Sometimes the best thought-out plans go awry. So it has proved for the Russian authorities, who have imposed a new vodka tax in an attempt to cut the number of people dying or suffering from serious illness as a result of high alcohol consumption. Fine in theory. As it turns out, almost 16,000 Russians have died in the first five months of the year because of the tax . . . drinking illegal hooch in an attempt to bypass the new rules.

Maybe there's a lesson there somewhere for Charlie McCreevy as he ponders the high price - at least on the inflation front - of the punitive tax increases on cigarettes in recent budgets.