Britons Condemned as Europe's Worst Binge Drinkers

Yahooooooo News ^ | 09/19/03 | (Reuters)

[bedolido]

LONDON (Reuters) - Britons are the worst binge drinkers in Europe and women are catching up with men in the heavy drinking stakes, the government said on Friday, urging a "more civilized" late-night culture.

A report by Downing Street's strategy unit found that while Britons drink less than most of the continental neighbors, they drink more intensively.

"In the UK, binge drinking accounts for 40 percent of all drinking occasions by men and 22 percent by women," the unit said in a report designed to inform government policy on alcohol abuse.

That put Britain at the top of the binge league table, ahead of Sweden and Denmark, and way ahead of Germany, Italy and France, where binge drinking accounted for less than 15 percent of all consumption.

The strategy unit acknowledged binge drinking was difficult to define but said that for the purposes of its report it meant drinking more than twice the government's daily guidelines.

Those guidelines are three to four units of alcohol a day for men and two to three units for women. A unit is defined as half a pint of medium strength beer, a small glass of wine or a measure of spirits.

The report said that Britons drink less overall than most of their neighbors, including the French, Germans, Spaniards and Dutch. The league table for total consumption was topped by Luxembourg followed by Ireland and Portugal.

But it warned that while most people in Europe are drinking less than they used to, Britons are drinking more.

"If present trends continue, the UK would rise to near the top of the consumption league within the next 10 years," it said, adding that British children under 16 are drinking twice as much as they did 10 years ago.

Women are also drinking more.

"The number of women drinking above recommended guidelines has risen by over half in the last 15 years," it said.

One in four women exceeds the government's guidelines against just one in 10 in 1988.

Government minister Hazel Blears said Britons needed to change their drinking habits.

"We need to create a more civilized late-night culture," she told BBC Radio. "We've got to try to get into a culture where the whole of our entertainment isn't just about alcohol.

"It should be about cinema, theater, about bowling, about a range of things."

The British alcoholic drinks industry is worth 30 billion pounds ($48.55 billion) a year, seven billion of which finds its way to the Treasury.

But it also costs Britain an estimated 20 billion pounds each year in associated crime, health and social problems and employee absenteeism.

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

Considering how hopelessly screwed up England has become, can't say as I blame them.

[JohnGalt]

The Flemish are the hardest drinking people I have ever come across. 11 AM on a weekday and the bars are filled, and the ashtrays over flowing.

Great people.

[4mycountry]

the government said on Friday, urging a "more civilized" late-night culture.

Stop that, it's silly.

[dfwgator]

"What's all this, then?"

[Cicero]

The Brits are binge drinkers. The Scandinavians drink all winter in their perpetual darkness and cold. The Dutch and Germans never stop drinking. As for the Russians, the vodka starts at breakfast.

So, what else is new?

[chiefqc]

And the french are back stabbers, lairs, and smell bad.

[tdadams]

We can't talk much about England as long as we've got California. But this really surprises me. I've never seen anywhere near the amount of drinking I saw in Ireland. Beginning about noon, people saunter into the pubs, the Guinness starts flowing and doesn'tt stop until after midnight.

[BMiles2112]

The Irish celebrated the news by going to the local pub and getting drunk, with the knowledge they are Europe's best binge drinkers.

[ChinaThreat]

Im going to Flemway! Just kidding!

[JohnGalt]

Flanders is the Southwestern part of Belgium.


Great WWI battlefields and great drinkers.

[Burkeman1]

When I was in St Petersburg in 1992- the Russians had just raised the price of Vodka to reflect market value. Our tour guide told us that the biggest complainers were not Russians but the Finns would had been coming into St Petersburg on Ferries for decades to engage in weekend booze binges where alcohol was extremely cheap by Finnish standards. Apperently - as a way to earn hard cash- Swedes and Finns had been coming to Russia for weekend "booze tours" in which they literally drank themselves into stupors and had Russian "minders" who would make sure they didn't pass out and die in the streets in the winter.