So does a G&T and two glasses a day constitute a drink problem? Tony Blair thinks so

[emkana]

in his autobiography apparently.

Carol whatshername from the Times completely ridiculed him yesterday for that, but Dr Mark Porter in the same paper said there is something in it, especially if your measures are a bit too generous.

It's kind of what I have a day, so I'm wondering...

I work with statistics though not in the medical field hence my scepticism.

The relationships between all the different elements which are factors in the development of cancer are not linear. I doubt the statistics because I dont believe that it is possible to carry out wide-ranging accurate research without locking people up like lab rats to experiment on them. Filtering out different factors in a normal environment can only be done on the basis of assumptions about those factors. This makes the statistics unreliable.

The published research results are not clear-cut hence the week in week out stories which say that a glass of wine a day is good then it's bad.

If TB had admitted to smoking a few cigarettes of an evening to cope with stress then I would say he had a problem and that problem could have serious long term health implications for himself and his family.

It's simple if drink causes a problem, you have a drink problem.

Yes I think that is problematic in that it isn't healthy.
I keep trying to tell DH that drinking every day is just unhealthy, simple as that. He claims it isn't. And he's a scientist so he starts bollocking on about research this and research that. It's still non-ideal, though.

'Men are 1.8 to 2.5 times as likely to get cancer of the mouth, neck and throat;'

My Dad was an alcoholic and died just past his 60th birthday of a recurrence of his earlier cancer of the oesophagus and stomach, due to excess gin/alcohol and cigarette consumption.

Thing is it really doesn't feel that much...

I didn't drink at all for over eight years due to pregancies/breastfeeding, but have now settled into it...

And people believe anything Tony B.Liar says?

LOL!

What BaggedandTagged wrote.

Yes, he had a drink problem, that's what drove him to do what he did.

"There's about 1 unit of alcohol in a standard G&T and about 1.5 units in a small glass of wine."

Hmmm - very few people have 125ml glasses though. You rarely see them outside of older pubs. My wine glasses are smaller than most people's and they're 175ml glasses. And those are 2.3 units according to my local GP's surgery. I know this because I was told off for having one of these 6 nights out of seven even though it only makes 14 units a week

And I'd argue that home-poured G&T's are doubles, at least.

Which would make 6.6 units a night, or just over 46 units a week...

If I pour my own wine and G+Ts they are often way over the supposedly-called standard measurements.

My mother declared herself an alcoholic when she was drinking about the same as TB; it proved to be a very true assessment in the long run (years on-off the wagon).

If any man I knew was having that amount daily I would view it as likely dependence. That amount 3-4x/week, no problem, but daily yes, it's an unhealthy habit.

Has anyone listened to TB on the World Service talking about his memoirs? I like TB anyway, but the questions were good ones he couldn't easily answer (not just Gordon Brown tittletattle).

yes, drinking every day is a dependence and therefore a problem.
even during my wild phase in my early twenties I never drank every day. and still my rule is not to dink alkohol on two successive days.

Emkana your drinking is socially acceptable so unlikely many ordinary people would say you have a problem.

Medically however I think this level of drinking is a problem and is enough to be storing up problems for the future.

What is socially acceptable changes so much. When I started work everyone had 1 or 2 drinks at lunchtime then went back to work. Not now.

Honestly Emkana, your peers may be drinking as much or more but that doesn't make it safe.

"Has anyone listened to TB on the World Service talking about his memoirs? I like TB anyway, but the questions were good ones he couldn't easily answer (not just Gordon Brown tittletattle)."

I didn't hear him. But I can just imagining him swigging down twice his usual amount of alcohol before answering any tough questions. The PR campaign for his memoirs must be playing havoc with his liver.

Alcohol is a mind-altering chemical in liquid form.A daily dose is definitely not good for anyone.If you don't need it why use it?

It's amazing how many different ways regular users try to justify their habit.

Am having a cup of tea tonight instead of customary glasses of wine.

Should I thank MN, Tony Blair or myself?

I think you should write to Tony Blair and say

"Thankyou Tony, for you are a God and have truly made me seen the error of my ways and no longer shall I err from the path of righteeousness. I shall forever consider you to be my moral compass."

I think a glass of wine with dinner is fine, but usually have this occasionally, makes it a bit more special.

Drinking that much every day does sound a lot.

Although my first assumption was that he only said it because Labour were trying to poach Charles Kennedy.

Agree totally with robynlou, amum, miggsie etc. If he felt that he had to have a drink of an evening, then he had a problem. Simple as that, quantity not terribly relevant.

ha ha I thought that too! seems not unreasonable after a hard day running the country!!!!

god I want a G and T now

What others have said: the man is touting for sympathy. I'd need to be well over the limit to give him any of that.

Whatever he said he was drinking, double it. Isn't that what doctors always assume when they ask you? Just what I've heard from friends in this field.