Today I have been talking about the physiology of alcohol and I in doing so I have come across a group of people who have clearly redesigned the human body.
What?
Well according to one person I have been working with has been told by an accredited drug and alcohol service that humans have two stomachs. One is for food and one is for drugs and alcohol!!!!!
Yesterday I had someone come to me to tell me that his daughter told her science teacher about synapses and the chemical 'switch' system called neurotransmitters. The answer she received back was that they don't exist and you don't need to know that rubbish!
Well I ask you how on earth can anyone fight that kind of utter incompetence? If accredited services don't understand anatomy and physiology and a science teacher who doesn't even understand basic nerve structure what chance do our children have?
Next week I have been invited to talk on another radio show. I am so happy to do this because this sort of thing needs to be highlighted.
That said it comes back to this:
The symbiotic relationship between the alcohol industry and the alcohol abolitionists and therapists continues. This is a game more large and more deep than Berne could ever have envisaged. It is almost as if the ordinary person with alcohol challenges or the man in the street seeking true knowledge are stuck between the scotch and the rocks. And they are certainly left seeing double!
Tuesday 29 November 2011
Monday 21 November 2011
Video killed the radio star....Not
For those of you of a certain age you will remember the tag line from one of the 1980s most prolific songs. Ah the 1980s an era of yuppies and pre-defined hedonism. They say of the 1960s if you can remember them you weren't there well of the 80s not only was I most definitely there but I remember them with a clarity that cannot be described on this gentle blog.
However on the subject of alcohol it was the decade when everything really changed.
I was working last week on a lecture tour taking in the South East of England, primarily Kent, when on arriving back in my hotel room overlooking the wonderful and soulful River Medway I received an e-mail with an invite. It was an invite to a radio debate on the BBC during alcohol awareness week.
What week? I ask you say.
Alcohol awareness week I answer.
Never heard of it, comes your woeful reply.
Well you've probably never heard of it because when the massed ranks of the PR industry get to work with the millions supplied by the alcohol industry you're kind of going to be diverted. And those of us seek to educate are once again left drowning in the dregs of the barman's slops.
Anyway this radio star agreed to the debate and hauled his none too slim frame back up the M4 to Swindon to be involved in a lively mid morning debate on the virtues or not of alcohol. Mark O'Donnell and the team at BBC Wiltshire were brilliant as they always are when I work with the station and the enthusiasm shown tells me that the licence fee is worth every penny however the great shame was that we could not go on for longer because as it was Children in Need day someone needed to be interviewed naked in a bath of baked beans or the like.
And that is the point I wish to make here. Many of the Children in Need in the United Kingdom are in need because of the damage that alcohol is doing to their family. They have no idea what is going on but learn from the twisted environment in which they live. This means that when they are adults they will ultimately make the same mistakes that their parents made a generation before them. How I ask is that useful?
Those of you who know me know that I do not seek the abolition of alcohol. Anyone doing so is quite frankly living in cloud cuckoo land. Alcohol has been around since man first civilised so stopping it now is a non starter. What we can do is seek to influence the way in which people consume so that they do less damage to themselves and ultimately less damage to subsequent generations.
And we can only seek to influence through carefully targeted educational programmes that work on the psyche of both young and old. We need to seek out new frontiers and go boldly where... oh sorry I'll take off the Captain Kirk mask for a minute but you get my drift , don't you?
We need real education now on the subject of alcohol.We need it in our schools, in our workplace and in our homes. Otherwise we are in danger of losing yet another generation of children to the wastelands of the future. They are confused and there is no clear message so in the words of the great Ali G
Keep it Real!
If you're interested here's the link to the radio programme http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00lh7jw#synopsis
However on the subject of alcohol it was the decade when everything really changed.
I was working last week on a lecture tour taking in the South East of England, primarily Kent, when on arriving back in my hotel room overlooking the wonderful and soulful River Medway I received an e-mail with an invite. It was an invite to a radio debate on the BBC during alcohol awareness week.
What week? I ask you say.
Alcohol awareness week I answer.
Never heard of it, comes your woeful reply.
Well you've probably never heard of it because when the massed ranks of the PR industry get to work with the millions supplied by the alcohol industry you're kind of going to be diverted. And those of us seek to educate are once again left drowning in the dregs of the barman's slops.
Anyway this radio star agreed to the debate and hauled his none too slim frame back up the M4 to Swindon to be involved in a lively mid morning debate on the virtues or not of alcohol. Mark O'Donnell and the team at BBC Wiltshire were brilliant as they always are when I work with the station and the enthusiasm shown tells me that the licence fee is worth every penny however the great shame was that we could not go on for longer because as it was Children in Need day someone needed to be interviewed naked in a bath of baked beans or the like.
And that is the point I wish to make here. Many of the Children in Need in the United Kingdom are in need because of the damage that alcohol is doing to their family. They have no idea what is going on but learn from the twisted environment in which they live. This means that when they are adults they will ultimately make the same mistakes that their parents made a generation before them. How I ask is that useful?
Those of you who know me know that I do not seek the abolition of alcohol. Anyone doing so is quite frankly living in cloud cuckoo land. Alcohol has been around since man first civilised so stopping it now is a non starter. What we can do is seek to influence the way in which people consume so that they do less damage to themselves and ultimately less damage to subsequent generations.
And we can only seek to influence through carefully targeted educational programmes that work on the psyche of both young and old. We need to seek out new frontiers and go boldly where... oh sorry I'll take off the Captain Kirk mask for a minute but you get my drift , don't you?
We need real education now on the subject of alcohol.We need it in our schools, in our workplace and in our homes. Otherwise we are in danger of losing yet another generation of children to the wastelands of the future. They are confused and there is no clear message so in the words of the great Ali G
Keep it Real!
If you're interested here's the link to the radio programme http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00lh7jw#synopsis
Sunday 30 October 2011
Voodoo Juice for all?
Another report on children and drinking, more horror stories for Halloween. Lock up your children now or they will succumb to the Voodoo Man's lethal juice.
Is underage drinking a result of availability? Not really, alcohol has always been available to children in some form or another. It was far worse of course in Victorian times which is one of the reasons that the abolitionist movement started to grow in the min 1800's. However simplification of the argument only leads us away from the real source of our problems, consumerism.
For those of you who remember go back to a teenagers bedroom in the early 1980s or late 1970s. What would you find there. Here's a list of possibles.
Posters
Old style mono record player with collection of 45s and 33s
Mono tape recorder
Games and Toys
Books and magazines
Clothes including possible hand me downs
Now forward to today
Posters
Flat screen TV
Blue ray player
iPod
Laptop computer
Mobile telephone
Top quality designer clothing
Many of the items that were designed for business efficacy have somehow found their way onto a teenagers wish list.
So if the most advanced adult tools are available for every average teenager then it becomes blindingly obvious that children are becoming more adult sooner. This is a challenge because it means that children start to want adult things, particularly the big four taboos, drugs,sex, gambling and booze much earlier. Because children wish to prove they are grown up.
So it is not the availability of booze that has made the difference but the media's constant squashing of childhood.
Now add this to the fact that parents, who are responsible for the education of children have no real understanding of alcohol in their own right and it is all too obvious that we are in the scenario of monkey see. monkey do. So if a child sees their parents throwing caution to the wind they start to believe that this is part of being an adult.
And whilst I long for simpler days of long gone summers I am realistic to know that the only way we will see a change to drinking habits in children is if we educate the adults around them on how to be responsible with alcohol.
The fightback starts here.
Is underage drinking a result of availability? Not really, alcohol has always been available to children in some form or another. It was far worse of course in Victorian times which is one of the reasons that the abolitionist movement started to grow in the min 1800's. However simplification of the argument only leads us away from the real source of our problems, consumerism.
For those of you who remember go back to a teenagers bedroom in the early 1980s or late 1970s. What would you find there. Here's a list of possibles.
Posters
Old style mono record player with collection of 45s and 33s
Mono tape recorder
Games and Toys
Books and magazines
Clothes including possible hand me downs
Now forward to today
Posters
Flat screen TV
Blue ray player
iPod
Laptop computer
Mobile telephone
Top quality designer clothing
Many of the items that were designed for business efficacy have somehow found their way onto a teenagers wish list.
So if the most advanced adult tools are available for every average teenager then it becomes blindingly obvious that children are becoming more adult sooner. This is a challenge because it means that children start to want adult things, particularly the big four taboos, drugs,sex, gambling and booze much earlier. Because children wish to prove they are grown up.
So it is not the availability of booze that has made the difference but the media's constant squashing of childhood.
Now add this to the fact that parents, who are responsible for the education of children have no real understanding of alcohol in their own right and it is all too obvious that we are in the scenario of monkey see. monkey do. So if a child sees their parents throwing caution to the wind they start to believe that this is part of being an adult.
And whilst I long for simpler days of long gone summers I am realistic to know that the only way we will see a change to drinking habits in children is if we educate the adults around them on how to be responsible with alcohol.
The fightback starts here.
Thursday 27 October 2011
Now that the dust has settled
The inquest about Amy Winehouse has been held. The verdict misadventure.
My question is why misadventure?
Put simply consuming the amount of alcohol that she did would not as the papers would have you believe automatically led to death. There are far greater complexities than that, The record for someone caught for drinking and driving on one of my courses is a reading over double of that of Amy Winehouse and according to the police report on that person they were driving normally down the road! So the mad press headlines that we have seen are exactly that - mad!
Now that doesn't mean I advise people that it's OK to drink a couple of litres of vodka but it does lead me back to my favourite old adage
Educate people now, not when it's too late
I've listened to addiction expert after addiction expert pop their heads out of their ivory towers and glittering spires and talk about cross addiction this and human frailty that, quoting some fantastic theorists and academic studies to sound grand for their Andy Warhol moment, and I am fed up.
I am fed up because none of this public fetish with celebrity and it's ups and downs will actually help young and old alike understand and deal with alcohol from an informed position.
There are solutions there is a better way, but the politicians are too scared, the alcohol industry has an obvious vested interest and the so called abolitionists would have no reason to exist if they didn't have the fight.
Let's get real let's do it now
My question is why misadventure?
Put simply consuming the amount of alcohol that she did would not as the papers would have you believe automatically led to death. There are far greater complexities than that, The record for someone caught for drinking and driving on one of my courses is a reading over double of that of Amy Winehouse and according to the police report on that person they were driving normally down the road! So the mad press headlines that we have seen are exactly that - mad!
Now that doesn't mean I advise people that it's OK to drink a couple of litres of vodka but it does lead me back to my favourite old adage
Educate people now, not when it's too late
I've listened to addiction expert after addiction expert pop their heads out of their ivory towers and glittering spires and talk about cross addiction this and human frailty that, quoting some fantastic theorists and academic studies to sound grand for their Andy Warhol moment, and I am fed up.
I am fed up because none of this public fetish with celebrity and it's ups and downs will actually help young and old alike understand and deal with alcohol from an informed position.
There are solutions there is a better way, but the politicians are too scared, the alcohol industry has an obvious vested interest and the so called abolitionists would have no reason to exist if they didn't have the fight.
Let's get real let's do it now
Wednesday 19 October 2011
My Dad
Happy Birthday Dad, you would have been 73 today.
You will never know what an inspiration you were to me.
You will never know how much you influenced who I am.
You never really understood how I looked up to you or how much I loved you,
I just wish I knew why you loved a whisky bottle more that your son.
I just wish I could understand what drove you to your self destruction
I long for those lost years
I long for less tears
I just wish you could have always been the man I knew at the end
For that was the dad and the grandad to my children I always dreamed of.
You were not bad but you were weak.
I have forgiven those weaknesses because I wonder if I could have been stronger
I just hope you are at peace
I just hope you will understand
I just hope that others who pass on this journey will pass the test better than I
I love you Dad, Happy Birthday
You will never know what an inspiration you were to me.
You will never know how much you influenced who I am.
You never really understood how I looked up to you or how much I loved you,
I just wish I knew why you loved a whisky bottle more that your son.
I just wish I could understand what drove you to your self destruction
I long for those lost years
I long for less tears
I just wish you could have always been the man I knew at the end
For that was the dad and the grandad to my children I always dreamed of.
You were not bad but you were weak.
I have forgiven those weaknesses because I wonder if I could have been stronger
I just hope you are at peace
I just hope you will understand
I just hope that others who pass on this journey will pass the test better than I
I love you Dad, Happy Birthday
Thursday 13 October 2011
Oh No Mr Merson
Two well known people, two consecutive days, two stories about alcohol.
Yesterday Sarah Harding, today Paul Merson. Life can be very cruel sometimes.
Apparently Paul Merson was found to have given a positive roadside breath test however due to injuries sustained in the crash he had with a 40 tonne vehicle he was taken to hospital where blood tests were taken. Now the results of those blood tests will be pretty immediate. The ED doctors treating him will already know what his blood alcohol level was. They need that information so as to treat more effectively someone in the Emergency Department. The official reading will take up to 6 weeks.
And unfortunately this will be a case for strengthening Phillip Hammond's resolve to remove the statutory blood test for those people blowing between 35 and 50 micrograms of alcohol per 100ml of breath. The accuracy of hand held portable devices and even the larger evidential intoximeters in Police Station is well documented as being questionable, particularly in the area highlighted above so what if Mr Merson's readings come back negative? Well it was just a time factor will be the answer from the makers of the intoximeter. Well they need to protect their market place don't they.
And all of this makes an excellent soundbite even if it is fundamentally the wrong approach to drinking and driving.
Now let me make this absolutely clear before all the finger waving starts at me: I loathe drinking and driving.
But I also loathe unfair systems!
If we are serious about stopping incidents like the Paul Merson situation then we have to get serious about what we are going to do. Draconian punishments should be part of the plan but they should be reserved for all those people who have basically stuck two fingers up at our society.
There is a solution to stopping drinking and driving that will have so many knock on effects on our country in terms of positive outcomes. It will help educate people, it will give people really great public transport and it will create jobs. And the irony is that the alcohol companies will not lose out either.
There is a third way, I know what it is but has Phillip Hammond got the guts to put it before his cabinet colleagues. I doubt it, he hasn't even got the guts to talk to me! Why? Because the politicians are only interested in the next 5 years, not our country's future!
Yesterday Sarah Harding, today Paul Merson. Life can be very cruel sometimes.
Apparently Paul Merson was found to have given a positive roadside breath test however due to injuries sustained in the crash he had with a 40 tonne vehicle he was taken to hospital where blood tests were taken. Now the results of those blood tests will be pretty immediate. The ED doctors treating him will already know what his blood alcohol level was. They need that information so as to treat more effectively someone in the Emergency Department. The official reading will take up to 6 weeks.
And unfortunately this will be a case for strengthening Phillip Hammond's resolve to remove the statutory blood test for those people blowing between 35 and 50 micrograms of alcohol per 100ml of breath. The accuracy of hand held portable devices and even the larger evidential intoximeters in Police Station is well documented as being questionable, particularly in the area highlighted above so what if Mr Merson's readings come back negative? Well it was just a time factor will be the answer from the makers of the intoximeter. Well they need to protect their market place don't they.
And all of this makes an excellent soundbite even if it is fundamentally the wrong approach to drinking and driving.
Now let me make this absolutely clear before all the finger waving starts at me: I loathe drinking and driving.
But I also loathe unfair systems!
If we are serious about stopping incidents like the Paul Merson situation then we have to get serious about what we are going to do. Draconian punishments should be part of the plan but they should be reserved for all those people who have basically stuck two fingers up at our society.
There is a solution to stopping drinking and driving that will have so many knock on effects on our country in terms of positive outcomes. It will help educate people, it will give people really great public transport and it will create jobs. And the irony is that the alcohol companies will not lose out either.
There is a third way, I know what it is but has Phillip Hammond got the guts to put it before his cabinet colleagues. I doubt it, he hasn't even got the guts to talk to me! Why? Because the politicians are only interested in the next 5 years, not our country's future!
Wednesday 12 October 2011
Rock Chick Sick
Sarah Harding has checked herself into rehab because of alcohol problems according to NME. Am I surprised? Not really because living in a fishbowl for 10 years is going to take it's toll on you. Is it going to mean mass hysteria? Possibly, well from the press at least as they all scramble for another story to heap more pressure on someone who is obviously facing some serious challenges at the moment.
Sadly Sarah is not the only one in this situation. In the UK alone it is estimated that 1in 20 or 5% of the drinking population is suffering from a serious issue associated with alcohol. Putting this into reality when you jump on your bus today carrying 70 passengers 3 of them will possibly be addicted to alcohol. In your child's class 3 parents are likely to be addicted. In an average school 2 teachers are likely to be addicted. In a hospital with 200 doctors then 10 of them are likely to be addicted and in every premiership match at least 1 footballer is likely to be addicted. That's what the stats would mean if they spread evenly across the board.
The problem is for those of us in the know is that the stats don't spread evenly and the more pressurised the situation the more likely there is to be abuse of alcohol and/or drugs.
We know the medical profession, the legal profession, the police force, the teaching profession and the military all suffer high levels of alcohol abuse whereas ironically manual workers who are often portrayed as being in the pub constantly do not.
The sad reality is that alcohol services in the UK are extremely overstretched. Not because there is a lack of money but because there is a lack of will by Government. No 11 know that if they go war on the alcohol companies that large amounts of revenue are potentially at risk and in an economy as fragile as the one we have at the moment the risk is simply too great. So the Government are happy to sit back on the advice of the Treasury, look as if they are doing something with smoke and mirrors but in reality are doing nothing. And this is simply not on.
The smoke and mirrors come in the form of the highly paid and overrated academics sat in their ivory towers who half the time wouldn't know a true alcohol problem if it hit them square between the eyes but have made a fortune out of "studying" the problem.
Addiction is not a research paper it is a cold hard symptom of a lack of education and symbiotic relationship between the Government, the alcohol industry and the prohibitionists.
Whilst I wish Sarah well in the journey to conquer her demons we need real funding, for real people to do a real job now! It is no good waiting until the dead bodies start piling up.
Sadly Sarah is not the only one in this situation. In the UK alone it is estimated that 1in 20 or 5% of the drinking population is suffering from a serious issue associated with alcohol. Putting this into reality when you jump on your bus today carrying 70 passengers 3 of them will possibly be addicted to alcohol. In your child's class 3 parents are likely to be addicted. In an average school 2 teachers are likely to be addicted. In a hospital with 200 doctors then 10 of them are likely to be addicted and in every premiership match at least 1 footballer is likely to be addicted. That's what the stats would mean if they spread evenly across the board.
The problem is for those of us in the know is that the stats don't spread evenly and the more pressurised the situation the more likely there is to be abuse of alcohol and/or drugs.
We know the medical profession, the legal profession, the police force, the teaching profession and the military all suffer high levels of alcohol abuse whereas ironically manual workers who are often portrayed as being in the pub constantly do not.
The sad reality is that alcohol services in the UK are extremely overstretched. Not because there is a lack of money but because there is a lack of will by Government. No 11 know that if they go war on the alcohol companies that large amounts of revenue are potentially at risk and in an economy as fragile as the one we have at the moment the risk is simply too great. So the Government are happy to sit back on the advice of the Treasury, look as if they are doing something with smoke and mirrors but in reality are doing nothing. And this is simply not on.
The smoke and mirrors come in the form of the highly paid and overrated academics sat in their ivory towers who half the time wouldn't know a true alcohol problem if it hit them square between the eyes but have made a fortune out of "studying" the problem.
Addiction is not a research paper it is a cold hard symptom of a lack of education and symbiotic relationship between the Government, the alcohol industry and the prohibitionists.
Whilst I wish Sarah well in the journey to conquer her demons we need real funding, for real people to do a real job now! It is no good waiting until the dead bodies start piling up.
Monday 10 October 2011
You cannot command the tide to turn back!
King Canute was famous, or infamous for ordering the tide to stop according to legend. Well in modern day terms that's pretty much what anyone who seeks to stop people drinking is trying to do, with I might add as much chance of success. If you really want to change peoples drinking habits then you don't just stand up in front of them and say stop! Nor do you try and blow away their minds with study upon study. You have to get clever. Just like the Dutch did when building the dikes that salvaged land from the sea. They used their brains!
Psychology is the key to turning the tide on alcohol. You can't fight it head on. Lets face it the first records of alcohol production en mass go back to the first civilisations where you will also find records of drug abuse, gambling and fornication/prostitution. The four great taboos of civilised society have in fact been present since day one of civilisation so you would not be trying to change a fashion, which lasts for a few weeks, or a trend that can last for several years.
By telling people to stop drinking you are effectively trying to turn back history, And history has a habit of not liking that!
So effectively you have to play smart and change attitudes and throwing a load of studies at people, most of whom wouldn't know a scientific study if it hit them in the face, is not the answer.
In the words of Ali G you gotta keep it real!
People need to be able to identify with what you are asking them to do and why you are asking them to do it. And remember you are fighting against a sophisticated machine called the alcohol industry and their PR gurus who know how to stay on message and keep people on message. So you have to do a better sales job than the salesman. You have to know the tricks of the trade.
And that's where psychologists come in! You cannot command the tide to turn back you have to fool it into wanting to turn back so that eventually it does - simples eh?
Psychology is the key to turning the tide on alcohol. You can't fight it head on. Lets face it the first records of alcohol production en mass go back to the first civilisations where you will also find records of drug abuse, gambling and fornication/prostitution. The four great taboos of civilised society have in fact been present since day one of civilisation so you would not be trying to change a fashion, which lasts for a few weeks, or a trend that can last for several years.
By telling people to stop drinking you are effectively trying to turn back history, And history has a habit of not liking that!
So effectively you have to play smart and change attitudes and throwing a load of studies at people, most of whom wouldn't know a scientific study if it hit them in the face, is not the answer.
In the words of Ali G you gotta keep it real!
People need to be able to identify with what you are asking them to do and why you are asking them to do it. And remember you are fighting against a sophisticated machine called the alcohol industry and their PR gurus who know how to stay on message and keep people on message. So you have to do a better sales job than the salesman. You have to know the tricks of the trade.
And that's where psychologists come in! You cannot command the tide to turn back you have to fool it into wanting to turn back so that eventually it does - simples eh?
Sunday 9 October 2011
Oh Dear Don
When is Don Shenker ever going to realise that he has no chance at influencing children to stay away from alcohol?
His latest attempt at getting facebook to stop giving access to under 18's to alcohol advertising just shows he has absolutely no idea how children work, how facebook works or how marketing works. He is also showing scant regard for history but it all sounds very good.
Problem 1 : Children lie about their age on facebook!
Problem 2: It is not the marketing of alcohol that has made the difference it is marketing full stop,
Problem 3: Constantly saying that a teenager shouldn't do something guarantees they will.
Once again we see the relationship continue. Big alcohol are the bad guys, Alcohol Concern the knights in shining armour and the Government are in between.
It is a symbiotic relationship of the highest order and the voice of reason and understanding gets lost.
I have spent my life dedicated to changing the habits of those who use alcohol and I still see the same old entrenched attitudes that lead us on a road to nowhere.
Change the paradigms - NOW!
His latest attempt at getting facebook to stop giving access to under 18's to alcohol advertising just shows he has absolutely no idea how children work, how facebook works or how marketing works. He is also showing scant regard for history but it all sounds very good.
Problem 1 : Children lie about their age on facebook!
Problem 2: It is not the marketing of alcohol that has made the difference it is marketing full stop,
Problem 3: Constantly saying that a teenager shouldn't do something guarantees they will.
Once again we see the relationship continue. Big alcohol are the bad guys, Alcohol Concern the knights in shining armour and the Government are in between.
It is a symbiotic relationship of the highest order and the voice of reason and understanding gets lost.
I have spent my life dedicated to changing the habits of those who use alcohol and I still see the same old entrenched attitudes that lead us on a road to nowhere.
Change the paradigms - NOW!
Now that is the pot calling the kettle!
You may remember the previous input about drinkaware.co.uk and my dislike of the way in which the alcohol industry portrays itself. Now it's time for me to show you the opposite side of the coin and talk about the abolitionists and detractors.
The Sunday Times carried on it's front page a small but not insignificant article today with regards to the drinking habits of Members of Parliament. The medical profession had decided to attack MP's who according to them are exhibiting alcoholic behaviour patterns.
Maybe the medical profession needs to be reminded that the highest rate of abuse of alcohol is within their own four walls and although the 600 plus MP's may be influential on our society the tens of thousands of doctors are more influential at the grass roots because people ultimately still trust their doctors whereas they are ambivalent to their MP!
And as most doctors have little or no real knowledge of alcohol then why do they think that they are best placed to criticise anyway?
The medical profession needs to put it's own house in order first before they try and take the moral high ground relating to the misuse of alcohol and come to that drugs. Leave it to those of us who have made alcohol and it's challenges our lifelong work. Leave it to the real professionals! Because if the message gets lost the only beneficiaries will be the alcohol companies
The Sunday Times carried on it's front page a small but not insignificant article today with regards to the drinking habits of Members of Parliament. The medical profession had decided to attack MP's who according to them are exhibiting alcoholic behaviour patterns.
Maybe the medical profession needs to be reminded that the highest rate of abuse of alcohol is within their own four walls and although the 600 plus MP's may be influential on our society the tens of thousands of doctors are more influential at the grass roots because people ultimately still trust their doctors whereas they are ambivalent to their MP!
And as most doctors have little or no real knowledge of alcohol then why do they think that they are best placed to criticise anyway?
The medical profession needs to put it's own house in order first before they try and take the moral high ground relating to the misuse of alcohol and come to that drugs. Leave it to those of us who have made alcohol and it's challenges our lifelong work. Leave it to the real professionals! Because if the message gets lost the only beneficiaries will be the alcohol companies
Tuesday 4 October 2011
Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink
I sometimes wonder how pathetic the great manipulators, the alcohol companies, really can be.
I have never been anti-alcohol. I enjoy a drink as much as the next person, but I am anti binge drinking and excessive drinking for I see all to clearly the damage that this does.
A friend of mine on twitter who owns a very well established and successful business retailing and wholesaling non alcoholic wines told me that drinkaware refused to put a link from their website to his. This is ridiculous and they know it. What it does show though that like big tobacco, alcohol companies will go about using their PR machine to prevent any semblance of education or choice.
People who sell non alcoholic wines and beers are not generally anti alcohol they just want to operate a business where people can make a choice based on a product. After all Toyota brought us the Prius and that hasn't stopped people buying other non hybrid Toyota cars, or Ferraris come to that. And interestingly enough the alcohol companies can make exceedingly good non alcoholic wines and beers but chose not to heavily market them themselves as the profit margins tend to be lower.
So come on drinkaware.co.uk get your act together. You are supposed to be promoting education and choice not denying it. You are getting as bad as Alcohol Concern who have the exact opposite views but still deny education and choice.
We live in a world where we can educate and get free choice through that education, give us some credit please and start treating us like grown ups!
I have never been anti-alcohol. I enjoy a drink as much as the next person, but I am anti binge drinking and excessive drinking for I see all to clearly the damage that this does.
A friend of mine on twitter who owns a very well established and successful business retailing and wholesaling non alcoholic wines told me that drinkaware refused to put a link from their website to his. This is ridiculous and they know it. What it does show though that like big tobacco, alcohol companies will go about using their PR machine to prevent any semblance of education or choice.
People who sell non alcoholic wines and beers are not generally anti alcohol they just want to operate a business where people can make a choice based on a product. After all Toyota brought us the Prius and that hasn't stopped people buying other non hybrid Toyota cars, or Ferraris come to that. And interestingly enough the alcohol companies can make exceedingly good non alcoholic wines and beers but chose not to heavily market them themselves as the profit margins tend to be lower.
So come on drinkaware.co.uk get your act together. You are supposed to be promoting education and choice not denying it. You are getting as bad as Alcohol Concern who have the exact opposite views but still deny education and choice.
We live in a world where we can educate and get free choice through that education, give us some credit please and start treating us like grown ups!
Monday 3 October 2011
It's all in the message
I was sat reading through a publication called PR Week when I turned, as I am want to out of curiosity, to the jobs/employment pages. Lo and behold staring me in the face was an advertisement for a Communications Officer for drinkaware.co.uk the industry organisation voluntarily set up to give information to the general public about the so called facts about alcohol.
The advertisement goes on to talk about joining an award winning Communications team promoting key messages to several sectors and also implies working intimately with the medical profession. And for the right person the remuneration package is £25k per annum.
Now is there any wonder why when a body, set up by the alcohol industry, can pay £25k for a very junior spin doctor that those of us who really seek to educate about alcohol stand a chance?
Now I'm not naive enough to believe that a multi-billion pound industry is going to roll over and say yes we've misled you for thousands of years, let's face it look at big tobacco, but I would like to think that they have the courage to tell the truth because for all of you that know me I am not anti alcohol just anti abuse of alcohol.
Also how are these "Communications Officers" trained? Oh I forgot to tell you. They are trained by Universities and Colleges who specialise in Communications but have little understanding of the true neurophysiological or psychological impact that those Communications have upon the intended subject. Sure there are one or two really good centres out there but the reality is that once someone has written the "Communications Bible" they all preach from the same sheet. However those organisations who do understand this deep impact upon the human psyche are very powerful indeed and have the ability to manipulate the human race as if they were a toy in the bath. Don't believe me? Ask Stanley Milgram, Josef Goebbels or even Rupert Murdoch.
So if an industry like the alcohol industry really wants to make you believe something they take fresh young minds and turn them into Communications Officers implanting them with the message that they are being responsible and educational about alcohol.
After all it's all in the message
The advertisement goes on to talk about joining an award winning Communications team promoting key messages to several sectors and also implies working intimately with the medical profession. And for the right person the remuneration package is £25k per annum.
Now is there any wonder why when a body, set up by the alcohol industry, can pay £25k for a very junior spin doctor that those of us who really seek to educate about alcohol stand a chance?
Now I'm not naive enough to believe that a multi-billion pound industry is going to roll over and say yes we've misled you for thousands of years, let's face it look at big tobacco, but I would like to think that they have the courage to tell the truth because for all of you that know me I am not anti alcohol just anti abuse of alcohol.
Also how are these "Communications Officers" trained? Oh I forgot to tell you. They are trained by Universities and Colleges who specialise in Communications but have little understanding of the true neurophysiological or psychological impact that those Communications have upon the intended subject. Sure there are one or two really good centres out there but the reality is that once someone has written the "Communications Bible" they all preach from the same sheet. However those organisations who do understand this deep impact upon the human psyche are very powerful indeed and have the ability to manipulate the human race as if they were a toy in the bath. Don't believe me? Ask Stanley Milgram, Josef Goebbels or even Rupert Murdoch.
So if an industry like the alcohol industry really wants to make you believe something they take fresh young minds and turn them into Communications Officers implanting them with the message that they are being responsible and educational about alcohol.
After all it's all in the message
Thursday 29 September 2011
I need a drink!
I was recently approached by someone who has been having a hard time and I noticed how they were constantly clock watching. So I asked why?
"Because it's nearly beer o'clock time I need a drink" was the reply
"So if you need a drink why are you here talking to me, after all we have 24 hour drinking now? " I asked rather tongue in cheek.
"Because I don't want a drink but I need a drink"
It was a psychological need for a crutch. They were clearly showing a pattern of denying that they were in trouble. Not necessarily with alcohol but it was manifesting in the form of taking themselves off to the pub at precisely the same time every night. It was a diversionary tactic from facing up to the challenges that they knew they had but didn't know how to handle. When I discussed this with them they said to me that their boss had called them into the office and had noticed that they were always going to the pub at the same time every night and would refuse to work late if needed because of the prior engagement. The manager suggested that they put themselves forward for alcohol testing. They were now worried that they would lose their job.
I explained to them that whatever the results of any medical test showed there was no medical test that proved or disproved alcoholism and companies or organisations who relied solely on a laboratory finding were negligent themselves as addiction to alcohol is far more complex than that. They seemed relieved and agreed that they would seek further help in discovering why they had this particular relationship with the pub and what was the underlying cause.
When we ask ourselves questions we don't always get the answers that we wish for and we often try to hide. So if you are feeling vulnerable, talk it through with someone you trust, but always remember that you ultimately make the decision and any decision is better late than never
"Because it's nearly beer o'clock time I need a drink" was the reply
"So if you need a drink why are you here talking to me, after all we have 24 hour drinking now? " I asked rather tongue in cheek.
"Because I don't want a drink but I need a drink"
It was a psychological need for a crutch. They were clearly showing a pattern of denying that they were in trouble. Not necessarily with alcohol but it was manifesting in the form of taking themselves off to the pub at precisely the same time every night. It was a diversionary tactic from facing up to the challenges that they knew they had but didn't know how to handle. When I discussed this with them they said to me that their boss had called them into the office and had noticed that they were always going to the pub at the same time every night and would refuse to work late if needed because of the prior engagement. The manager suggested that they put themselves forward for alcohol testing. They were now worried that they would lose their job.
I explained to them that whatever the results of any medical test showed there was no medical test that proved or disproved alcoholism and companies or organisations who relied solely on a laboratory finding were negligent themselves as addiction to alcohol is far more complex than that. They seemed relieved and agreed that they would seek further help in discovering why they had this particular relationship with the pub and what was the underlying cause.
When we ask ourselves questions we don't always get the answers that we wish for and we often try to hide. So if you are feeling vulnerable, talk it through with someone you trust, but always remember that you ultimately make the decision and any decision is better late than never
Sunday 28 August 2011
Another day another DEMOS
Well it's silly season again as far as the alcohol world is concerned. We are going to have a raft of studies flying at us over the next few months all trying to hit the headlines. Today's comes from the Think Tank DEMOS
It claims that parenting influences drinking habits and that poor parenting around the ages of 5, 10 and 16 will lead to bad drinking habits between the ages of 16 to 34.
My son has a phrase for this and excuse my language but he would say "No shit Sherlock!"
Stating the obvious in a study is neither driving the argument forward nor enhancing the debate it is merely showboating.
What the study doesn't do is look at the knowledge that parents had in regard to alcohol. A parent can only parent given the influences that they have had and role models they have perceived as they were learning to be parents. It's the hardest job in the world raising children, particularly in a fast moving world that we have today,. I know I am the father to 3 natural and 2 step-children (whom I hasten to add I have always regarded as my own children and have not been treated with any difference). It has been a very tough job and at times absolutely impossible.
My role models were poor. My parents did their best, the realistic situation however was that I had a mother hooked on anti depressants and a father who was an alcoholic (see earlier parts of this blog) I was an only child and heavily influenced by my Grandfather who in many ways instilled in me my compass for life in teaching me compassion, integrity and the need to put others first. The latter sometimes compromising the former two.
When it came to alcohol therefor I grew up thinking that one went to bed at 7pm and drank copious amounts of whisky until one was blotto. At 14 I felt this experience for the first time myself when my so called mates decided it would be funny to spike my Ben Shaw's shandy with whisky. I still remember the feeling of walking along the kerb all the way home and skulking off to the bathroom to render new decor to the toilet bowl. It was an experience that I did not enjoy.
Yet with all the alcohol floating about there was no talk about it. Everything was brushed under the carpet and it was down to me to find out what was actually going on. I was never educated by my parents, in fact I don't know any of my school friends who were, nor do I know any of my children's friends who were educated either, interestingly enough.
I was accused recently in some feedback about my style of education that I am a very nice man with great integrity but sometimes I'm in Neverland. I took that as some of my ideas were too outrageous to ever be contemplated. Isn't that what they said about people who wanted to travel to the stars?
If we really seek to change the drinking pattern of our nation then we must seek to educate. Parents cannot educate their children and cannot be expected to educate their children if they have no clue themselves. If it is away with the fairies to think that is possible then section me now because I will just keep coming back at you.
Educate now, educate well, and make sure the educators are in full knowledge themselves. Stick that one in your Think Tank!
It claims that parenting influences drinking habits and that poor parenting around the ages of 5, 10 and 16 will lead to bad drinking habits between the ages of 16 to 34.
My son has a phrase for this and excuse my language but he would say "No shit Sherlock!"
Stating the obvious in a study is neither driving the argument forward nor enhancing the debate it is merely showboating.
What the study doesn't do is look at the knowledge that parents had in regard to alcohol. A parent can only parent given the influences that they have had and role models they have perceived as they were learning to be parents. It's the hardest job in the world raising children, particularly in a fast moving world that we have today,. I know I am the father to 3 natural and 2 step-children (whom I hasten to add I have always regarded as my own children and have not been treated with any difference). It has been a very tough job and at times absolutely impossible.
My role models were poor. My parents did their best, the realistic situation however was that I had a mother hooked on anti depressants and a father who was an alcoholic (see earlier parts of this blog) I was an only child and heavily influenced by my Grandfather who in many ways instilled in me my compass for life in teaching me compassion, integrity and the need to put others first. The latter sometimes compromising the former two.
When it came to alcohol therefor I grew up thinking that one went to bed at 7pm and drank copious amounts of whisky until one was blotto. At 14 I felt this experience for the first time myself when my so called mates decided it would be funny to spike my Ben Shaw's shandy with whisky. I still remember the feeling of walking along the kerb all the way home and skulking off to the bathroom to render new decor to the toilet bowl. It was an experience that I did not enjoy.
Yet with all the alcohol floating about there was no talk about it. Everything was brushed under the carpet and it was down to me to find out what was actually going on. I was never educated by my parents, in fact I don't know any of my school friends who were, nor do I know any of my children's friends who were educated either, interestingly enough.
I was accused recently in some feedback about my style of education that I am a very nice man with great integrity but sometimes I'm in Neverland. I took that as some of my ideas were too outrageous to ever be contemplated. Isn't that what they said about people who wanted to travel to the stars?
If we really seek to change the drinking pattern of our nation then we must seek to educate. Parents cannot educate their children and cannot be expected to educate their children if they have no clue themselves. If it is away with the fairies to think that is possible then section me now because I will just keep coming back at you.
Educate now, educate well, and make sure the educators are in full knowledge themselves. Stick that one in your Think Tank!
Sunday 31 July 2011
Addiction, Obsession and Paranoia
Mitch Winehouse is setting up a foundation in his daughter's name to help those with addiction. Today he is meeting James Brokenshire MP about the project. Let us hope that some good comes of this meeting.
But let me make this clear. Government in the UK have no real desire to deal with addiction, or the causes of addiction particularly in relation to addiction to alcohol because of the symbiotic relationship it enjoys with the drinks industry. This is just an outlandish attempt at showboating and soundbites on the back of tragedy and the increased popularity of Amy Winehouse since her death.
I wish Mitch Winehouse well. From all too bitter experience I know the devastation alcohol causes within a family. I am all too familiar with the cruel and murky waters created by an inability to control one's own function. From an earlier part of this blog you can read some of my relationship with alcoholism.
Yet I am not an addict and never have been an addict. God knows I pray that I never become addicted to alcohol, but like millions of normal people I enjoy a beer or a glass of wine.
Unlike the tobacco companies who can say absolutely nothing positive about smoking there is evidence that alcohol is not always bad where no such evidence exists with tobacco. I am not some abolitionist that would see prohibition brought in tomorrow. We all know that the prohibition of alcohol in the US in the 1920's just created a monster called the Mafia.
Yet I am passionate and experienced and committed to making a profound change in the habits of young and old alike so that their relationship with alcohol changes in such a way as to prevent harm to them.
This can only be achieved through long term and totally unbiased education.
Ask the 19000 plus convicted drink drivers who have worked with me personally would they have done the things that they did if they had had the education and knowledge that they now possess? The answer that consistently comes back to me is a resounding no! And on their feedback nearly every person commented at some stage why don't we teach this in schools? Why don't our children know?
Ask the thousands of other people I have worked with over the years and they will tell you the same. Why didn't we know?
It is a tragedy that another young woman's life has been curtailed so young but in reality we are only talking about this because of who she was. If Amy Winehouse had been a checkout operator at some 24 hour store then this would not get any attention at all. And I predict that once the soundbites are over the Government ministers will crawl back into their departments pat themselves on the back and say. We did what we could, now would someone pour me a scotch!
Real education by real people who understand this world now! Or do we have to wait for the bodies to start piling up
But let me make this clear. Government in the UK have no real desire to deal with addiction, or the causes of addiction particularly in relation to addiction to alcohol because of the symbiotic relationship it enjoys with the drinks industry. This is just an outlandish attempt at showboating and soundbites on the back of tragedy and the increased popularity of Amy Winehouse since her death.
I wish Mitch Winehouse well. From all too bitter experience I know the devastation alcohol causes within a family. I am all too familiar with the cruel and murky waters created by an inability to control one's own function. From an earlier part of this blog you can read some of my relationship with alcoholism.
Yet I am not an addict and never have been an addict. God knows I pray that I never become addicted to alcohol, but like millions of normal people I enjoy a beer or a glass of wine.
Unlike the tobacco companies who can say absolutely nothing positive about smoking there is evidence that alcohol is not always bad where no such evidence exists with tobacco. I am not some abolitionist that would see prohibition brought in tomorrow. We all know that the prohibition of alcohol in the US in the 1920's just created a monster called the Mafia.
Yet I am passionate and experienced and committed to making a profound change in the habits of young and old alike so that their relationship with alcohol changes in such a way as to prevent harm to them.
This can only be achieved through long term and totally unbiased education.
Ask the 19000 plus convicted drink drivers who have worked with me personally would they have done the things that they did if they had had the education and knowledge that they now possess? The answer that consistently comes back to me is a resounding no! And on their feedback nearly every person commented at some stage why don't we teach this in schools? Why don't our children know?
Ask the thousands of other people I have worked with over the years and they will tell you the same. Why didn't we know?
It is a tragedy that another young woman's life has been curtailed so young but in reality we are only talking about this because of who she was. If Amy Winehouse had been a checkout operator at some 24 hour store then this would not get any attention at all. And I predict that once the soundbites are over the Government ministers will crawl back into their departments pat themselves on the back and say. We did what we could, now would someone pour me a scotch!
Real education by real people who understand this world now! Or do we have to wait for the bodies to start piling up
Monday 25 July 2011
Another day, another death
Amy Winehouse is dead, that is sad. It is sad not because of who she was, but because of who she was.
She was a young female, a human being who through a combination of alcohol and drug abuse ended up living a brief life.
The question is how many more people out there are going to have the same thing happen to them?
Among the 18 to 23 age group in women one of the fastest rising diseases is cirrhosis of the liver. Ask any liver surgeon which group of people have they started seeing lots more of and they will quote the above demographic.
Why now?
Well this is something that has it's roots in the 1980's. The hedonism that the eighties brought also brought an opportunity for women to go out drinking like never before. Men have always been able to quaff but it was not ladylike for a woman to go out on a pub crawl. Once upon a time women like that were given labels, unfairly I hear you say but non the less they were given those labels. Now it is pictures of the ladette that we see on the front pages of our newspapers. A free thinking, free spirited young powerful woman entering a career and earning top dollar. And then partying like no man before.
The challenge is that women have some major disadvantages when it comes to drink in comparison to men. As a result they damage their liver's more easily and at a younger age. And no one wants to talk to them about it.
Education, right here, right now. Let us curb the flow of young wasted lives.
She was a young female, a human being who through a combination of alcohol and drug abuse ended up living a brief life.
The question is how many more people out there are going to have the same thing happen to them?
Among the 18 to 23 age group in women one of the fastest rising diseases is cirrhosis of the liver. Ask any liver surgeon which group of people have they started seeing lots more of and they will quote the above demographic.
Why now?
Well this is something that has it's roots in the 1980's. The hedonism that the eighties brought also brought an opportunity for women to go out drinking like never before. Men have always been able to quaff but it was not ladylike for a woman to go out on a pub crawl. Once upon a time women like that were given labels, unfairly I hear you say but non the less they were given those labels. Now it is pictures of the ladette that we see on the front pages of our newspapers. A free thinking, free spirited young powerful woman entering a career and earning top dollar. And then partying like no man before.
The challenge is that women have some major disadvantages when it comes to drink in comparison to men. As a result they damage their liver's more easily and at a younger age. And no one wants to talk to them about it.
Education, right here, right now. Let us curb the flow of young wasted lives.
Thursday 7 July 2011
Heal thyself Physician!
Now a friend of mine from the USA recently posted on his twitter feed about the lack of knowledge that doctors have about alcohol. In the US this does somewhat surprise me however in the UK it would bring no revelations to me what so ever. Why?
Well in the average training period of a young doctor in the UK, that would be 5 years at medical school and two years of rotations and internships in hospital, the average amount of time dedicated to learning about alcohol is about 5 hours!
It was often said that you are only an alcoholic if you drink more than your doctor but with alcoholism rampant amongst the medical profession and gross misuse of alcohol by many other doctors and surgeons one thing is absolutely clear: This is something that can not be allowed to continue.
We need our professionals to be able to understand what they are actually dealing with and we need them to be taught as quickly as possible for if they are not what hope is there for our children?
Well in the average training period of a young doctor in the UK, that would be 5 years at medical school and two years of rotations and internships in hospital, the average amount of time dedicated to learning about alcohol is about 5 hours!
It was often said that you are only an alcoholic if you drink more than your doctor but with alcoholism rampant amongst the medical profession and gross misuse of alcohol by many other doctors and surgeons one thing is absolutely clear: This is something that can not be allowed to continue.
We need our professionals to be able to understand what they are actually dealing with and we need them to be taught as quickly as possible for if they are not what hope is there for our children?
Wednesday 6 July 2011
It's all like magic
Well it would appear that Dan Radcliffe has had a bit of a love hate relationship with alcohol. This is a brave admission from someone so young and who lives in a world where the hedonistic side of our society is often played out on a very public stage. You would think that with all the money flowing around the movie business that they would take time to protect some of their more valuable assets.
We need education about alcohol and we need it now!
Dan Radcliffe is not the first to suffer in this way and I doubt that he will be the last!
We need education about alcohol and we need it now!
Dan Radcliffe is not the first to suffer in this way and I doubt that he will be the last!
Friday 1 July 2011
Oh Dear Mr Hammond
Human rights, civil liberties and democracy are all things that any civilised country should aim to be. And from what I understand the Secretary of State for Transport was talking about them on Question Time last night.
Well here's one thought for the Right Hon. Gentleman, why if he is so interested in these principles is he about to criminalise people in the United Kingdom for no better reason than a few sound bytes.
Yes That Might Mean You!
The proposed changes in the law regarding drink and drug taking whilst driving could see thousands of people banned and criminalised through a complete lack of understanding not through a willful challenge to law and order.
I have written to the Mr Hammond questioning his thought process and as I am the UK's most experienced drink drive rehabilitation tutor you might have thought he would have had the decency if not the courtesy to reply.
Well think again because the response was from one of his faceless minions within the department who has no real idea of the nature of the problem that is facing this country because hey they never drink and drive only bad people do!
So the real question is will Mr Hammond sit down with me and discuss a way forward or will he trample over my civil liberties, my democratic rights to question a Member of Parliament and a Member of the Government of our country.
Well here's one thought for the Right Hon. Gentleman, why if he is so interested in these principles is he about to criminalise people in the United Kingdom for no better reason than a few sound bytes.
Yes That Might Mean You!
The proposed changes in the law regarding drink and drug taking whilst driving could see thousands of people banned and criminalised through a complete lack of understanding not through a willful challenge to law and order.
I have written to the Mr Hammond questioning his thought process and as I am the UK's most experienced drink drive rehabilitation tutor you might have thought he would have had the decency if not the courtesy to reply.
Well think again because the response was from one of his faceless minions within the department who has no real idea of the nature of the problem that is facing this country because hey they never drink and drive only bad people do!
So the real question is will Mr Hammond sit down with me and discuss a way forward or will he trample over my civil liberties, my democratic rights to question a Member of Parliament and a Member of the Government of our country.
Tuesday 28 June 2011
Alcohol in Schools
I was yet again asked a question this week which yet again I find very difficult to justify my answer to. Why difficult, well put simply I have an answer but it still doesn't justify why schools don't do the blindingly obvious!
Why do we not teach kids about alcohol? They teach them about drugs don't they?
Firstly we have to look at the system. Teachers train to teach a subject with a reserve subject. They do this for years and they specialise in that subject. This is a good thing for the academic subjects and a bad one when it comes to life outside the academic plastic bubble. I call it this simply because we are protected inside it from all the nastier things in our lives.
Unfortunately when children go home at night they step outside the bubble and teachers who also step outside the bubble cannot rely on their experiences there to be brought back to the children. Why? Well it would indicate teachers are human and by definition not perfect. My best teachers were without a shadow of a doubt the ones who combined the two together well.
Back to the system. Under the Blair Government there was an extension of Thatcherite ideas regarding how things should be taught. In many ways it was almost a retrograde to the Victorian Times when teaching was about propaganda. Gone were the free thinkers of the 1950's and 60's who had interestingly shaped the thoughts of the Thatchers and the Blairs, it was back to by the book by the numbers.
So let us introduce the great Tony Blair document: The National Alcohol Strategy. Hundreds of pages written by pseudo experts who had hardly ever stepped outside their own plastic bubble or should I say University Office. And the amusing thing? Well they can't even do basic mathematics which all things considered is quite worrying bearing in mind they are telling us to count and limit our units.
This document was supposed to be the basis by which alcohol teaching took place in the UK. And there lies the obvious problem.
Getting untrained teachers to teach from this text book full of basic wrongs is about as sensible as getting US Intelligence to go searching for Osama Bin Laden!
Or in other words paying lip service to the problem with a bit of good spin and the problem will disappear.
Well it hasn't and we need to do something about it now.
We need serious people, experienced people who will come into schools and teach our children the truth.
I volunteer. I'm happy to do it, for free.
Bet you though not many schools will take me up on the offer. Why not? Because I don't preach from the Bible. I don't sit in an Ivory Tower and I don't wear a Police Badge and therefor how can I be right?
Well I have studied this subject for 33 years, more than most academics, certainly more than any Police Officer, and probably more than most executives in the Drinks Industry.
And the worrying thing for one side is that I don't say drink is all bad so I can't be the right person to teach young people.
Wrong! With my own personal experiences of how crippling alcohol can be if misused, my vast experience at working with individuals and groups who have sought knowledge and my vehement desire to eradicate half truths and mis-truths I am the perfect person.
I wonder if they have the courage or like the present incumbents of Westminster they would prefer to put their head in the sands!
Why do we not teach kids about alcohol? They teach them about drugs don't they?
Firstly we have to look at the system. Teachers train to teach a subject with a reserve subject. They do this for years and they specialise in that subject. This is a good thing for the academic subjects and a bad one when it comes to life outside the academic plastic bubble. I call it this simply because we are protected inside it from all the nastier things in our lives.
Unfortunately when children go home at night they step outside the bubble and teachers who also step outside the bubble cannot rely on their experiences there to be brought back to the children. Why? Well it would indicate teachers are human and by definition not perfect. My best teachers were without a shadow of a doubt the ones who combined the two together well.
Back to the system. Under the Blair Government there was an extension of Thatcherite ideas regarding how things should be taught. In many ways it was almost a retrograde to the Victorian Times when teaching was about propaganda. Gone were the free thinkers of the 1950's and 60's who had interestingly shaped the thoughts of the Thatchers and the Blairs, it was back to by the book by the numbers.
So let us introduce the great Tony Blair document: The National Alcohol Strategy. Hundreds of pages written by pseudo experts who had hardly ever stepped outside their own plastic bubble or should I say University Office. And the amusing thing? Well they can't even do basic mathematics which all things considered is quite worrying bearing in mind they are telling us to count and limit our units.
This document was supposed to be the basis by which alcohol teaching took place in the UK. And there lies the obvious problem.
Getting untrained teachers to teach from this text book full of basic wrongs is about as sensible as getting US Intelligence to go searching for Osama Bin Laden!
Or in other words paying lip service to the problem with a bit of good spin and the problem will disappear.
Well it hasn't and we need to do something about it now.
We need serious people, experienced people who will come into schools and teach our children the truth.
I volunteer. I'm happy to do it, for free.
Bet you though not many schools will take me up on the offer. Why not? Because I don't preach from the Bible. I don't sit in an Ivory Tower and I don't wear a Police Badge and therefor how can I be right?
Well I have studied this subject for 33 years, more than most academics, certainly more than any Police Officer, and probably more than most executives in the Drinks Industry.
And the worrying thing for one side is that I don't say drink is all bad so I can't be the right person to teach young people.
Wrong! With my own personal experiences of how crippling alcohol can be if misused, my vast experience at working with individuals and groups who have sought knowledge and my vehement desire to eradicate half truths and mis-truths I am the perfect person.
I wonder if they have the courage or like the present incumbents of Westminster they would prefer to put their head in the sands!
Wednesday 18 May 2011
A Personal View
Alcohol has been part of my life since childhood. I remember fondly the Christmas parties where my family would come together and as a treat I could have some of my Uncle Harry's home brew shandy. The wonderful happy times of eating pork pies and mushy peas on New Years Eve followed by a small sherry and orange to bring in the New Year.
Forward to my life at 13 when every 3 weeks or so me and my dad would go down to the incinerator in Huddersfield with several Fyfes banana boxes with the top covered by a sealed down Huddersfield Daily Examiner, a broadsheet evening paper. They rattled and one day I peeked inside to discover that my beloved father, successful businessman, ex Rugby League Player and Paratrooper was in fact drinking 3 bottles of Scotch or Vodka per night.
Forward to my University days and coming home and rowing with my mother who would not accept that my father had a serious alcohol problem and when he fell stark naked into the bath cracking his head wide open she refused to allow me to take him to hospital. She refused at the point of a carving knife threatening to run me through if I didn't stop trying to help him. I am ashamed to say it is the one and only time I have ever struck a woman purely in self defence. She was proud with an Irish Catholic background and this sort of thing didn't happen in our family...ever. My father's background is ironically Scottish Protestant.
Forward to the moment when I flew home from London after discovering that my mother had ovarian cancer to be met at the hospital by a man clearly seven sheets to the wind and me having to deal with that alongside comforting a woman who was destined to die 6 weeks later. The sixty thousand pound insurance payout well that was pissed up against a wall in 6 months.
Forward a few weeks when he moved South to 'be with me' and my family and the start of the cycle of rehab units, the Salvation Army, AA, Clouds. Thousands spent both privately and by the NHS to the finality of him signing out of Clouds House in East Knoyle on the day of my son's first birthday and turning up at my house paralytic.
And then the walk to the bus stop me telling him how much I loved him but if he turned up drunk he was not welcome.
And then the fifteen years of wondering what had happened to him, Well I knew of the incident of the refit of the QE2 where he had the contract and he was thrown off the the contract because of drunken antics. I knew he'd been back to his old haunts in Southampton, that he'd been deported from America and my greatest worry the rumour that he'd owed money to the wrong people and was propping up the M3 extension on the Winchester by pass.
And then the reunion, He had changed he had become the father that I loved again he had become the Grandfather I had hoped for my children but we had all paid the price.
He died a year later.
No amount of cost would have stopped him drinking, no amount of minimum price would have prevented the empty whisky bottles from stacking up. Money was never the issue.
I have spent the last 33 years of my life trying to understand why a man would put a bottle over his child and his grandchildren. I have become an International Expert in Alcohol. And still I do not have the answer. What I do know is that making it more expensive was never the answer, He would beg steal or borrow to get that next glass of whisky
Forward to my life at 13 when every 3 weeks or so me and my dad would go down to the incinerator in Huddersfield with several Fyfes banana boxes with the top covered by a sealed down Huddersfield Daily Examiner, a broadsheet evening paper. They rattled and one day I peeked inside to discover that my beloved father, successful businessman, ex Rugby League Player and Paratrooper was in fact drinking 3 bottles of Scotch or Vodka per night.
Forward to my University days and coming home and rowing with my mother who would not accept that my father had a serious alcohol problem and when he fell stark naked into the bath cracking his head wide open she refused to allow me to take him to hospital. She refused at the point of a carving knife threatening to run me through if I didn't stop trying to help him. I am ashamed to say it is the one and only time I have ever struck a woman purely in self defence. She was proud with an Irish Catholic background and this sort of thing didn't happen in our family...ever. My father's background is ironically Scottish Protestant.
Forward to the moment when I flew home from London after discovering that my mother had ovarian cancer to be met at the hospital by a man clearly seven sheets to the wind and me having to deal with that alongside comforting a woman who was destined to die 6 weeks later. The sixty thousand pound insurance payout well that was pissed up against a wall in 6 months.
Forward a few weeks when he moved South to 'be with me' and my family and the start of the cycle of rehab units, the Salvation Army, AA, Clouds. Thousands spent both privately and by the NHS to the finality of him signing out of Clouds House in East Knoyle on the day of my son's first birthday and turning up at my house paralytic.
And then the walk to the bus stop me telling him how much I loved him but if he turned up drunk he was not welcome.
And then the fifteen years of wondering what had happened to him, Well I knew of the incident of the refit of the QE2 where he had the contract and he was thrown off the the contract because of drunken antics. I knew he'd been back to his old haunts in Southampton, that he'd been deported from America and my greatest worry the rumour that he'd owed money to the wrong people and was propping up the M3 extension on the Winchester by pass.
And then the reunion, He had changed he had become the father that I loved again he had become the Grandfather I had hoped for my children but we had all paid the price.
He died a year later.
No amount of cost would have stopped him drinking, no amount of minimum price would have prevented the empty whisky bottles from stacking up. Money was never the issue.
I have spent the last 33 years of my life trying to understand why a man would put a bottle over his child and his grandchildren. I have become an International Expert in Alcohol. And still I do not have the answer. What I do know is that making it more expensive was never the answer, He would beg steal or borrow to get that next glass of whisky
Sunday 15 May 2011
Government Conspiracy?
Yesterday I spent 9 hours lecturing on alcohol physiology and the question that I am constantly posed came up yet again.
Why is alcohol legal and drugs aren't? is it because the taxman makes so much money out of booze?
So today I thought I would address this.
1. The alcohol industry has powerful a powerful lobby of that there is no doubt
2. Governments bring in billions of pounds from various forms of taxation on the alcohol industry
3. The illegal use of drugs and the supply of those drugs is comparable with prohibition of alcohol in the 1920's and 30's.
The major challenge facing the ordinary person on the street who enjoys a pint of beer or glass of wine is that they have no real information about how things work or what they do. There is a total dichotomous arguement that rages between the alcohol industry and the abolitionists and this is unlikely to go away in the near future because of the symbiotic relationship the two groups have.
Is alcohol totally bad for you? Honestly no it is not. A small amount as part of a good diet may actually be beneficial.
Is alcohol when consumed in quantity and quickly bad for you? Absolutely, binge drinking is a highly damaging way of consuming alcohol.
Is this arguement ever discussed? No. Why? Well because that would be both sides admitting their flaws. What we need is real unbiased information disseminated in an easy to understand way for the ordinary person in the street to be able to digest.
We have long talked about the use of illegal drugs in this country. And the discussion is justified on the harm that drugs cause to individuals. The irony is that many of these drugs are prescribed regualrly by medics every day in the NHS where they can cause an equal amount of damage but that is acceptable because your doctor prescribed it.
The real issue with drugs is of course addiction however that addiction instead of being dealt with openly in our society it is somehow driven underground into a seedy world that leads to crime and deprevation. The Mafia only really became the organisation it did because of prohibition in the USA, the drug cartels and gangs have got their hold because drug taking, which is as old as alcohol consumption, has been driven underground. We somehow frown upon those who have issues with narcotics but accept those that have issues with alcohol.
Is it all about money and power? Well the conspiracy theorists will have you believe this however the reality is that it is all about the oldest economic arguement in the world. The law of supply and demand.
So should Governments take a positive role in this? Absolutely they should be proactive and transparent. Unfortunately that is not the case and that is why the question that I get asked on a regular basis will continue to be asked until the elected representatives have the courage to stand up and say things can be different.
Why is alcohol legal and drugs aren't? is it because the taxman makes so much money out of booze?
So today I thought I would address this.
1. The alcohol industry has powerful a powerful lobby of that there is no doubt
2. Governments bring in billions of pounds from various forms of taxation on the alcohol industry
3. The illegal use of drugs and the supply of those drugs is comparable with prohibition of alcohol in the 1920's and 30's.
The major challenge facing the ordinary person on the street who enjoys a pint of beer or glass of wine is that they have no real information about how things work or what they do. There is a total dichotomous arguement that rages between the alcohol industry and the abolitionists and this is unlikely to go away in the near future because of the symbiotic relationship the two groups have.
Is alcohol totally bad for you? Honestly no it is not. A small amount as part of a good diet may actually be beneficial.
Is alcohol when consumed in quantity and quickly bad for you? Absolutely, binge drinking is a highly damaging way of consuming alcohol.
Is this arguement ever discussed? No. Why? Well because that would be both sides admitting their flaws. What we need is real unbiased information disseminated in an easy to understand way for the ordinary person in the street to be able to digest.
We have long talked about the use of illegal drugs in this country. And the discussion is justified on the harm that drugs cause to individuals. The irony is that many of these drugs are prescribed regualrly by medics every day in the NHS where they can cause an equal amount of damage but that is acceptable because your doctor prescribed it.
The real issue with drugs is of course addiction however that addiction instead of being dealt with openly in our society it is somehow driven underground into a seedy world that leads to crime and deprevation. The Mafia only really became the organisation it did because of prohibition in the USA, the drug cartels and gangs have got their hold because drug taking, which is as old as alcohol consumption, has been driven underground. We somehow frown upon those who have issues with narcotics but accept those that have issues with alcohol.
Is it all about money and power? Well the conspiracy theorists will have you believe this however the reality is that it is all about the oldest economic arguement in the world. The law of supply and demand.
So should Governments take a positive role in this? Absolutely they should be proactive and transparent. Unfortunately that is not the case and that is why the question that I get asked on a regular basis will continue to be asked until the elected representatives have the courage to stand up and say things can be different.
Thursday 21 April 2011
Drinking and Driving Solutions
Recently as a result of the North Report 2 (The Revisited) the UK Government outlined it's plans on how to continue the fight against Drinking and Driving.
Some of the measures are welcomed however this must not become a money making, sound bite or lip service to the press exercise.
I have worked with in excess of 18000 convicted Drink Drivers in the UK alone and as such have a unique insight as to why people commit this crime and what we as a society can do about it. The UK Government's response will not stop Drink Driving and will fail to have serious impact on what is fundamentally a disease of sociability.
The Government's insistence that bringing in hand held portable evidential intoximeters and removing blood testing for those who are in a certain banding is without a doubt one of the most ridiculous things in the proposals. Why? Well the intoximeters work on the presumption that there is a defined ratio between blood and breath alcohol concentrations and as such as the majority of people will follow this situation then there can be little error in the intoximeter. This is nonsense and however much the UK Government wish to spin this the reality of the situation is that human beings are different and do not fit into robotic metronomic patterns as far as the physiology of alcohol is concerned.
As a result of this treating everyone the same will ultimately lead to legal challenges that cost time money and effort. Much better to get it right in the first place and develop a system for evidential blood testing that could be a simple and accurate as the testing of blood sugar concentration used by millions of diabetics worldwide.
Secondly the UK Government plans a relaunch of the Drink Driver Rehabilitation Programme.
My question about this is simple. Why wait until after the fact? Why not educate immediately. Take away the old wives tales such as 2 pints and you're ok to drive.
It is far more sensible to prevent than to cure.
If the UK Government is serious about stopping Drinking and Driving within the UK then they need to speak to the people who actually know something about the subject. And much as I respect Sir Peter North he is unfortunately another academic sat in another ivory tower.
Some of the measures are welcomed however this must not become a money making, sound bite or lip service to the press exercise.
I have worked with in excess of 18000 convicted Drink Drivers in the UK alone and as such have a unique insight as to why people commit this crime and what we as a society can do about it. The UK Government's response will not stop Drink Driving and will fail to have serious impact on what is fundamentally a disease of sociability.
The Government's insistence that bringing in hand held portable evidential intoximeters and removing blood testing for those who are in a certain banding is without a doubt one of the most ridiculous things in the proposals. Why? Well the intoximeters work on the presumption that there is a defined ratio between blood and breath alcohol concentrations and as such as the majority of people will follow this situation then there can be little error in the intoximeter. This is nonsense and however much the UK Government wish to spin this the reality of the situation is that human beings are different and do not fit into robotic metronomic patterns as far as the physiology of alcohol is concerned.
As a result of this treating everyone the same will ultimately lead to legal challenges that cost time money and effort. Much better to get it right in the first place and develop a system for evidential blood testing that could be a simple and accurate as the testing of blood sugar concentration used by millions of diabetics worldwide.
Secondly the UK Government plans a relaunch of the Drink Driver Rehabilitation Programme.
My question about this is simple. Why wait until after the fact? Why not educate immediately. Take away the old wives tales such as 2 pints and you're ok to drive.
It is far more sensible to prevent than to cure.
If the UK Government is serious about stopping Drinking and Driving within the UK then they need to speak to the people who actually know something about the subject. And much as I respect Sir Peter North he is unfortunately another academic sat in another ivory tower.
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