There’s been a spate of stories recently about “middle class” drinking, which stem from a report produced by Liverpool John Moores University. The BBC’s coverage is reasonably typical
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Binge drinking is defined as exceeding 8 units in a day? Gosh, that's three glasses of wine.
Whoever wrote that has never seen a binge, as the man on the Clapham Omnibus would relate it; neither the lager-fuelled Friday night rowdiness of twenty-something football fans, nor the self-destructive 'bender' of all too many middle-aged bachelors with a weekend to themselves and access to several bottles of whisky.
I see no point in these official 'figures' and this ridiculous advice: I find myself using the term 'nannying' and wondering if I've been reading the Daily Mail without realising. Or perhaps some twisted dystopian has siezed the levers of power and seeks to discredit the notion of public health education. Either way, someone's being depressingly stupid.
Now I've had time to think about this 'advice', and it's shaky foundations in physiology and statistics, I find myself deeply worried. Not by my own consumption - nor your companions' - but by the certainty that a moral or political agenda has overridden the two of the pillars that support good medical advice: namely, frankness and a thorough grounding in the best current scientific knowledge .
The third pillar - knowing your patient - does still apply in public health: the 'patient' being the population in general, and identifiable groups of people who are at risk. Your critique of the statistics makes it clear that this knowledge is entirely absent.
No-one who reads that report is any the wiser when they ask 'Am I drinking too much?' We don't even know how many people are drinking too much, or which segments of the population are drinking too much; nor are we left with any clue as to the public health implications of Britain's 'Drinking Culture'.
So here's The HairyEars Guide to Safe Drinking, comprised of a layman's general
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TB or not TBhairyearsOctober 19 2007, 13:48:44 UTC
TB infection is closely correlated with alcohol abuse! Also, London has the highest infection rate of any Western European city, with the East End being a particular 'hotspot'.
1) The gap between purchased alcohol and consumed alcohol could (up to a point) be due to waste rather than accurate reporting. Apparently a sixth of all food bought in the UK is thrown away. I'm not convinced that this explains the discrepancy (alcohol has less of a tendancy to rot than vegetables, for starters) but I have definitely thrown away half bottles of vinegary-wine after parties, and I know of many cases where whiskey or liquor bought as presents has decorated shelves for many years. I would expect this problem to be even larger in pubs, where mark-ups are high and cask conditioned beer does not keep for more than a few days
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I think that's a little optimistic. Still, I admire your faith in me.
You could, of course, print this out and send it to your MP, who would in all likeliness send it to the Department of Health, who are 99% certain to reply with some form letter missing the point. But it would mean several people would have to read it, and a minister would have to sign in, which might be a useful prelude to them actually thinking about it. Perhaps.
And while I acknowlege DH are probably responsible for their guidelines, I don't see how university research reported poorly can in any (specific) way be our fault...
I'm glad. The feeling is reciprocated, although you've been pretty quiet recently. Motherhood, I suppose. Have you seen Zoe Williams series on being a new mother in the Guardian?
A combination of motherhood and a broken desktop computer. Whilst Daniel is awake, I can't spare sufficient attention to write anything complex, and after he's gone to bed at 8pm, I can't hog the laptop because vectorious wants to use it as well. We should be getting a new desktop in the next couple of weeks though so we shall see.
I saw one piece by Zoe Williams (which I found fairly enjoyable), but I didn't realise it was part of a series.
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Binge drinking is defined as exceeding 8 units in a day? Gosh, that's three glasses of wine.
Whoever wrote that has never seen a binge, as the man on the Clapham Omnibus would relate it; neither the lager-fuelled Friday night rowdiness of twenty-something football fans, nor the self-destructive 'bender' of all too many middle-aged bachelors with a weekend to themselves and access to several bottles of whisky.
I see no point in these official 'figures' and this ridiculous advice: I find myself using the term 'nannying' and wondering if I've been reading the Daily Mail without realising. Or perhaps some twisted dystopian has siezed the levers of power and seeks to discredit the notion of public health education. Either way, someone's being depressingly stupid.
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Now I've had time to think about this 'advice', and it's shaky foundations in physiology and statistics, I find myself deeply worried. Not by my own consumption - nor your companions' - but by the certainty that a moral or political agenda has overridden the two of the pillars that support good medical advice: namely, frankness and a thorough grounding in the best current scientific knowledge .
The third pillar - knowing your patient - does still apply in public health: the 'patient' being the population in general, and identifiable groups of people who are at risk. Your critique of the statistics makes it clear that this knowledge is entirely absent.
No-one who reads that report is any the wiser when they ask 'Am I drinking too much?' We don't even know how many people are drinking too much, or which segments of the population are drinking too much; nor are we left with any clue as to the public health implications of Britain's 'Drinking Culture'.
So here's The HairyEars Guide to Safe Drinking, comprised of a layman's general ( ... )
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Because you might catch TB and that would be bad.
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* coughs politely *
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1) The gap between purchased alcohol and consumed alcohol could (up to a point) be due to waste rather than accurate reporting. Apparently a sixth of all food bought in the UK is thrown away. I'm not convinced that this explains the discrepancy (alcohol has less of a tendancy to rot than vegetables, for starters) but I have definitely thrown away half bottles of vinegary-wine after parties, and I know of many cases where whiskey or liquor bought as presents has decorated shelves for many years. I would expect this problem to be even larger in pubs, where mark-ups are high and cask conditioned beer does not keep for more than a few days ( ... )
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Good, I'm expecting to you to sort this out.
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You could, of course, print this out and send it to your MP, who would in all likeliness send it to the Department of Health, who are 99% certain to reply with some form letter missing the point. But it would mean several people would have to read it, and a minister would have to sign in, which might be a useful prelude to them actually thinking about it. Perhaps.
And while I acknowlege DH are probably responsible for their guidelines, I don't see how university research reported poorly can in any (specific) way be our fault...
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*opinion pieces, if you prefer.
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I saw one piece by Zoe Williams (which I found fairly enjoyable), but I didn't realise it was part of a series.
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