Binge drinking

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6721183.stm

The government has decided to target binge drinking. Don't know if these measures are the answer but I'm glad their trying something.

I'm not a big drinker. I like a drink but I can count the amount of times I've been drunk on one hand. I feel like I have to justify this to people all the time. The English drinking culture sickens me at times. It's a culture that has gotten out of control and it's got that bad that I don't know what can be done to reverse it now.

Thoughts ?

I could not count the amount of times I have been drunk on one hand. Hell, I couldnt do that for the last 6 months.

However, I don't drink to get drunk, I am just a lightweight (to which Helen can testify to!).

Its the drinking to get drunk that is wrong, not being drunk.

I really don't enjoy the feeling of being drunk at all. I only ever drink when I go out to clubs (which was like once a month, if that) and always drink soft drinks if I go to the pub.

Drink also makes me think I can take on anyone (which I can lol) and I always end up looking for trouble. So in Jan 06' I decided not to drink when I went out and it was really easy to do and I haven't drunk since. I will drink again but I will set a limit and stick to it.

Funny enough, I have NEVER drank with the sole intention of getting drunk..! I cannot think of any feeling any worse than being drunk and out of control..and I never had that desire, even as an 18yr old... but I drink far more now than I did in my teens and 20s (perhaps I was a late starter...but I think my younger sis is the same)

Lightweight, I don't know, Drew...we managed a bottle or two..I lost count after that!

I don't like the silliness of drinking for drinking's sake and as it is a competitive industry and the pub market is controlled by fewer and fewer people I understand why there are so many "offers"

I didn't agree with the 24hr licencing thing though

funnily enough, although I have by trade been on the road and staying in drinking establishments for quite a while, I don't go "out" drinking an awful lot - but I do enjoy good wine at home with friends and family - that wouldn't be classed as "binge" drinking, but it is no better from a health point of view - although perhaps a tad safer and easier to deal with..than rowdy crowds in city centres..

I think, as a nation, we have a big problem, for sure. I don't see this particular nut being cracked very quickly - in fact I think we have a better chance of people understanding global warming...and reacting to that...compared to giving up beer...

Binge drinking is a problem - a lot of my friends do it here in uni. There's some people I see who are always drunk, some I don't think I've ever spoken to on a night out when they've been sober... a lot of people go out with the sole purpose of getting utterly wasted.

Would this be the same goverment that introduced 24 hour drinking to make more tax?

Ziggy! wrote:

Would this be the same goverment that introduced 24 hour drinking to make more tax?

Wasn't it the tories that introduced 24 hr licensing ??

Either way that has well and truly come back to bite politicians on the ass.

Ziggy! wrote:

Would this be the same goverment that introduced 24 hour drinking to make more tax?

I'm not this makes the problem worse and it seems certainly to have cut some of the violence associated with the closing of pub all at the same time.

Anyway how many places have actually taken up '24 hour' opening it just wouldn't be economic. If anything the strict licencing laws encouraged binge drinking in a short space of time and didn't fit around like going to the cinema or to see a show.

The problem is not with the lenght of time the pubs stay open (after all in Europe the bars can stay open as long as they like and they don't have the same problmes) BUT with the drinking culture we have in the UK.

The French/ Italians/ Spanish/ Portuguese go out in the evening to have a good time and have a drink.

The English go out in the evening (half drunk) to have a drink to have a good time.

Yeah, you English don't know how to properly drink. It's an artform all to itself; to get it right you need practice.

Im just saying its tad hypocritical for Blair to talk about too much boozing when he is encouraging it to cover the lost tabacco tax.

I don't know how we shift from the UK binge culture to the European cafe culture...we need to, but I don't think it is easy.

helencbradshaw wrote:

I don't know how we shift from the UK binge culture to the European cafe culture...we need to, but I don't think it is easy.

The 24 hr liscence is the start.

I truely believe that it will help to stop people rushing to 'get the last round in' and just drink until they are ready to go home.

11 Oclock rush, get one more in. No 11 oclock rush, get three more in.

Ziggy! wrote:

11 Oclock rush, get one more in. No 11 oclock rush, get three more in.

Maybe for you...

I think giving people more control over how they choose to drink outside of the home is a good thing, the legislation has also made it easier for pubs and clubs that do not control their customers to be closed down. I don't think the legislation in itself will solve the problem I think the causes are far more deep rooted int eh culture for that but I think it will help to at least manage the problem.

You havent been to my city then.

I don't think price or opening times will make much difference.

We need a huge shift towards intolerance to binge drinking and bad behaviour but it's become enshrined into our culture so it beats me how to even start

Ziggy! wrote:

You havent been to my city then.

Northampton or No fun town by any chance ?

I too don't think 24hour opening makes any difference, but the price of drinks could.

In the local dive, which was Kettering's nightclub, it was always buy one get one free until 11pm, so I, and everyone else I saw, would just have a reserve drink but would still get though them pretty quickly.

Also, although I think beer is far to expensive in shops, you always see offers on, like one on at 2 supermarkets at the moment where you can get 3 boxes of beer (so between 60-72 cans) for £20.

The question is:why did Blair introduce 24 hour drinking? Was it too cut violence or increase the tax take...

Ziggy! wrote:

The question is:why did Blair introduce 24 hour drinking? Was it too cut violence or increase the tax take...

I don't understand why it would increase tax unless you think that having more flexible opening times will increase the amount that is drunk... I'm not sure this follows and you have to consider this against any cuts in violence on the streets.

I tend to agee with Wormy on this one, changing the laws and prices will have little impact on the amount people drink although it might cut crime but what we need is a change in cultural attitude and I can't think how we will get that in the short term.

I don't remember exactly what the figures are but most of probably binge drink quite regualrly. The guidelines the government uses mean that evben just a couple of glasses of wine in one night is binge drinking.

Go out for dinner and have a G&T in the pub, an aperitif before dinner, a couple of glasses of wine, then ,maybe a dessert wine or a liqueur and you're probably hitting the "binge" drinking point. For the government's purposes, binge doesn't mean what it sound like (going out once in a while and getting paralytic), even quite normal sounding quantities have been labelled binge drinking.

Go out into any town or city centre late on saturdays and you will find drunk lads and girls in every pub and all over the streets. It's become a warzone and the problem is, it's considered NORMAL by the majority.

I am only too aware of that living in Newcastle!

But I could go out to dinner tonight and come home sober-ish having had not very much at all and it would be called binge drinking. I might not have any more alcohol the rest of the week and it would still be called binge drinking.

I totally understand the dangers of excessive consumption of alcohol but an aperitif, a few glasses of wine and a Baileys after dinner doesn't make you a binge drinker. (Unless you agree with the governemnt's definition.

Thats goes without saying. The figures are exaggerated but it doesn't mean we don't have a huge problem that is still escalating. We are developing a whole generation of alcoholics !!