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Britain's Young Drinkers


Frank Hovis

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HOLA441

I don't know if anybody caught this, ITV on Thursday, will be on those replay thingies.

I found it a real eye opener, as did the male presenter.

Most of us drink, and drank a lot in their 20s, but there is a massive difference these days as a big part of it now is spirits so the unit intake is horrendous.

They monitored some totally normal students out for a Saturday night; their unit count was massive, one bloke was over 40 and the highest was 48!

I drank way too much when I worked in the City, but it was all normal strength beer so that would have been an impossible (for me and most people) 20 pints.

As the doctor said they are doing serious damage to themselves at a very young age.

The problem is clearly the spirits, so forget minimum unit pricing which hits everybody and put the tax up on that.

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HOLA442
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HOLA443

Where do they get the money?

They drink before they go out, now they can drink 24/7 in licenced premises if they want, drink is cheap, pople who are addicted to drink, like drugs, shopping, food or whatever will get it however. Binge drinking is a growing problem, people who work in the city and or have stressful jobs still drink far too much, the more they drink the more they need to get the same result. People drink to kill, cover or hide pain....excess drinking and what it does to the individual is as much a disease as an effect to a cause.

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HOLA444

But from the governments point of view it brings in lots of tax and avoids them having to address the real fundamental problems such as unemployment, job insecurity, lack of work in your zero hours contract etc and anyway the Westminster bar is subsidised.

...I would say many of our politicians also drink far too much....some heavy drinkers clearly show they have been drinking....very many professional drinkers do not, but their brains may still be pickled.

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HOLA445

I think you're painting it too black there winkie, this is standard going out and enjoying yourself, getting drunk and being a bit silly which has become damaging because of the regular inclusion of spirits.

Take the spirits out of the equation and it becomes a lot safer.

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HOLA446

Where do they get the money?

They have plenty of money for booze, just not enough to ever buy a house.

Cant blame em really. Been like this for ages.

Why bother saving when what you are saving for is constantly pushed further over the horizon by the election obsessed filth currently (and previously) in charge?

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HOLA447

...I would say many of our politicians also drink far too much....some heavy drinkers clearly show they have been drinking....very many professional drinkers do not, but their brains may still be pickled.

Good. I hope the subsidised bar is the death of them all.

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HOLA448

I don't know if anybody caught this, ITV on Thursday, will be on those replay thingies.

I found it a real eye opener, as did the male presenter.

Most of us drink, and drank a lot in their 20s, but there is a massive difference these days as a big part of it now is spirits so the unit intake is horrendous.

They monitored some totally normal students out for a Saturday night; their unit count was massive, one bloke was over 40 and the highest was 48!

I drank way too much when I worked in the City, but it was all normal strength beer so that would have been an impossible (for me and most people) 20 pints.

As the doctor said they are doing serious damage to themselves at a very young age.

The problem is clearly the spirits, so forget minimum unit pricing which hits everybody and put the tax up on that.

I seem to remember when I first started drinking in the 1970s that spirits were eye wateringly expensive so as a student you only drank them occasionally and usually at the very end of an evening

The evidence from HMRC is that price would impact spirit consumption more than beer which has the least elasticity

http://www.wineecoreports.com/upload/internet/COLLIS_GRAYSON_JOHAL_Econometric_Analysis_Alcohol_Consumption_UK.pdf

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HOLA449

I think you're painting it too black there winkie, this is standard going out and enjoying yourself, getting drunk and being a bit silly which has become damaging because of the regular inclusion of spirits.

Take the spirits out of the equation and it becomes a lot safer.

Everybody has their own thresholds, discipline and level of responsibility, drink affects different people differently, and depending how much they drink, this can and will change....some can have a few glasses and will stop, some can't stop very easily, not until they are violenty sick or crash out in a heap on any floor....alcohol can change some peoples personality, not for the good.

They drink the spirits because they like what the spirits can do for them.....knowing it will be a instant high hit, but many hours of suffering later......another case of instant gratification.

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HOLA4410

I'm a beer man like Frank! I never worked in the City, and don't like "spirits" that much. I might get a bottle of whisky in for Christmas,or Eid, er , I usually do! Beer is wonderful! It's imposible to have too much!!

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HOLA4411

I'm a beer man like Frank! I never worked in the City, and don't like "spirits" that much. I might get a bottle of whisky in for Christmas,or Eid, er , I usually do! Beer is wonderful! It's imposible to have too much!!

I got a bottle of whisky for Christmas once, still got it....does it improve with age?

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HOLA4412

I'm a beer man like Frank! I never worked in the City, and don't like "spirits" that much. I might get a bottle of whisky in for Christmas,or Eid, er , I usually do! Beer is wonderful! It's imposible to have too much!!

It's the calories in beer that is its biggest downside for me, I cut down when my jeans start feeling tight around the waist, and follow the golden rule to avoid getting fat: don't buy bigger clothes.

I did go through a single malt phase, sucked in by the pretentiousness of it all, but stopped when I accepted that it was just elaborately-marketed booze that didn't honestly taste that nice.

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HOLA4413

It's the calories in beer that is its biggest downside for me, I cut down when my jeans start feeling tight around the waist, and follow the golden rule to avoid getting fat: don't buy bigger clothes.

I did go through a single malt phase, sucked in by the pretentiousness of it all, but stopped when I accepted that it was just elaborately-marketed booze that didn't honestly taste that nice.

Yes!

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HOLA4414

I think I was 12 when I had my first alcoholic drink. And this was with the blessing of my parents too! I never became an alcoholic, although I went through a heavy drinking phase between 19 and 22 (student!).

Maybe my parents thought that getting me on alcohol early would be a diversionary tactic from taking up smoking. :unsure:

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HOLA4415

I think I was 12 when I had my first alcoholic drink. And this was with the blessing of my parents too! I never became an alcoholic, although I went through a heavy drinking phase between 19 and 22 (student!).

Maybe my parents thought that getting me on alcohol early would be a diversionary tactic from taking up smoking. :unsure:

I think I was about 5 when my dad gave me a beer!

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HOLA4416
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HOLA4417
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HOLA4418

Not necessarily Frank, the trend these days is towards stronger beers and ciders that range between 2.5 and 5 units a pint. 12 pints and you're well on your way...

And 30 units is one 70cl bottle of vodka.

http://www.ndjohn.co.uk/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/s/m/smirnoff_vodka.jpg

I guarantee there are plenty of MPs, judges, executives, doctors, journos and HPCers up and down the country that manage that on a regular basis.

I drank 30-40 units a day for a long time and tried bloody hard to maintain the semblance of 'normality'.

I do think it's more commonplace among students and the young but nothing new there I fear :)

P

Paul, we have all been there! Well, maybe not everyone, but I certainly have! ^_^

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HOLA4419

I think I was about 5 when my dad gave me a beer!

Ditto. Never more than the odd tumbler of beer or a tiny glass of wine on special occasions though. Never had the same attraction to me as it to my mates at school as a result.

Stopped drinking in my early teens as it despite my best efforts it just did not agree with me.

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HOLA4420

Ditto. Never more than the odd tumbler of beer or a tiny glass of wine on special occasions though. Never had the same attraction to me as it to my mates at school as a result.

Stopped drinking in my early teens as it despite my best efforts it just did not agree with me.

It was Christmas! My dad is no way a "boozer". He is almost teetotal!

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HOLA4421

It was Christmas! My dad is no way a "boozer". He is almost teetotal!

Yep, same here. Just smart enough to make sure my first experience of alcohol was in a safe place without any hype surrounding it.

I think I had a puff of his pipe around the same time. I did not persist with that. Once was definitely enough.

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HOLA4422

Yep, same here. Just smart enough to make sure my first experience of alcohol was in a safe place without any hype surrounding it.

I think I had a puff of his pipe around the same time. I did not persist with that. Once was definitely enough.

Go on Gandalf! We have some fine Westfarthing leaf here!

I have only seen my dad drunk once, and he was!

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HOLA4423

Not necessarily Frank, the trend these days is towards stronger beers and ciders that range between 2.5 and 5 units a pint. 12 pints and you're well on your way...

And 30 units is one 70cl bottle of vodka.

http://www.ndjohn.co.uk/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/s/m/smirnoff_vodka.jpg

I guarantee there are plenty of MPs, judges, executives, doctors, journos and HPCers up and down the country that manage that on a regular basis.

I drank 30-40 units a day for a long time and tried bloody hard to maintain the semblance of 'normality'.

I do think it's more commonplace among students and the young but nothing new there I fear :)

P

Firstly well done Paul for getting yourself out of that level of drinking, that's some achievement!

I don't quite agree with your 2.5 - 5 units a pint, 2.5 for me is a strong beer - London Pride - and I know ESB which I would not drink on a session (just have the odd one) is about 3.5.

The big drinkers when I was at college (which didn't include me, I was a lightweight on a max of 3 or 4 pints) would drink 8 or exceptionally 10 pints on a big session. This would be 20 - 25 units and was considered unusual. They were all big blokes who were well used to it.

The students in the programme, regular students not the heavy drinking type, were passing 40 units. Now that is not what students drank in my day, it is double it. I do see a problem here, and IMO it is a new problem.

The only spirit drinking I recall is one whisky drinking contest between two big drinkers. I bumped into the winner the next morning on my way to lectures, he cheerfully informed that he had spent the night at the police station and they did a good breakfast. He then pulled out his charge sheet which documented that some concerned passers by had called the police after they found him attacking a tree, all the boxes (name, age, address) had "too drunk" against them.

So he probably had 40 units that night, but it was a legendary evening and not a standard Saturday night.

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HOLA4424
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HOLA4425

I've read many a report saying how many more young people are developing chronic health problems through drinking compared to x years ago and have always concluded that it's simply the way that these things are measured that's changed.

I have absolutely no hard and fast evidence for this point of view; it is purely an educated guess based on my experiences in life, all of which lead me personally to believe that youngsters drink less on average than was the case 20 or 30 years ago.

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