK alcohol can be used as a measure of economic confidence, in the Palestinian territories it is being used as a measure of political confidence. Prior to last week’s elections for the Palestinian Authorities, many Middle East watchers had predicted that Fatah would win. They cited entrenched values, loyalty to Arafat and concerns about Hamas’ status as a terrorist organisation as some of the reasons why the incumbents would prevail. As we now know they were wrong. If they had wanted a better indicator of the political mood of the territories, they should have looked no further than the region’s only brewery. Taybeh has been brewing German style beer since 1997. Four months ago, it produced its first non-alcoholic beer and it had a green label. Green, the colour of Hamas and no alcohol meaning it could be drunk by observant Muslims. Nadim Khoury, general manager of Taybeh is clearly a pragmatic chap. However, such pragmatism might not get him that far. The article quotes a Hamas spokesman indicating they are not planning “to interfere with Palestinians’ liberty or freedoms”, but this is Hamas, can they be taken at their word? The case of other alcohol dealers does not bode well: George Christo Tarazi, who had his house burned down because he refused to shut his alcoholic wholesale business; The United Nations Beach Club, the last bar in Gaza was bombed on New Years Day. So whilst in one part of the world, a free market means that the champagne flows like water, in another fundamentalism might put an end to the meagre pleasure of a pint of cold beer.