Comments on: Alcohol Consumption In Surprising Fall http://gordonjohnston.wordpress.com/2011/02/16/alcohol-consumption-in-surprising-fall/ Living with a bipolar brain Wed, 22 May 2013 01:14:42 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: martin brennan http://gordonjohnston.wordpress.com/2011/02/16/alcohol-consumption-in-surprising-fall/#comment-535 Wed, 16 Feb 2011 16:43:15 +0000 http://gordonjohnston.wordpress.com/?p=1116#comment-535 Apparently, for most of the 19th century the Brits and Irish were a pretty boozy bunch. First World War restrictions on opening hours became a permanent fixture for over half a century; the late 19th and early 20th century Temperance movements; a general societal and religious disapproval together with the high price of spirits, in real terms, all combined to put the hems on a lot of potential topers. By the the late 1960s the dedicated drinker was entering a golden age. Never had the drinking ambience been more encouraging.

All that guff said, UK society is now reaping a whirlwind in terms of alcohol addiction, alcohol related disease, alcohol-fuelled crime, psychological damage inflicted on their families by drinkers and the anarchic behaviour of the drunken young who invest our towns and cities every weekend.

The Pavlovian response to problems like alcohol, drug abuse, teenage pregnancies or STD is always – education. Yet there is not one shred of evidence to suggest that formal school lessons have the slightest impact on social problems.

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