i think it's utterly ridiculous some of the efforts the government have gone to in order to bring a more, what they call, continental attitude to alcohol in the UK...because they utterly forget that we don't have anything else in common with continental Europe that affects drinking habits...
we don't have continental weather...so relaxing and drinking outdoors in cafe/bars is out of the question on most parts of the UK...
we don't have continental attitude to work...namely like Spain...we don't work for 3 hours...then have a 3 hour sleep at lunch time...work for another 3 hours and go home...we don't encourage people to take their families out to bars...infact we prohibit it by law.
a large chunk of people i know personally have the motto "work hard, play hard"...and that means working 50-60 and sometimes even 70 hours a week...and getting ripped off their face 1 night a week
i notice people saying that attitudes to drink need to be changed...and quite frankly it's just regurgitating the government drivel...and even they don't want attitudes to drink change because they make vastly more in tax from alcohol (and from cigarettes too) than they spend on the NHS treating problems caused by it
not to mention that they are continually looking for ways to exclude from medical treatment the same people who have provided those funds in the 1st place...need an operation?...tough...too fat...drink too much...smoke too much...you're ****ed ...the governemnt that you've paid a ridiculous amount of taxes to all your life are telling you to **** right off "for your own good"
nice one Britain...well you know what...i visit the doctors once every 5 years at the most...i get a yearly check at the dentist...and i'll continue to get plastered out my face on a regular basis because it's too much god damn fun....and when i'm sick from liver problems then you will ****ing give me a new one because i've bloody well paid for it.
disagree?...good for you!
Originally posted by jaden101
i think it's utterly ridiculous some of the efforts the government have gone to in order to bring a more, what they call, continental attitude to alcohol in the UK...because they utterly forget that we don't have anything else in common with continental Europe that affects drinking habits...we don't have continental weather...so relaxing and drinking outdoors in cafe/bars is out of the question on most parts of the UK...
we don't have continental attitude to work...namely like Spain...we don't work for 3 hours...then have a 3 hour sleep at lunch time...work for another 3 hours and go home...we don't encourage people to take their families out to bars...infact we prohibit it by law.
a large chunk of people i know personally have the motto "work hard, play hard"...and that means working 50-60 and sometimes even 70 hours a week...and getting ripped off their face 1 night a week
i notice people saying that attitudes to drink need to be changed...and quite frankly it's just regurgitating the government drivel...and even they don't want attitudes to drink change because they make vastly more in tax from alcohol (and from cigarettes too) than they spend on the NHS treating problems caused by it
not to mention that they are continually looking for ways to exclude from medical treatment the same people who have provided those funds in the 1st place...need an operation?...tough...too fat...drink too much...smoke too much...you're ****ed ...the governemnt that you've paid a ridiculous amount of taxes to all your life are telling you to **** right off "for your own good"
nice one Britain...well you know what...i visit the doctors once every 5 years at the most...i get a yearly check at the dentist...and i'll continue to get plastered out my face on a regular basis because it's too much god damn fun....and when i'm sick from liver problems then you will ****ing give me a new one because i've bloody well paid for it.
disagree?...good for you!
What a short-sighted, stupid, ignorant view.
Originally posted by Grand-Moff-Gav
What a short-sighted, stupid, ignorant view.
Is it really?...no it's not...it's blunt truth and if people can't see it then tough
i'm sick and tired of news broadcasts showing supposedly drunk trouble makers when all it usually is is a guy carrying a girl on her back after a night out or someone staggering about?...how this is anti-social troublemaking that it is alleged is utterly beyond me...especially when there is genuinely anti-social behaviour happening in sections of the society that leave people trapped in their homes in fear of violence and intimidation
but this attempt at trying to change behaviour in drinkers is just another way for the nanny state that Britain has become to impose itself on people who are, in the vast majority, hard working and law abiding tax payers out for a bit of fun
what's totally bizarre is that it wont even have an affect on problem drinkers who cause huge damage to their health because they almost all buy their alcohol from off-licenses and drink at home by themselves...so how does banning happy hour have a positive affect on that section of society?...
to show my point i suggest you have a watch of this
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/7140605.stm
it's only a follow up to a previous documentary but it highlights my point
from personal experience both as someone who goes out drinking...and as someone who has worked in the security industry in pubs and nightclubs i can testify to the fact that their is very little trouble in or outside of nightclubs relative to the amount of people that go out
so no...it's not short sighted, stupid or ignorant...it's borne out of facts and experience
now i'm not saying drinking isn't harmless...of course it isn't...but people should be given and take the personal responsibility for their actions and not have it ever increasingly imposed upon them by the state.
once again...banning happy hour has absolutely nothing to do with changing people's drinking habits...because it wont...what it will do is generate a shit load of revenue for the government
what is ironic, though is that as part of my university toxicology module i had to write a debate speech arguing the opposite of what i believe...
here is it
George best, Oliver Reed, Jimi Hendrix, John Bonham, Andy Gibb, Alex Harvey, Billie Holiday, Brian Jones, Jackson Pollock, Bon Scott, Johnny thunders, Dylan Thomas,
Perhaps these are names which are lost on many of the youth of today but they are only a few of the long list of celebrities whose deaths are a direct result of their binge drinking excess’s. People who, through the fog of youth and fame believed they were invincible and who either died in their prime or suffered with addiction and the terrible symptoms of an alcohol ravaged body until it stripped them of their sheen and glamour which made them icons for their generation. Andy Warhol famously proclaimed that in the future, everyone would be famous for fifteen minutes. Well we’re living in that future now and his claim seems more prophetic with every passing day. Can the young of today cope with the knowledge that they may well get their chance at fame only to have it snatched away by their fickle peers who constantly demand something new to entertain them? Can they withstand the media barrage of the body beautiful stumbling out of limousines and into exclusive nightclubs? These self proclaimed role models for the modern generation. Is this how they are supposed to act? Couple this youth “ideal” with cheap drink promotions, expanding licensing hours, alcoholic soft drinks and a creeping apathy towards the issues which define the society in which they exist and you have a veritable time tomb ready to explode in the later lives of our young.
But let’s leave the surreal realm of celebrity behind for a moment and come back to the realities of Alcohol in Scotland
In 2005 there were 2372 Alcohol related deaths. More than half of which were due to liver failure
That’s 6 people per day
1 in six road deaths are a result of drink driving
1 in 3 pedestrians killed by cars were a result of alcohol
1 in 10 A+E admissions were a result of alcohol symptoms.
42,000 people went to their GP’s with alcohol related health problems. That’s 1 in every 120 people.
If these shocking statistics aren’t reason enough to control binge drinking in youth culture then perhaps a brief look at what alcohol does to a person would be enough to convince the sceptics of this motion.
The 1st effect of alcohol is depression of the central nervous system. This then follows on with loss of muscle coordination and visual impairment. As more alcohol is drank the body responds by inducing vomiting in an attempt to avoid further intoxication. Continuous exposure to large volumes of alcohol results in “fatty liver” whereby glycerides accumulate in the liver giving it a fatty consistency. This impairs the function of the liver of ridding the body of toxins which then build up in the liver, a process known as bioaccumulation, and long term exposure to these toxins can lead to cancer of the liver. Chronic exposure to alcohol also means that the liver tissues are replaced with collagen which further destroys the ability of the liver to function adequately. This is what is famously (thanks to George Best) known as Cirrhosis of the liver.
These things may occur over long term exposure to alcohol but binge drinking also has more serious short term effects.
Between 0.35 and 0.5mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood is all it takes to drink yourself to death within an hour. This is the equivalent of drinking a litre of whiskey in an hour. Think about that next time you are out on the town and you see young people throwing back shots of spirits like the world is about to end.
Another dangerous aspect to alcohol has been unearthed in recent years that apply to women drinking. Foetal alcohol syndrome. While it is very rare (around 0.2% of births in the US) it can cause very severe problems in the development of a child both while in the foetus and in later life.
Low birth weight
Small head
Learning difficulties
Hyper activity
Attention deficit
Perhaps what is most alarming with regards to foetal alcohol syndrome is that there is no known safe limit and that it is likely that any small dose of alcohol can produce these effects.
Some would argue that this country already has a nanny state and that directly interfering with people’s social habits is a step too far. What are the other options? Clearly what has been done so far in inadequate. The futile attempts by changing the drinking laws to allow a more continental approach to drink aren’t working. The statistics are clear. Drink related problems are on the increase. Some argue that alcohol should be taxed more. Ignoring the fact that levies on alcohol have increased every year for decades and has had no effect on stemming the amount of alcohol people consume because it has been offset by a general higher disposable income for most of the youth of today.
I make no attempt at trying to find the all encompassing solution to this problem. It would take far more legal and politically savvy minds than mine to come up with a workable ideal that would steer an entire generation away from alcohol or at least to a point where they are not endangering their health in future life.
I’ll conclude my argument with a quote from Shakespeare’s, Othello
O God, that men should put an enemy in their mouths to steal away their brains! That we should, with joy, pleasance, revel, and applause, transform ourselves into beasts!
I think jaden makes a lot of sense with some of his points. I only read the first, cause ... I am lazy....but I would be interested in statistics on how much more (if at all) cigarette smokers, binge drinkers and obese people actually cost a health care system. Seeins as apparently they all die sooner I'd assume it's actually saving the taxpayer money, but I suppose the treatment of those people might be extraordinarily expensive.
Actually, I'd like exact statistics on tax payment and government spending, but, tying in with my ealier statement I am just too lazy.
If someone's going to find some, do me a favour and also find stats on average age by country, I can't seem to find any. Cheers (topic specific ending).
Originally posted by Deja~vu
Youre long winded and say women???? 😂 😆 🤣*lies on the floor giggling* HAHAHAHAHA
missing my point...again...typical woman 😆
not doubting that women are long winded...but when it comes to someone else giving a long opinion...you're not interested
are you listening?...or merely waiting for your turn to speak?
Originally posted by Bardock42
I think jaden makes a lot of sense with some of his points. I only read the first, cause ... I am lazy....but I would be interested in statistics on how much more (if at all) cigarette smokers, binge drinkers and obese people actually cost a health care system. Seeins as apparently they all die sooner I'd assume it's actually saving the taxpayer money, but I suppose the treatment of those people might be extraordinarily expensive.Actually, I'd like exact statistics on tax payment and government spending, but, tying in with my ealier statement I am just too lazy.
If someone's going to find some, do me a favour and also find stats on average age by country, I can't seem to find any. Cheers (topic specific ending).
well...related to my point...here's the tax on individual volumes of alcohol in the EU
http://www.ias.org.uk/resources/factsheets/tax.pdf
given that the UK has the 2nd highest tax per unit...yet supposedly the highest death rate from alcohol abuse
although this set of stats would indicate the UK is far from the worst in relation to units per week consumed and % of the population that are binge drinkers
http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_determinants/life_style/alcohol/documents/alcohol_factsheet_en.pdf
but the facts are that taxing alcohol doesn't change drinking habits...if governments truly cared about people's health over tax revenue from things such as alcohol and tobacco then they would simply ban them outright....but they dont
Originally posted by jaden101Got me. 😂
missing my point...again...typical woman 😆not doubting that women are long winded...but when it comes to someone else giving a long opinion...you're not interested
are you [B]interested
???...or merely waiting for your turn to speak? [/B]
BTW, say something Scotish. Well besides scotch tape.
I'm not too sold on this idea that Britain is a nation pack with drunks....what nation in the world isn't full of drunks?
Oh, China...nvm.
Anywhoo....Happy Hour is good for business and for social interaction. I rarely drink nowadays but when I had my alcohol...happy hour was the time to let loose. Don't ban it...
China doesn't count.
I have to say I'm amused by all the euphemisms that pop when drinking is mentioned. They're more interesting than American euphemisms... how boring is 'shitfaced' compared to 'face ripped off'?
Anyways, if they think it will help, then there is no harm in trying it. But if it doesn't do diddly, then they can repeal it.
Originally posted by Rogue Jedi
So a few idiots cant handle their liquor and others have to suffer?
But that's the very point of the thread starter beginning this thread. His assumption is that some people can handle their drink os everyone has to suffer the rules made by the few that suffer the judgment made by those who think that everyone can't handle their booze. What he's doing is holding this example out as the ultimate goal of the liberal socialists like Obama who want to make rules for everyone based of the actions of the minority.
Originally posted by WrathfulDwarf
I'm not too sold on this idea that Britain is a nation pack with drunks....what nation in the world isn't full of drunks?
Apart from Britian, Russia and Poland.
Other nations tend to enjoy their alcohol in a different way, ie they can walk home, don´t end up in jail, don´t vomit everywhere, don´t attack people for "looking at them in a funny way", stealing building site lights and signs and taking them home with them etc....