"Children under 15 should not drink any alcohol,' says chief medical officer", was the headline of a responsible rag, passing on the sage advice of Sir Liam Donaldson, the chief medical officer of Britain. The reader is thus disabused of any idea that alcohol might be bad for our tots by recent research that has "revealed" the true extent of the problem-as if we didn't know.
Frank Soodeen from Alcohol Concern also pitches in with the WHO revelation that confirms the truth: "British teenagers are simply some of the heaviest drinkers in Europe". (By the way, the highest consumption of cannabis among teenagers is also in the UK.)
That parents are confused about how to control alcohol consumption amongst their progeny is obvious. I recall one cartoon strip in Private Eye where the first frame shows a couple on a sofa, glasses in hand, the mother talking on the phone. Aside, she says to her husband, "That's our daughter, she says she has no money and doesn't know where she is 'cos she's drunk. She wants us to pick her up."
He replies, "Tell her we're too pissed to come and get her."
The DirectGov website tells us that drink causes as many problems as drugs among the young, but lumping the two together only causes confusion. For one thing, "soft" drugs (which have recently been made 'harder' with cannabis being upgraded to a class B drug, without the penalties) are never the cause of violence whereas drink is the main source of agro in bars and on the street and at home. Having taught in a school where half the kids come from deprived homes, Monday mornings are not pleasant. Hangovers from the weekend have the pupils holding their heads, falling asleep or simply not turning up.
Again, records are placed in the parliamentary library by the Department of Schools, Children and Families, showing that 2000 pupils were permanently excluded and 40,000 temporarily excluded for drug and alcohol-related incidents over a four-year period. Of course, alcohol is a drug, but by not separating the cause of the exclusions we fail to get a clear picture of the cause of the exclusions, not to mention that drug taking is a crime but the consumption of alcohol is not.
Getting the alcohol was no problem for us. We would simply get an older brother, sister or friend to buy it for us. Methods have not really changed.
I first started drinking at around four-years old. The men in my dad's family were practical jokers and loved to take the piss out of their many nephews and nieces. My Uncle Maurice was fond of a glass of the cratur and took the opportunity to introduce the water of life to me as I sat on his knee. Hoisting me on to his lap he said, “Have a sip! Go on, have a sip!” He put the glass to my lips and I drank a mouthful of whiskey. Suddenly, my mouth was on fire and if you doubt that we have a memory of taste then I can assure you I can still experience the smoky, pungent sting of the liquor on my tongue just by thinking about it. Teacher’s whiskey, it was, served in a cut crystal whiskey glass. The image of the bottle and glass are also indelibly impressed on my mind.
“You’ll never drink whiskey again, will you?” he chuckled. Being too shocked to reply, I did swear to myself that I would never ever touch this dreadful stuff again.
At around the same age I also sampled red dessert wine called Palwin No 4 kosher wine and at 14.5% was a beverage to be reckoned with. My cousins and I would sit around the passover table and sneak as much as we could without being detected. Of course, by the first half glass we were quite tipsy and as we became more boisterous the bottle would end up out of our reach.
The synagogue on a Saturday morning was another opportunity to imbibe. After the morning service, a table in the basement would be laid with a white cloth upon which were plates of almond and poppyseed cakes and rows of glasses filled with white and red wine as well as bottles of scotch and vodka.
As we were with adults, we learned to drink responsibly. I never saw anyone soused and alcohol was drunk with respect for the health of the drinker. After all, the salutation was l'chaim, "to life".
Civilised drinking is also evident in most European countries. Why? Because drinking alcohol is an inclusive activity and usually takes place at mealtimes under the supervision of adults.
Now, with this new advice to parents that alcohol can damage a child's health (presumably more than an adult's) you can imagine the scenario if this became a law:
Last Saturday morning, the police burst into an orthodox Jewish synagogue in G0lder's Green and arrested Rabbi Gotleib for offering several young boys glasses of wine. Bottles of vodka, whiskey and beer were also seized in the raid.
Inspector Brown of the alcohol squad is quoted as saying, "Rabbi Gotleib is a respected member of the community, but this flaunting of the law can obviously lead to alcoholism in our youth. He knew what he was doing and will now have to pay the price. He may face a lengthy prison sentence.'"
Similar investigations are ongoing and there is concern for the children of European communities living in London who are knowingly being encouraged to drink alcohol at home, especially with meals and attended by their parents who are no doubt aware of the recent legislation passed in parliament.
Sir Liam is the Government's principal medical adviser on health issues. He advises the Secretary of State for Health, the Prime Minister and other government ministers.
Yes, there is a problem with young people drinking. But advice to parents and legislation does not work. In fact, it may have the opposite effect. With the young, making boundaries usually fails to work and may cause them to rebel. You cannot empower parents with advice and by giving them information of which they are already aware.
Finally, the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs has just published a report that condemns many school schemes with the findings that there is really no success rate with initiatives and that in some cases they had been "counter productive".
In Canada there has been a sensible approach to tobacco which has been taken of the shelves and drink which is not easy to come by as shops selling alcohol are not evident. In comparison, alcohol and tobacco can be bought from just about every corner shop in Britain as well as the supermarkets where cut-price alcohol can be bought for less that Coca Cola.
However, perhaps Canadian beer should be made available to our youngsters as it's a bit like making love in a canoe...fucking close to water.
'
The synagogue on a Saturday morning was another opportunity to imbibe. After the morning service, a table in the basement would be laid with a white cloth upon which were plates of almond and poppyseed cakes and rows of glasses filled with white and red wine as well as bottles of scotch and vodka.
As we were with adults, we learned to drink responsibly. I never saw anyone soused and alcohol was drunk with respect for the health of the drinker. After all, the salutation was l'chaim, "to life".
Civilised drinking is also evident in most European countries. Why? Because drinking alcohol is an inclusive activity and usually takes place at mealtimes under the supervision of adults.
Now, with this new advice to parents that alcohol can damage a child's health (presumably more than an adult's) you can imagine the scenario if this became a law:
Last Saturday morning, the police burst into an orthodox Jewish synagogue in G0lder's Green and arrested Rabbi Gotleib for offering several young boys glasses of wine. Bottles of vodka, whiskey and beer were also seized in the raid.
Inspector Brown of the alcohol squad is quoted as saying, "Rabbi Gotleib is a respected member of the community, but this flaunting of the law can obviously lead to alcoholism in our youth. He knew what he was doing and will now have to pay the price. He may face a lengthy prison sentence.'"
Similar investigations are ongoing and there is concern for the children of European communities living in London who are knowingly being encouraged to drink alcohol at home, especially with meals and attended by their parents who are no doubt aware of the recent legislation passed in parliament.
Sir Liam is the Government's principal medical adviser on health issues. He advises the Secretary of State for Health, the Prime Minister and other government ministers.
Yes, there is a problem with young people drinking. But advice to parents and legislation does not work. In fact, it may have the opposite effect. With the young, making boundaries usually fails to work and may cause them to rebel. You cannot empower parents with advice and by giving them information of which they are already aware.
Finally, the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs has just published a report that condemns many school schemes with the findings that there is really no success rate with initiatives and that in some cases they had been "counter productive".
In Canada there has been a sensible approach to tobacco which has been taken of the shelves and drink which is not easy to come by as shops selling alcohol are not evident. In comparison, alcohol and tobacco can be bought from just about every corner shop in Britain as well as the supermarkets where cut-price alcohol can be bought for less that Coca Cola.
However, perhaps Canadian beer should be made available to our youngsters as it's a bit like making love in a canoe...fucking close to water.
'
