Economics -
Alcohol
According to a report from the
Alcohol and Health Research Centre, young Britons
are masters of binge drinking with a quarter of
15 and 16-year-olds admitting to getting drunk
three or more times a month. The report comes
only days after a 16-year-old girl from Essex
died of alcohol poisoning and just 24 hours after
another study highlighted the effects of alcohol
abuse by young British men. The research found
one in eight deaths among young men in the UK is
caused by alcohol abuse.
While Europeans are given wine with meals,
British children grow up eager to emulate the pub
drinking habits of their elders. Despite our
growing appreciation of wine we are still a
nation that does most of its glass raising in a
hectic burst before closing time. The "11
o'clock last orders" forced by pub closing
times in England and Wales is a significant part
daily life, as many visitors from the Continent
comment. The same visitors are also often
mystified by the empty midnight streets, the love
of the late-night curry, the taxi-rank brawl, and
Friday night TV scheduling.
A former barmaid explained the sort of ploys used
by drinkers preparing for their end-of-evening
binge. "People will buy two pints at 10.45,
even if they can't by that stage drink half a
pint. If it's 11.01 they say they've been waiting
at the bar and you haven't seen them, or that
your clock's wrong. They try and hide from you as
well. If you've got a garden they'll go and hide
in the garden."
Most experts say 24-hour licensing would have to
be accompanied by all-night transport. That would
see off another post-pub ritual - the dash for
the last bus home. Those who drag their feet
inevitably wind up at the taxi rank, where a keen
bid to catch a cab can quickly degenerate into a
drunken brawl with another last orders refugee.
If pubs don't close at 11, there's no one
fighting on the way to the club between 11 and
12. And if there's no one fighting, there's no
one in casualty. And if there's no one in
casualty, nurses will lose their jobs. And before
you know it we'll have nurses begging on the
streets. And all because people wanted a
late-night drink.
In West Yorkshire, police list taxi ranks
alongside nightclub entrances and takeaways as
top spots for late-night fighting. British people
just don't know how to drink.
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