THE GUARDIAN: Another week, another article suggesting that alcohol may have health benefits. It’s amazing how desperate drinkers are to fool themselves
It’s amazing how easy it is to persuade us that what we want to be true is true. Consider a typical headline to a story covered with great enthusiasm by many major news organisations this week: “Moderate alcohol consumption may lower stress, reduce heart disease risk, study finds.” Enthusiastic drinkers, drowning in a dark sea of health warnings, will cling on to such words as stricken sailors might hold on to the hull of their capsized boat.
They will turn a blind eye to the facts of the story, although even the headline itself, with its “may” and its “study finds”, suggests this scientific revelation isn’t quite the slam dunk we might be hoping for. Once the study’s methodology and conclusions are outlined, it’s clear that the whole thing falls into the category of quite interesting, rather than this changes everything. But who needs that level of detail? If I’m so minded, there’s as much information in the headline as I’m ever going to want or need to support my long-cherished pet theory about drinking. “I knew it! I told you so! Drinking helps me deal with stress, ergo it eases the strain on my poor ticker, therefore I’ll live longer and more happily.” I’ll file this fact away along with that one about red wine being good for you, as good as a health drink. » | Adrian Chiles | Wednesday, June 14, 2023
TV presenter Adrian Chiles opens up about his difficult relationship with alcohol ahead of appearance in Ilkley: Adrian Chiles was drinking 100 units a week when a doctor told him he had potential liver damage. Chiles, who has presented The One Show, Daybreak, ITV sport and hosted radio shows, turned the spotlight on to himself, with his BBC documentary Drinkers Like Me. »
The Puritans are back! First, there was a war on smoking (which is still raging); now, the war on drinking alcohol has started! After tobacco and alcohol, what will come next? Soon there will be no pleasures left for us! What a boring world this is becoming! People are becoming boring too! Policing the behaviour of others has become a pastime for many.
Have people forgotten the maxims that served us so well and for so long? ‘Moderation in all things’ and, ‘A little bit of what you fancy does you good’?
The problem today is that so many are incapable of moderation or self-discipline. The result? We all have to pay the price of the immoderate drinker and inconsiderate smoker.
The way things are going it will soon be de rigueur for us all to convert to Islam! Soon the Puritans will be mandating prayer times. If you think that is far-fetched, just wait a while longer! – © Mark Alexander
