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.)

We took our ds 13 to the pub over Xmas with a lot of family. He asked for a pint of Guinness!

Obv wasn't served one but it made me think how we as parents and our older teen kids have been role modelling.

I'm doing dry January. It's hard when the entire culture seems to revolve round alcohol.

Some people won’t be able to go without food for 12 hours without becoming unwell.

If that’s the case with alcohol, that person really does have a problem they need to address.

You're just being pedantic for the sake of it now if you're seriously telling us you'd be able to have a 12 hour event where you don't need to eat anything.

The problem here is binge drinking. I don’t know if it’s because we are quite uptight as a society that leads to this

I can take or leave drink it’s nice to feel a bit tipsy but I can enjoy myself without alcohol and I’m shy too.

I’ve been to Muslim weddings lots of dancing and music it’s just as much fun as other weddings

I would agree with this except I went on a bit of an old Inspector Morse, early Poirot and Prime Suspect binge (the earliest episodes) and the characters there were all drinking like mad too! Jane Tennyson having a morning meeting with her boss about a new murder case and they've got the whisky out, then she's off solving crimes without a hint of tipsiness!

I would agree with this except I went on a bit of an old Inspector Morse, early Poirot and Prime Suspect binge (the earliest episodes) and the characters there were all drinking like mad too! Jane Tennyson having a morning meeting with her boss about a new murder case and they've got the whisky out, then she's off solving crimes without a hint of tipsiness There’s definitely always been drinking, especially in police series, or series where they have a hard job, but I’m talking about the home drinking more than anything, especially wine. Every character seems to neck nearly a bottle a night in most series these days. It’s crazy! How do they afford it? How do they wake up fresh as a daisy every day and have the body of a racehorse? 😂

YANBU OP. The problem is how sodding cheap it is.

A bottle of Absolute Vodka is the same price now as it was in 2010 (my hourly wages, so I remember it well)! Everything else has gone up, but alcohol remains the same.

This country does have a serious issue (both with alcohol and drugs tbh - look at how many mumsnetters proudly talk about how they use cocaine and smoke weed) and I think it's really sad how many people need alcohol/other drugs to have a good time.

Well yeah I am being pedantic but you were the one that brought up the idea of it being essential, which it definitely isn't for 99% of people, it's just that 99% of people would prefer not to do that because it would be pointlessly depriving yourself of something you enjoy.

No one needs to drink at a wedding that serves alcohol. I did 20 years of weddings sober and enjoyed them all except the shit ones.

I get it but then even in Eastenders or Coronation Street from their very earliest days, or even Crossroads or Only Fools, the pub is a major recurring scene and people are drinking? Whether it's at home or the pub it's still drinking I guess my point is that copious amounts of alcohol on telly is not new? :-)

I was bemused by the reactions to the very idea of a dry wedding, as well. As a non-drinker, I am able to relax without a drink in my hand, and as someone who had a dry wedding (and has attended others similarly dry), I'm slightly annoyed at the suggestion that the event must have been 'boring' for everyone in attendance.

I don't care if people drink, so long as they control themselves and don't put others at risk because of it. What I don't like is the attitude some have that there's something wrong with you (or you're boring) if you don't drink or decide not to include alcohol in your personal celebrations. That's just rude.

I agree with you 100%

You can't watch a drama or a tv soap without alcohol being mentioned, sold in the fictional pub or used as a storyline about alcohol

A wedding is a long day, I think it would be quite boring without a drink or two, it’s a day where you have to be very sociable sometimes for around 8-10 hrs, a glass or 2 of alcohol would make it less tedious, I personally would be bored after a few hrs and tired of talking to people for that long without a drink, as people said it’s a lubricant …..and no, I’m not an alcaholic

I feel the drunken generation (my age group) has started to slow down and the younger generations are not as alcohol minded as us.
I am near 50 so grew up with MD2020, binge drinking, ladette culture and even my younger cousins would much prefer to do an activity than go out drinking.
I go to lots of gigs and notice most drinkers are over 40. Younger ones don't bother.

Posted too soon ..
.. it's just everywhere you look and the drinks industry is bullet proof as if times are bad people drink and if times are good they still drink.
The government could easily increase the price to a hundred pounds a bottle overnight for every thing alcoholic and wipe it out ( as tried with nicotine , with a fair amount of success with different tactics ) but obviously they wouldn't do this as the loss of revenue would be huge and to an industry worth millions
It's not easy to try and solve and nit everyone who likes a drink is destined to become an alcoholic

I don't drink. It massively affects your social life as people regard you as boring.

I'm going to out myself (from many people's POV) as a freak here because I 've never been drunk. I like a nice glass of wine with a meal, and sometimes just as a drink. I like a cool glass of lager or beer (a half is plenty) with curry. I sometimes enjoy a G and T. That's pretty much it.

But I don't want to get drunk, or even tipsy. I've talked to friends over the decades to try to understand its attraction, but I just can't. I like to be in control and to remember what happens the next day! I like alcohol in small quantities and enjoy a delicious glass of something nice (as above). But drinking glass after glass in order to feel 'relaxed' or even with the aim of getting drunk is something I'll just never get.

Someone on MN put it brilliantly: when people get drunk they're not worth spending time with because (even if they're not downright unpleasant/aggressive) they talk absolute rubbish and don't remember anything about it the next day. So drunks and sober people just don't mix socially.

I just think that if you showed people a video of themselves really drunk, they'd be horrified (wouldn't they??). Just on this site alone you get posters describing the revolting results of getting very drunk (vomiting, peeing and even shitting yourself). Just what is the attraction of getting into this state? It does seem to be a British thing. From my point of view, if you don't mind getting into that kind of condition, why would you mind anything at all??

Isn't it true our age group were deliberately targeted with the cheap trebles bars, vodka red bull nights etc because we were all at raves taking pills, and they wanted us I bars and nightclubs instead?
I think there were some relaxations of licencing laws or something maybe.

And you just highlighted the hold alcohol has on the UK….

There’s definitely always been drinking, especially in police series, or series where they have a hard job, but I’m talking about the home drinking more than anything, especially wine. Every character seems to neck nearly a bottle a night in most series these days. It’s crazy! How do they afford it? How do they wake up fresh as a daisy every day and have the body of a racehorse? 😂

There's definitely always been drinking on TV but there's less of the Rovers Return type drinking and more "aspirational" drinking on TV these days. Whenever there's any drama series involving upwardly mobile types (thinking of anything featuring Nicola Walker), they are always sloshing their way through huge glasses of wine. If I didn't know better I'd think it was product placement from Jacob's Creek.

It wouldn’t bother me either way, I like a glass of wine but happy with many soft drinks on offer.

my brother cannot drink alcohol due to health reasons (upsets his meds), he gets a lot of pressure to drink even when he discloses his reasons. Shame.

Drinking alcohol is probably going the way of smoking.

It'll just be a thing we see on old films and tv soon.

(Except for those dependent on it.)

Yeh I read that thread and had to giggle.

I've been to a couple of alcohol free weddings and they've been lovely. 2 were Muslim weddings, and a couple of (baptized) Sikh weddings.
Yes atmosphere is different but it's quite lovely too. Food was amazing, music and dancing was a laugh and it was nice not hearing slurred words of absolute bullshit conversation and people falling all over the show.....

However. The issue is those few people who can't function without a binge - at all of those weddings there were a few people with a 'bar in the boot of a car', so there was a nice little crowd of drunkards loitering in the car park having a booze up then coming back into the venue to fall all over the place and slur away.

You can never really get away from it!

The problem is binge drinking. Not drinking in general.
I'd happily go to an alcohol free wedding again. But I know that either the car park or the nearest boozer will have a good number of guests in regardless😂

I'm in the pub enjoying a large glass of white wine.....

I in my late 40s. I don’t drink. I did briefly as a late teen but hated the experience of being drunk and how it made me feel. I was the only sober person at my wedding and the last person standing (dancing on the tables). I’ve no issue with people drinking. I’m often the driver though which is a pain. The one time I didn’t take my car we had to call family for a lift as the taxi lines were massive. I just wish there were a better selection of non alcoholic drinks on offer that aren’t fizzy. Hate fizzy. J20s actually give me a sugar headache the next day.