Title – Boozy Britons drink the most alcohol in EuropeSource – Metro
Date – 23rd November 2009
This should please the comedy circuit ‘Britain retains its place at the top of the European league table’, but it is rightly pointed out that this is an area of concern for the UK.
That we are compared with our European neighbours is not the important thing, that we deal with the ‘problem’ drinkers and the binge drinking culture in the UK is.
I have often talked in this blog about binge drinking and the relationship between the ‘drinks industry’, the licensed retail sector, the authorities and the general public, as well as the need for a co-ordinated approach to alcohol consumption. I don’t think there is a need for me to re-emphasis these points, but rather to let these figures speak for themselves.
If you actually look at the figures the big difference between the UK and other European countries is not in those who drink daily (certainly a concern at 6%), but really those who drink several times a week (29%) and the number of units drunk per week. If we consider the recommended daily allowance, according to these figures we can assume over 25% of people exceed these limits.
These excesses occur and define the UK’s ‘binge drinking culture’, or rather the binge drinking culture amongst an element of our communities. ‘Binge drinking’ is loosely defined as 3 times or more the recommended daily allowance and binge drinkers tend to drink several times a week (typically the heavy Friday & Saturday night drinkers).
Additional legislation will not tackle binge drinking, it may curb the excesses and change the nature of the problem, but only education, awareness and a cultural shift will start to change these activities. Cultural change does not happen in a short space of time, it takes a generation; education and awareness needs to start now to help initiate the cultural shift; in that everyone has their role to play.
At
Beyond The Blue we run a number of courses for those working in the Licensed Retail Sector to help them sell alcohol more responsibly. These include; The Award in Responsible Alcohol Retailing (ARAR) designed for front-line staff to help them meet their statutory requirements; The National Certificate for Personal Licence Holders (NCPLH) which qualifies candidates to apply for their personal licence; Our Conflict Management and Resolution (CMR) course compliments these courses to help employees deal with Workplace Violence and alcohol related disorder.Date – 23rd November 2009
This should please the comedy circuit ‘Britain retains its place at the top of the European league table’, but it is rightly pointed out that this is an area of concern for the UK.
That we are compared with our European neighbours is not the important thing, that we deal with the ‘problem’ drinkers and the binge drinking culture in the UK is.
I have often talked in this blog about binge drinking and the relationship between the ‘drinks industry’, the licensed retail sector, the authorities and the general public, as well as the need for a co-ordinated approach to alcohol consumption. I don’t think there is a need for me to re-emphasis these points, but rather to let these figures speak for themselves.
If you actually look at the figures the big difference between the UK and other European countries is not in those who drink daily (certainly a concern at 6%), but really those who drink several times a week (29%) and the number of units drunk per week. If we consider the recommended daily allowance, according to these figures we can assume over 25% of people exceed these limits.
These excesses occur and define the UK’s ‘binge drinking culture’, or rather the binge drinking culture amongst an element of our communities. ‘Binge drinking’ is loosely defined as 3 times or more the recommended daily allowance and binge drinkers tend to drink several times a week (typically the heavy Friday & Saturday night drinkers).
Additional legislation will not tackle binge drinking, it may curb the excesses and change the nature of the problem, but only education, awareness and a cultural shift will start to change these activities. Cultural change does not happen in a short space of time, it takes a generation; education and awareness needs to start now to help initiate the cultural shift; in that everyone has their role to play.
At
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