AIBU to worry about the hold alcohol has on the UK?

[whyhere]

Prompted by a thread about an alcohol-free wedding, and some of the comments therein ('boring.... wouldn't go.... take a hip-flask....'), it seems to me that the need for/expectation of alcohol has really taken a grip in this country. Can people really not enjoy anything without alcohol? Is it really impossible to create a soap scene without alcohol being involved (yes, EE, I'm looking at you!)?

Anyone doing dry January? (Full disclosure - come from a family of alcoholics and have been sober for around fifteen years.)

You sound like me!! I hate it when they turn off the tea/coffee machine at a certain time in the evening. One pub near us doesn’t even serve hot drinks - I needed to kill time whilst one child was at a class in a village and this was the only place nearby to go to. They had no still juice, only fizzy. They served food though which usually means you can get a brew, but no!

People who glamourise alcohol or say it’s just a bit of fun haven’t lived with an alcoholic or watched one die.

I do think this country has a problem with alcohol, but not so much in younger age groups. The 40+ age bracket tends to drink too much, too regularly, using alcohol as a means to wind down and relax. It makes people fat and leads to difficulty sleeping as well as a host of other medic problems. Alcohol does your body no favours and most people could dramatically improve their mental and physical health by stopping.

TAAT? You completely missed the point of the thread and you are mischaracterising the OP of it.

I've done both of those things.

And I still find alcohol fun, a great social lubricant, and really delicious with a good meal, because I can drink a glass of merit without shitting myself or beating my kids. Most people can.

I'm a social drinker. I wouldnt mind an alcohol-free wedding though. I don't need a drink to have fun.

Event organisers trying to put on a dance event in a venue are always 'let go' in favour of a drinking crowd eventually. Its part of the reason why so many nights/venues close down or rebrand. They dont want people who'll have 1 or 2 drinks then stick to soft or water and still enjoy themselves. They want gluttons whose main focus is sitting down eating loads, and then chuck loads of alcohol down their throats whilst staggering around drunkenly. Drinking is embedded in British culture, its actively encouraged

The revenue raised from smoking is £10 billion per year and falling about 3% a year (as more people quit). The cost to economy of smoking is between £14 and £17 billion and fairly stable. (Incl NHS cost, care home costs, unemployment due to smoking related illness, lost earnings due to smoking related illnesses etc)

The revenue raised from alcohol is £12 billion and rising slowly. However the cost to the economy of alcohol is £27 billion and rising (NHS costs, much greater losses in productivity etc).

In short although both alcohol and tobacco need to be taxed more, the problem with tobacco is that more people are quitting so despite increasing tobacco taxes the number of smokers paying is getting smaller meaning overall tobacco tax revenues are falling.

Whereas with alcohol the number of people drinking is fairly stable so an increase in alcohol taxation would create more revenue.

That said such is the hold alcohol has on UK society no Government is ever going to get elected promising to significantly increase alcohol taxation despite its cost to the NHS and the economy.

Some of the best weddings I have been to have been in Morocco. No alcohol at all, fantastic food, entertainment, lively music and everyone up dancing.

I think that there is a real lack of places to socialise here in uk if you don’t want to go to the pub.

Gen A would all be far to young to drink!

I think there is an over emphasis on drinking in this country.

I like to have a drink but can take or leave it as appropriate. I never feel the need to do Dry Jan and the like as I can go for a few weeks without drinking without deliberately trying not to drink. I’ve been to an alcohol free (Muslim) wedding and it was fine - really nice in fact. Drove back which was very convenient! (I realise I could do that anyway - edit - by choosing not to drink I mean)

Yes I was surprised as well. I expected people to tell the person she was being unreasonable and she could have decided to drive originally but they were acting like it was all ruined and a complete waste of time. Maybe it speaks more to how boring weddings are.

I hardly ever drink, only had a couple of Bucks Fizzes over Xmas, maybe one G&T a month.

I absolutely wouldn't have a big bash without alcohol served, though. It feels controlling and less understandable than eg a vegan only wedding, which would be guaranteed to get people's backs up.

Adults don't like being told what they can and can't do. It's certainly not a 'whole UK' issue.

As far as the thread you're referring to, that's not even about the alcohol - it's about the fact that people have paid out for hotel rooms so they can have a drink, as even 1 is not allowed in Scotland if driving. I would argue most people would expect to have at least 1 drink as wine is usually served for the toast!

I feel alcohol can make something more fun. But I wouldn't feel bored at an event without one

Not at all. Both alcohol and cocaine are addictive. Alcohol is more damaging to the body though 😳

I'm not at all convinced that you need alcohol to enjoy a wedding or a party or anything really. We convince ourselves that it gets the wheels rolling but I was reading a piece today from a young woman who's been sober for two years. She wasn't an alcoholic but felt that she was too reliant on alcohol and, of course, it's expensive. She had to go on some new drugs that reacted with alcohol which also helped. Stopped drinking. She said that at first she had social anxiety but she learned to lean into it and gradually got over it. She says she now has just as much if not more fun than when she drank. She did karaoke at her last birthday party stone cold sober.

I think we have a problematic relationship with alcohol in this country. I know I used to and I know how much happier I am now that I rarely drink and then only have at most a couple before stopping. Each to their own I think it's sad to imagine that you can't have fun at an event without alcohol.

I think PinkyFlamingo has innocently spoken for most people who drink alcohol, whether regularly or just for special occasions. People think you need a drink, a toast of alcohol, a tipple, to warm things up.

However, I can honestly say it is not so! Not having alcohol does not make for a lack of a great atmosphere! Far from it! It is not the alcohol that warms the people up, but the people themselves, the company, the reason they are together.

I have enjoyed so many alcohol free Parties I can tell you they have been the best in my life!

Before the 1880s, the Founder of the Salvation Army, William Booth, was way ahead of the Medical world in realising that those who became addicted to alcohol could not learn to drink in moderation and their only hope of survival was to stop using alcohol. At the time, before penicillin or any health service or welfare state, there was terrible poverty, overcrowding, lack of work and people turned to gin and other alcohol to stop their pain both physical and mental. The Salvationists were among the first to try and help them. One day William Booth declared that he and the 'Officers', that is those full-time workers of the Salvation Army, would cease to drink alcohol so they could truly come alongside those whose health had been broken by it and who constitutionally could only recover by stopping drinking. When the ordinary Soldiers heard of this they said they too wanted to join in and stop drinking alcohol. Thus since the 1880s all Salvation Army Members take an oath not to drink alcohol.

It was through my choice to do this that I learned just how prejudiced people were. I have been met with rudeness and hostility and accused of being judgemental and many people have tried to spike my drink over the years, just because I have said no alcohol for me thank you. Little do they understand how it is the Salvationists choice to demonstrate that life without alcohol can be as wonderful, enjoyable, celebrational and victorious as you want it to be and we have been doing it to help those people, many of whom hit such rock bottom they ended up in prison, because alcohol ruled them. Our wish was that we could be beside them, that they might be lifted up with us helping them to build a good and happy alcohol free life. For 150 years, so many thousands of people have passed through the Salvation Army, being helped one way or another and many of them, like those poor desperate people in the 1880s. have had their lives saved from the misery of a life dragged down by the addiction to alcohol.

Today, even though we have Social Services, Benefits, Antibiotics and few people are starving, there remains a terrible problem with alcohol. You only have yo see a town centre on a Thursday, Friday, Saturday night. If you watch the real-life Police programs you will see how they have to deal with drunkenness all the time. Or go to A & E at night. That is a tip of the ice berg. In homes, after work, people drink now more than ever in the past. It is a very serious problem.

I entirely agree, whyhere, the thread about an alcohol-free wedding does indicate the alcohol culture in which we live, with many comments that give rise for concern.

If you want to see a really happy celebration without alcohol, go to a Salvation Army Wedding!

“Potentially” addictive. Huge numbers of people around the world enjoy alcoholic beverages in all their varied forms with no ill effects ( at least no ill effects that don’t pale in comparison to all the other potentially harmful things we are exposed
to just by living and enjoying our brief time on earth).

In fact the same could be said about cocaine, the majority of users have no addiction issues. Some people unfortunately are do prone to addictive or self destructive behaviours which definitely can lead to addiction.

The normalisation of binge drinking is worrying and I often have to remind myself to cut back a bit. As someone said, the TV soaps don’t help. The other evening on Corrie, Sarah Jane was practically swimming in white wine with the no of times she reached for the bottle!

My dad died of alcoholism.

But I still can’t be doing with this pious shit of crying “ALCOHOLIC” because someone enjoys more than a thimble full of wine now and again.

And also YAWN to the incessant whining of “drunk people are soooo boring”. Do you know who’s boring? People who judgementally bang on like they’re so superior because they don’t need XYZ to have fun.

Off topic but this reminds me of when I was pregnant and went to a pub with my husband. They had issues with the soda machines/pump so my non-alcoholic options were bitter lemon or a Fruit Shoot😂😂

Non alcoholic beer - particularly Becks and Mortetti - is very tasty!

The Romans worried about Brits drinking habits, I am not teetotal but can take or leave it, DH is the same and I think that’s a good place to be.

@StaunchMomma

I hardly ever drink, only had a couple of Bucks Fizzes over Xmas, maybe one G&T a month.

I absolutely wouldn't have a big bash without alcohol served, though. It feels controlling and less understandable than eg a vegan only wedding, which would be guaranteed to get people's backs up.

I agree with this. I totally agree that people in this country (and others) are far too reliant on alcohol as a social crutch and find it depressing and I personally drink very little, maybe one unit a fortnight.

But I do think there's something a bit fastidious and controlling about having an event where its very hard to obtain alcohol. Masses of people (probably a majority of British adults) are able to drink socially and responsibly and would enjoy doing so at a a wedding and should be catered for. Unless there's a significant back story, it feels as if people are doing it to make a slightly childish point.

I accept what you’re saying, but many, many people who are addicted, don’t realise they are. Their partner’s and friend’s don’t realise either because e.g. a bottle of wine (for one person) most nights is considered normal by a large percentage of the population. As for the younger generation drinking less than their older counterparts, only in the last 10 years have we been seeing people as young as 28 on hospital wards with alcoholic liver disease. A condition that was almost never seen in anyone under the age of 55 25/30-years ago.

I completely agree
Interestingly enough I feel it's changing as the younger generation tend not to be as alcohol obsessed as older people.

I keep hearing that young people drink less. I live in a studenty area and I can't say I have that impression when I see them all pissed on a pub crawl or buying crates of beer in the supermarket!