To think that alcohol misuse is the elephant in the room in the uk?

[rogersmellyonthetelly]

Ok, so I'm not talking about alcoholics here, people who are alcohol dependant and their families have my sympathy. I'm taking about people who go out and get hammered week in week out, puke on the pavement, behave like boors, injure themselves, assault others and generally cause a nuisance. They also cost a fortune in extra policing, and you only have to walk into any a&e in the country after 9pm most evenings to see the effect its having on the nhs. Yet week in week out, I see supermarkets advertising how cheap their booze is, my local garage has 1 aisle out of 4 dedicated to the bloody stuff, its in abundance in every corner shop. Why is it that in the uk it seems to be that alcohol is perceived as necessary to having a good time? Isn't it time that the government stopped advertising alcohol like they stopped advertising fags?
I'm no stick in the mud, I go out with friends, I have a laugh, a dance and a good time, and I don't drink at all except the occasional baileys which I have because I like the taste. If people want to have a glass or two of wine, or a couple of beers to relax, fair play, but please could someone tell me what is relaxing about waking up with your hair stuck to your face with sick, having pissed in your bed, or worse, pissed in the bed in the police cell, having no idea where you were the night before, what you did and with who?

old enough to remember when i used to be a 'hip young thing' many years ago! Actually, might have been young but never really 'hip' unfortunately.

I live in France now after spending most of my life in the UK, and can definitely see a difference in the relationship to alcohol here compared to the UK - at least in my own age group (20s - 30s). People spend less time in bars and more time at each others' houses, drinking much more slowly and nearly always accomanying alcohol with food. You see a lot fewer people getting hammered and stumbling about on the street or getting agressive. And you rarely hear people talk about "getting drunk" like it's the objective of a night out. Sure it still happens, but more organically and less purposefully, in my experience at least.

Reeling. Please leave the thread now.

Not enough

YANBU.

I think we have a worrying attitude to alcohol in the UK.

We seem to have normalised regular and excess alcohol use and IMO that is not a good thing.

RockStockAndTwoOpenBottles

Who made you Mother fucking Superior all of a sudden?

Oh ok.

Me It was unanimous as well.

Riveninabingle

But they don't do they?
It's only ever people moaning about people who do drink.

No one starts threads saying....

'what a load of miserable fuckers who don't imbibe'

having pissed in your bed, or worse, pissed in the bed in the police cell

Sorry, how is that worse than pissing in your own bed?

Riven I agree.

I rarely drink now - I think after years of being a uni student and then in the military I reached my saturation point!

But when we have a works do and I say I don't want an alcoholic drink just a soft one I get asked "why?". No-one asks someone drinking alcohol why they want an alcoholic drink and not a soft one, do they?

I think some of the worst drinkers I know are mums who meet up round someones house, say every other week, and each one will bring a bottle and we'll probably go the offy for another one or two as the night progresses. Everyone gets drunk. But no-one thinks they've got a problem as it only happens once a week / fortnight.

I'm over 40 and definitely getting sick of it and I don't have kids. But am certainly thinking of giving up drinking. But it would mean my entire social life collapsing. The 'shall we meet for a drink' thing is just standard.

I have a lovely friend who 'DOES NOT DRINK' or so she says. But she loves a bottle glass or two of Bailey's as, she says, it's not alcohol, it's an after dinner soother.

its the worst thing about this country its like you have to be drinking or talking about doing to be cool if you go out and dont drink much your seen as odd Freshers week is unbelievable daughter started uni this week worried she wont find other students who arent obsessed with drinking and that she would feel out of place/All the info on the internet before she went was where the first years could go each night on tours of the pubs or clubs should they really do this to young people just leaving home and anyway she cant afford it and i definetly cant

Rock

What, Marney?? Can't understand a word. Use paragraphs next time...

And what uni did she go to? So my kids can avoid it?

I agree we have a "hidden" problem in Britain. I can go without alcohol but more often than not I have one drink a night because why not? It's there, it's cheap, we've been sold the dream of good food with a glass of wine (meals were not like that when I was growing up).

Anywhere we want to go in the evening (bar the cinema) is basically a drinking venue. It's omnipresent. It takes a lot to break the habit of having an alcoholic drink and it's just not made easier when alcohol is everywhere, and so strong as well (wine in big glasses at 15% for example).

it's our biggest problem but it's not 'hidden' - we seem damn proud of it, unfortunately. I don't want this for my kids.

Yabu for using the phrase "elephant in the room". That would indicate a problem no-one is talking about.
That is not the case here.
As someone has already pointed out - it's a bloody noisy elephant. There are and have been loads of programmes/public campaigns about irresponsible drinking.
I'm surprised you haven't noticed any of that OP.
You only have to switch on any of the emergency service reality TV shows to hear someone discussing the effects of weekend binge-drinking, far less listening to regular news stories about alcohol abuse.

after dinner soother

wow her cooking must be shockingly bad if she has to drink to get over it

Honey

(never mind paragraphs, she should try a bit of punctuation)

I would drink alcohol if tiny amounts didnt make me so ill.

I think supermarkets should stock a range of soothing, non-toxic intoxicants so that we could all self medicate as required...get safe legal high's with no harmfull side effects.

I'm sure the chemists could do it if they just put their minds to it!

According to the WHO UK alcohol consumption per head is very similar to Portugal, France, Ireland, Holland and Denmark, so its not the amount of booze but the way its consumed/ handling it that seems to be the problem.

Which, far from being an elephant, has brrn agonised over in the press for decades, has seen laws passed and changed and remade etc etc.