It was Christmas Eve in the Drunk Tank, an open letter to the Prime Minister

So the Prime Minister is on the treat them mean and make them clean bandwagon now.

How foolish thou art sir.

I challenged you on live radio to meet with me to discuss the problems that we face regarding alcohol and I still await a response.

Now I know I don't have a fancy title like Baroness Newlove or Sir Ian Gilmore but I've been working quietly in the field of alcohol for over 30 years since discovering that my father a highly respected professional in his field was drinking three bottles of scotch or vodka per night. I have, since being seriously injured in a car crash caused by a drink driver, worked with over 20000 people convicted of drink driving in the UK to help prevent re-offending and I have dedicated my life to bringing the education of alcohol to the attention of as many people as I can. 

You sir talk about a big society and about ordinary people making a difference yet you will not speak to me and that tells me one thing

You like to make sound bites about dealing with the scourge of alcohol but you are only paying lip service to it because you are fully aware that in our difficult economic times you cannot truly afford to take alcohol by the scruff of the neck for fear of damaging the treasury intake.

If you start on draconian measures such as the drunk tank where you leave people in potential danger in the hands of untrained police officers you will eventually end up with people dead in the cells. Or are you actually going to make the obvious next step and train police officers to paramedic standards and make them a real emergency service? I doubt it and I doubt the Police Federation would want that either.

Raising a minimum price on alcohol will not stop people from drinking, it will not stop binge drinking, it will not stop children drinking but it will bring in more money to the treasury.

Your government, like governments before on all sides of the political divide are so far in bed with the alcohol industry that like tobacco you have no control.

And that sir is the point. You cannot control the problem by legislation. You need to educate inspire and use the power of psychology to bring about effective change.

Once again I challenge you to meet with me but I say that with hope rather than expectation. I am serious about education to remove irresponsible behaviour  from our attitudes to alcohol. I do not want to destroy the alcohol industry I want to change our relationship with it. 

The real question is are you serious about it too?