h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

"I can't really see someone who drinks Chablis going out and decking someone!"

No, but you'll still find them behind the wheel of a car.

I was thinking about drink-driving in that particular instance.....

Ah, OK.

Interestingly, drink drive offences are rising but in the younger generation. The older generation that got all of the drink drive ads in the 80's etc have got used to not drinking and driving. It seesm the younger generation haven't had the same exposure to the issues.

I don't think that it's a lack of exposure - it's the idea that they are immortal, or at least bullet-proof. It's a symptom of being young.

They have had a lot of success here in Australia by subjecting young people to staged enactments of a motor accident scene, but usually, unless they see it for themselves or experience the loss of a friend they never believe that it will happen to them.

Intoxicated young people are a real problem here too - with increased consumption of "alcho-pops". Why are we allowing manufacturers to produce drinks that are an obvious progression from soft drinks to hard alchohol? They've even allowed them to add guarana to some - so not only are the youngsters pi$$ed, they are hopped up on a stimulant as well! No wonder they get into trouble

You can give me twice the booze amount of booze you might to some other people, no I'll be bold enoughto say fiv times the amount and Id still be less likely to get into the kind of trouble they will.

Some people you dont even have to give them the booze, but it certainly helps.

Some people are violent others have social skills that make them virtual fist magnets and alcohol does not make this true its true before a sip passes anyones lips. Yes booze does make things a lot more messy but its wrong to blame the booze.

When the French riot and lets face it rioting is something of antional passtime do we blame the continental cafe culture. If an Itlaian pinches a womans behind is it because of booze or unbridalled latin passion.

The British are violent people. Fact a lot of us like a fight. As can be seen from the numbers of wars that the English won. Look at Scottish history for proof of just how good the Engliah are a beating the crap out of other people. That spirit doesnt disappear whne there is no one else to fight we just fight each other.

Binge drinking and rucking are two activities that go together like dressing up in a fancy red jacket to ride a horse and setting packs of dogs on to foxes.

Even though we have laws to stop the fighting and killing foxes with packs of dogs we still have people doing them and they still do them in the age old traditional English way.




There is a solution. Some of you wont like the idea and will even think it would make things worse than now, but I'll tell you anyway: Make marijuana legal and make booze harder to get hold of. Limit the size of licensed establishments and let landlords know that they will loose their licence to run pubs if they allow a heavy drinking/smoking & fighting culture to develope.

one love

The sual stupidity over here is to use Red Bull (a highly caffeinated keep-awake drink) as a mixer for spirits.
Mixing stimulants and depressants is a bad plan in any case, but the overall effect is to make people feel less drunk than they are, so they drink more and also try things they wouldn't if they knew how drunk they were. Driving, for instance.

Gotta agree that Brits are known for their fighting throughout history, maybe we should go back to National Service - also keeps the army supplied in Afghanistan, and Iraq.

Damn I shouldn't say these things were an MP might read them.

throughout history the british fighting forces have been fortified and fueled by hard drink

look at a naval rum ration, like treacle and supposed to be well watered

And to see that not drinking alcohol is the cure for stopping violence I suggest looking at militant Muslims - that lot aren;t exactly the pussy cats of society?

DISCLAIMER: I am NOT saying ALL Muslims.

For a fascinating history of British drinking culture, I can highly recommend the "A Man Walks Into A Pub: a sociable history of beer" by Pete Brown

The many attempts to curb excessive drinking in Britain over the years have not succeeded and I doubt that raising prices will. Stopping supermarkets selling cheap booze may make it more difficult for people to get sloshed but is that fair? Why shouldn't my pensioner parents be able to buy a couple of cases of wine on the cheap every six months? And there's a quality issue with beer and stout; canned is inferior to draught so it should be cheaper. And why should people be stopped from making a fair buck? (If the demand is there, prices will naturally go down.)

Excessive drinking is a social problem in my opinion and the causes have to be addressed to find the solution.

I expect drinking to increase in the current situation - when everything looks crap booze is where we turn.