The HITCH Series | Smoking & Drinking

Dec 4, 2019 | Christopher Hitchens discusses the virtues and vices of smoke and drink, as well as how they can contribute to an early death.

Related here and here.

Drinking Alcohol Is Bad for You – End of. Ignore the Headlines That Claim Otherwise

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

Smoking and Drinking Rise as Money Worries Hit Home
IRISH EXAMINER: SALARY cuts and reduced working hours are affecting almost half of all households, with money matters now having overtaken the pursuit of personal happiness in lists of priorities, a study has found.

As the effect of the recession deepens, the 2011 Pfizer Health Index indicates the toll the austere times are taking on our health. Pointing to increased drinking and smoking and lower motivation for personal improvement, the survey finds seven out of 10 people are struggling to make ends meet. » | Catherine Shanahan | Tuesday, October 25, 2011

WikiLeaks Cables: Saudi Princes Throw Parties Boasting Drink, Drugs and Sex *
THE GUARDIAN: Royals flout puritanical laws to throw parties for young elite while religious police are forced to turn a blind eye

These Saudi students at a prayer event in Riyadh conform to the puritanical image of the country, but worldly pleasures are available behind closed doors to the very rich, WikiLeaks cables show. Photograph: The Guardian
In what may prove a particularly incendiary cable, US diplomats describe a world of sex, drugs and rock'n'roll behind the official pieties of Saudi Arabian royalty.

Jeddah consulate officials described an underground Halloween party, thrown last year by a member of the royal family, which broke all the country's Islamic taboos. Liquor and prostitutes were present in abundance, according to leaked dispatches, behind the heavily-guarded villa gates.

The party was thrown by a wealthy prince from the large Al-Thunayan family. The diplomats said his identity should be kept secret. A US energy drinks company also put up some of the finance.

"Alcohol, though strictly prohibited by Saudi law and custom, was plentiful at the party's well-stocked bar. The hired Filipino bartenders served a cocktail punch using sadiqi, a locally-made moonshine," the cable said. "It was also learned through word-of-mouth that a number of the guests were in fact 'working girls', not uncommon for such parties."

The dispatch from the US partygoers, signed off by the consul in Jeddah, Martin Quinn, added: "Though not witnessed directly at this event, cocaine and hashish use is common in these social circles."

The underground party scene is "thriving and throbbing" in Saudi Arabia thanks to the protection of Saudi royalty, the dispatch said. But it is only available behind closed doors and for the very rich. >>> Heather Brooke | Tuesday, December 07, 2010

*And, of course, we shouldn't forget about their fondness for pretty boys. – © Mark

Laura Bush: George W Bush Was A 'Bore' When He Drank Too Much
THE TELEGRAPH: Laura Bush, the former First Lady, has spoken for the first time about her husband George W Bush's drinking, calling him a "bore" when he had too much.

In an interview about her life with Mr Bush, she said his love of alcohol left her "disappointed", although she denied ever giving him an ultimatum about his drinking.

Mr Bush has always denied he was an alcoholic, but he gave up alcohol when he turned 40 and did not drink during his presidency. He was arrested for drink driving in 1976.

"George drank the three B's, a bourbon before dinner, a beer with dinner and then B&B [a mixture of Brandy and Benedictine liquor], a sweet after dinner drink," she said.

"He didn't have three drink every night, many times all he had was a beer. But when he poured enough, he could be a bore.Maybe its funny when other people's husbands have too much too drink at a party, but I didn't think it was funny."

Mrs Bush told US magazine Ladies Home Journal that she did not threaten to end their marriage over her husband's drinking - but said she was "disappointed". >>> Paul Thompson | Sunday, May 16, 2010

Drivers Warned of Drunks in Road as Romania Tries to Reduce Accidents
TIMES ONLINE: Road signs warning drivers that drunken people may be in the road have been put up to reduce the number of accidents.

The signs read "Attention - Drunks" and show a reveller crawling along with a bottle in his hand.

Petru Antal, the Mayor of Pecica in Romania said his town had a vibrant nightlife. He said: “We are a border town and have lots of cars thundering through here all the time. But we also have a very vibrant nightlife and the two don't mix.

“We have to target the drivers because by the time they get to this state the pedestrians are beyond caring.” [Source: Times Online] | Foreign Staff | Wednesday, March 10, 2010

The Meddling Killjoys in Power
TIMESONLINE: As the middle classes face a barrage of Government hectoring over how much alcohol they should drink, one writer [Sarah Vine] launches a fightback

Something is gravely amiss in the corridors of power. First, the French go and elect themselves a President who claims not to drink wine, which is a bit like the Scottish electing a First Minister with an allergy to haggis: peculiarly unnatural. Now our own Government in London is proposing a crackdown on drinking at the privacy of one’s own dinner table. Specifically, middle-class wine drinkers, “those that are maybe drinking one or two bottles of wine at home each evening”.

Yes, that’s right, you with the leftover half-bottle of red in the fridge from last night (I always find it keeps so much better than way, just remember to take it out half an hour before you drink it); looking forward to finishing it off later on, were you? Well, if this lot get their way, you won’t be able to. If you persist, you will be branded a foul drunk, an irresponsible drain on health resources, a blot on society. You might even find yourself in a labour camp (oh, sorry, haven’t they announced that yet? I’m reliably informed that it’s at committee stage).

Aside from the fact that such a directive is staggeringly hypocritical coming from an administration that introduced 24-hour drinking (it’s fine to get completely bladdered 24/7 as long as you’re contributing significantly to the health of the powerful brewery lobbies and the Exchequer), these proposals are intolerable. Not only do they intrude on the population’s fundamental right to privacy, they are also an attempt to add a moral burden to the shoulders of the already overworked and overtaxed middle classes. These plans have nothing to do with safeguarding the nation’s health and everything to do with eroding the boundaries between public and private life. Oh, do stop wining… (more) By Sarah Vine

Mark Alexander

First Came Smoking; Now Comes Drinking
THE TELEGRAPH: More than eight million people in Britain are considered problem drinkers, according to figures released yesterday by the Department of Health.

The startling statistic - equivalent to one adult in six - comes as the Government makes its latest attempt to challenge booze culture.

People also do not know they are drinking too much.

According to figures from the Office of National Statistics and HM Revenue & Customs, people drink twice as much alcohol as they think they do.

An alcohol strategy, published yesterday by the Home Office and the Department of Health, will target supermarkets selling cheap beers and wine. Ministers blame low prices for a rise in drink-related illnesses and city centre disorder. One in six adults classed as a ‘problem drinker’ (more) By Philip Johnston

THE DAILY EXPRESS:
Po-Faced New Puritanism Must Be Resisted By Us All

Mark Alexander