Do you consume the weekly limit in a day?

"Around 2.5 million people in Great Britain - 9% of drinkers - consume more than the new weekly recommended limit for alcohol in a single day, latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show."

For anybody that can take anything these people say seriously, that new limit is 14 units a week. That's about a bottle and a half of wine.

I'm going to admit that many times I have come home from work and polished off a bottle of wine with my tea, and part or all of a second over the rest of the night. I don't think it's healthy at all, I just think we all know what the risks are, and it's up to every one individual to decide how much risk they want to personally take on.

Do you take these guidelines seriously, and being honest, how well do you stick to them?

I've got a mole within the NHS and got this from the horse's mouth, so to speak.

Labour had the smoking ban and the Tories have got booze in their sights.

It's all about targets and Key Performance Indicators.

Here's how it works:

When you go for a check up, they ask you how much you drink on a regular basis.

Last year, I couldn't be bothered with the ubiquitous lecture, so I said that I shared two bottles of wine, once a week on a Saturday night, with Mrs B.

The Practice Nurse then punched this data into her laptop and it flagged up as binge drinking.

I was given a leaflet about dealing with my alcohol dependency issues and told to moderate my behaviour.

The details of my "excessive drinking" were then logged on some NHS database and I became another tick in the box statistic, despite the fact that I'm not an alcoholic and I probably don't drink any more or less than the average and it's hardly excessive really.

And here's where it gets interesting....

GP's surgeries have targets set by central government for collecting data like this and every "problem drinker" they identify garners more funding for them. (They may call it the Piss Pot Pot, but I suspect not, as they don't appear to have a sense of humour.)

So by setting an artificially low threshold for what constitutes "problem drinking" they can collect and collate spurious data which suggests that there is a major problem which they are tackling.

The GP's all play along because all funding is good funding and the Tories can wheel out a load of graphs and stats about how they're serious about helping us all to get healthier.

It's a pile of bollocks and it'll probably be something else soon.

If they really were serious about it, they'd hike the excise duty on cheap booze and stop supermarkets from selling 24 cans of Fosters for a tenner but they won't, will they?

Because that would be about as popular as one of Whittam's cocktail parties and it would cost them votes.

i rarely drink during the week but will have a few on a Saturday and Sunday. I probably go over the weekly limit as i tend to drink stronger beers or ales that have a higher amount of units but would only have say 3 or 4 bottles over the night.
The weekly limit used to be 21 units for men didn't it? Have they changed it now so it's 14 units for everyone?

If i think back to my younger days of being out on the piss from Thursday to Sunday i would have smashed that level on the Thursday night alone.

Magoo must be on the AT RISK register.

Reebok Trotter wrote:Magoo must be on the AT RISK register.

 he doesn't have blood its all Stella now

I know precious few people who don't do 14 units in a night out.
Used to drink a lot more, but even in my 60s I still put away well above the recommended.
However when I was born the average life expectancy for males was 67 so I reckon it's a case of so far so good - and I've had a good time along the way. No regrets, no complaints.

Bet ive not had a days worth in 7 or 8 years

I typically booze about twice a week.

Midweek I'll go out after work and drink about 4 or 5 Heinekens. At the weekend Fanny McDanger and I usually go out for dinner and share a couple of bottles of Sauvignon Blanc. Then, about once per month the lads get together and I'll put away 6 or 7 vodka sodas.

Nowt wrong with that.

vodka soda's! Someone's forgotten their Bolton roots, what's wrong with a pint of Mild and a bag of pork scratchings. Throw in a fishy treat from the fishman who used to go round the pubs and you have a great night out 

Norpig wrote:vodka soda's! Someone's forgotten their Bolton roots, what's wrong with a pint of Mild and a bag of pork scratchings. Throw in a fishy treat from the fishman who used to go round the pubs and you have a great night out 

Mate, I used to be fully on board with a good pint of bitter in The Ship and Mr. Cockle's crab sticks in Maxims.

My love of bitter went away when I moved to London. Couldn't seem to find a decent one that I enjoyed so I eventually switched to lager. Staropramen, Budvar and especially Orangebom my faves.

It all went tits up when I moved to New York. Pink drinks everywhere so I eventually settled on bottled Heineken and the odd vodka. I'm not quite at the Malibu and pineapple stage yet but... hang on... I may try one in Mexico in a couple of weeks.

I've had a Malibu in Malibu and a beer in Beer.

God do I know how to live!

Sluffy wrote:I've had a Malibu in Malibu and a beer in Beer.

God do I know how to live!

Where is Beer, Sluffy?

I've not had an alcoholic drink since October. I think that says as much about my social life as my drinking habits.

finlaymcdanger wrote:

Norpig wrote:vodka soda's! Someone's forgotten their Bolton roots, what's wrong with a pint of Mild and a bag of pork scratchings. Throw in a fishy treat from the fishman who used to go round the pubs and you have a great night out 

Mate, I used to be fully on board with a good pint of bitter in The Ship and Mr. Cockle's crab sticks in Maxims.

My love of bitter went away when I moved to London. Couldn't seem to find a decent one that I enjoyed so I eventually switched to lager. Staropramen, Budvar and especially Orangebom my faves.

It all went tits up when I moved to New York. Pink drinks everywhere so I eventually settled on bottled Heineken and the odd vodka. I'm not quite at the Malibu and pineapple stage yet but... hang on... I may try one in Mexico in a couple of weeks.

do you drink Brooklyn beer Fin? It's become very trendy over here now but is actually very nice.

finlaymcdanger wrote:

Sluffy wrote:I've had a Malibu in Malibu and a beer in Beer.

God do I know how to live!

Where is Beer, Sluffy?

Devon

Quite pretty and the beer was good but nothing to make a detour for unless like me you could not resist having a beer in Beer!

http://www.beer-devon.co.uk/

I'm a sad bastard- I don't drink  the weekly allowed amount in a month.
Given the state of our beloved Superwhites, I'm going to make up for lost time though.

Breadman wrote:I've got a mole within the NHS and got this from the horse's mouth

Make your mind up, was it a mole or a horse?

It's actually my sister, so I suspect she wouldn't be too impressed with either comparison.

Norpig wrote:vodka soda's! Someone's forgotten their Bolton roots, what's wrong with a pint of Mild and a bag of pork scratchings. Throw in a fishy treat from the fishman who used to go round the pubs and you have a great night out 

I had a thing for Kershaws whelks after a few pints of Mild.

Norpig wrote:

finlaymcdanger wrote:

Norpig wrote:vodka soda's! Someone's forgotten their Bolton roots, what's wrong with a pint of Mild and a bag of pork scratchings. Throw in a fishy treat from the fishman who used to go round the pubs and you have a great night out 

Mate, I used to be fully on board with a good pint of bitter in The Ship and Mr. Cockle's crab sticks in Maxims.

My love of bitter went away when I moved to London. Couldn't seem to find a decent one that I enjoyed so I eventually switched to lager. Staropramen, Budvar and especially Orangebom my faves.

It all went tits up when I moved to New York. Pink drinks everywhere so I eventually settled on bottled Heineken and the odd vodka. I'm not quite at the Malibu and pineapple stage yet but... hang on... I may try one in Mexico in a couple of weeks.

do you drink Brooklyn beer Fin? It's become very trendy over here now but is actually very nice.

I do occasionally. It's what I drink when I go out in Brooklyn which it pretty rare. That and Six Point Crisp. They shy away from imported stuff these days unlike in Manhattan, where I typically drink. All craft beers now in the trendy areas of Brooklyn and Queens