Be Excellent To Each Other

Drinks industry to face new laws, possibly.



Fine, fine. Although can the government please actually enforce some of the existing laws first, like the ones about not serving drunks? I have never, ever seen someone refused for being pissed.

More irritatingly, though:


Oooh - well, that's a bit scary if so.


That still seems quite a few, though, if those are admissions for medical conditions directly caused by alcohol consumption.


Well, so it should, surely?

What the fudge? We're now blaming alcohol for deaths resulting from diseases which might conceivably in some cases be partially contributed to by alcohol? Or where only a "safe" level of alcohol has been taken by the dead person? Or in which alcohol may have played no effect whatsoever? Or where the dead person might not even have drunk at all? And we're using those deaths as an example of how binge drinking and excessive alcohol consumption is bad, m'kay?

Good chutney-ferreting lord.


Well, yes, if we add in every death caused by every other thing in the universe which might in some cases have alcohol as a causative factor I'm sure we can get that number to 100% of all deaths in the UK. Hell, some people who commit suicide do it when drunk, so we should add every single one of those in too, eh? And everyone who dies from an accident, because some accidents are caused by alcohol.

STUPID STUPID FUCKERS.


Says one of the booziest of the professions. Fuck off.

I find it doesn't pay to get too worked up over these stupid reports. Honestly, most news delivery mediums, including some of the more respectable broadsheets, come across like verbatim press releases nowadays.

And statistics are usually only as good as the metric in which they were taken is fully understood by all parties reporting the findings.

In other words, this has already been turned into a load of bollocks scare mongering. Why, though? That's the question that intrigues me more (which isn't much)

You know, 5000 people died in car crashes in Britain last year but if Iraqi victims of suicide bombs are added that's 100,000 people who did in car crashed in Britain last year.

For similar reasons that this was already done with cannabis and, to a lesser extent, cigarettes.

Make bed
Enter bed
Sleep in bed.

Did anyone notice this article ( http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_a ... 697975.ece ) in the Thunderer last year, which claimed that recommended drink limits were made up on the spot?

Of course, one could argue that these figures serve the same purpose as speed limits in that despite numerous variables (weather, traffic, time of day) the smooth operation of the law requires some benchmark.

I honestly don't see the point in drinking alcohol unless you intend to get drunk.

Not in the thundering darling, I couldn't possibly read that. Anyway, joking aside, I saw something similar, but this tale has been doing the rounds for some years now. It probably is true, as most "scientists" exist in macrocosms of anonymity and they get all excited and flustered if a person from the 4th estate contacts them for a quote. Basically, most Journos don't understand science and scientists don't understand journalism - it's bound to get watered down and spun into an eye-grabbing story and it frequently does. The alcohol limits are almost certainly bollocks, as are all "one size" fits all remedies, solutions, hats, t-shirts etc. What might not be being reported is the correlation between alcohol abuse and other stimulants, be it caffeine, red bull or the nadir, which is cocaine. All of these, to some extent, allay the motor skills distorting effects of alcohol (coke in particular) and allow the user to carry on drinking waaaaay beyond the realms of sensibility. Just from my experience of London, I would say cocaine is a lot more prevalent than most people would think (and I suspect it isn't isolated to the capitol) and it's usually taken as a means to allow the drinking to continue. As is becoming a popular mantra with this government, they're looking at a few bad apples who over do it and applying stupid fucking legislation that we all should adhere to.

We're governed by fools, I tells ya.



Lowest common denominator. The problem isn't smooth running as much as some bright young thing in politics realising that he can make a name for himself by exploiting these benchmarks to add to the treasury coffers. Much like speeding fines, I envisage drunk fines for all and sundry soon. Let us ignore the reason why so many people drink too much, let's just view them as a means of making a few bucks for the treasury.

Or something.

Anyway, where did I put my beer?

Hmmm. I never drink to get drunk but frequently get drunk because I drink.

It's actually pretty astonishing how in many places the negative effects of alcohol are brushed under the carpet for economic reasons. The hospital where I work has been the subject of many BBC documentaries and news items but the fact that a huge number of admissions to A&E are due to alcohol never gets a mention. This is because the various local authorities agree between each other not to feature it, because it's Blackpool and they don't want to scare away the tourists. We're actually one of the worst places in the UK for alcohol abuse yet stories about it almost never feature in the local papers.

So on the one hand I can see that the article Chris mentions may be a bit of a scare story but I know that the media also gets outright manipulated into downplaying it too.

I personally view the "self-harm" effects of booze as exactly the same as those of cigarettes - the government needs to put up or shut up, ban it or fuck off. Punitive pricing, banning happy hour, restricting advertising? Get fucked.

Whereas the positive effects of cannabis are brushed under the carpet for economic reasons. Not trying to change the subject, but it makes an interesting counterpoint, I feel.

Amen to that. Whenever I'm out or over at someone's house and I'm driving/riding home, they always say 'well, you can have one drink if you like, I suppose, because we're eating soon and you're not leaving for three hours'. But what's the fucking point? One beer?

Because I like the taste of beer, mainly.

Because it's pleasant to be lightly numbed/buzzed just slightly, and so as to enjoy the sharp, refreshing taste of your beverage? No, really.

I get that, and I understand that some people like the taste of alcholic drinks (as do I) but I don't think there's an alcoholic drink (cocktails excluded) that tastes as good as Fentimans Cola, or apple juice. I love apple juice.

Vodka and Fentimans

Aye, but define "drunk". I have a couple - literally, maybe three or four (definitely not pints. Last time I had four pints in a fairly short night it nearly killed me), and will stop when I'm comfortable and perhaps a little daft. I learned my limits years ago and will stop before or when I reach them. Most of my friends are much the same, and we'll rarely get stupidly drunk.

Recently though, I've come to realise that there are plenty of people who think that they're not drunk unless they're literally paralytic. Not just teenagers still getting used to booze, but people my age and far older who think they're sober as long as they can walk, even though to any reasonable eye they've been pissed out of their head and talking embarassing drunken shite for hours.

Also, malibu, pineapple and lemon juice tastes lovely. I'll occasionally have one or two (literally, again) just because it's tasty and relaxing. It's also easier to buy a bottle of malibu every year or so than it is to buy some form of coconut without having to throw most of it away.

Yeah, that was my point, really. They've just added *everyone* with cancer into the figure, because *some* people's cancer has been caused or aggravated by alcohol and (so I assume their thinking goes) therefore potentially they *all* have.

Cretins.

But I don't see why that means there's no point therefore in drinking unless it's to get shit-faced? Hmm.

Because I like apple juice more. And the 'tingly feeling' just says 'drink more' to me, TBH.

You could try putting vodka in your apple juice? The vodka tastes of next to nothing, so your apple juice become nicely alcoholic.

That sounds utterly revolting. Vodka does have a taste. It's just less deeply revolting than most other spirits.

Then you have a burgeoning drug addiction and should consider seeking professional advice, sir.