For some reason, I've seen quite a lot this week about comparitive alcohol regulations and the resulting habits. And the pictures presented don't really agree. Go figure.
Drinking outside the box
We British will never learn that a hangover is neither big nor clever
5 comments:
Excellent stuff Mark. The second article especially. This part stood out:
"It was as I was skimming these statistics that I suddenly had an insight. I realised to my horror that I was reading the figures with pride, and there, my friends, is the trouble. Deep down, because of some peculiarity in our psyche, we think it rather admirable to get bladdered, leathered, rat-arsed and otherwise hogwhimpering drunk."
You betcha. Funny thing, I was proud of those plucky Brits, too. Maybe that's the secret--we're the coalition of the trashed. Now why can't we get the Irish on board? Paul?
The graphic in the print edition was different: a cartoon of a pyramid made of pints with the one at the top labelled "McGill".
McGill rocked. I loved that our only official dorm rule (singular) was "don't f*** with the fire equipment", and somehow we never got so out of hand that someone ended up in the hospital. That's not to say that people didn't drink themselves sh*tfaced, which they (er, ahem, we?) did on a fairly regular basis, but for some reason no one died of it and I never heard of any serious malfeasance committed while under the influence.
Also we had residence council members (the "beer gods") whose job it was to sell beer to the students living in residence -- I guess it was a similar philosophy that if you have it handy and sanctioned, you won't abuse it. Or maybe it had more to do with the close ties that existed between McGill and Molson's. I wonder if those positions still exist. Maybe they sell Coors now. :P
Oh, you didn't mean pictures, you meant concepts! Sorry, just woke up.
Here's the key:
"... it was all very well talking about a new café-style culture, where we all sit around like Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, drinking slowly and moderately as we formulate new philosophical aperçus; Britain couldn't have a Continental approach to licensing laws until we had a Continental approach to drink."
Europeans have long demonstrated that it's not the availability of alcohol that causes binge drinking, it's the attitude towards it. If it's just another fact of life -- like a glass of wine at each dinner, as in France -- then it's less of a sensation or a tool to show how wonderfully rebellious you are. Also, Britons love their hooliganism and take a perverse pride in it as much as they do their drinking, and the two not only feed each other but show very similar underlying attitude. Punk, after all, thrived most noticably in Britain. Maybe it's because other aspects of their national identity have included such bloody-minded repression.
Having lived in Montreal (and having just come back from another visit), I can agree with what so many tourists there discover: it's a European city, in more ways than just the drink. For one thing, passion is more acceptable, and with it, other horrific vices such as casual nudity, alternative sexuality, and raw-milk cheese.
Being Continental has its downsides, of course: I'll be interested to see what happens when they enact the no-smoking legislation in a few months, actually. Montreal bistros not awash with smoke writhing between the fingers of wildly gesticulating Jean-Pauls and Simones? Incroyable!
The intertwined story of the increased deaths from drinking and the debate over whether to extend drinking hours in pubs has been huge over here for the past week.
Thanks Tom! I have to admit I have spent the last hour or so scouring the internet for some proof that us Irish do indeed drink more than the damn Brits and so far to no avail - which leads me to the only conclusion possible. The Brits are lying! It has to be said though that Boris Johnson, full name Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, the author of the second article is widely accepted as being the biggest arse in British politics. Regularly brought onto political satire shows as they know he is going to say something stupid at any second. He was even sent to Liverpool by the Tory leader, Michael Howard, last year to apologise to the entire city for making less than pleasant remarks about the city and its people. Even the BBC refers to him as the "Tories' bumbler-in-chief." When I realised who was writing the article I have to say how surprised I was that he managed to get out of Carlisle without being punched - even if he doesn't think he is, and he is, a snob! Still its a good piece and he makes a good point about that legislation can't make up for a different attitude. The Irish government were planning similar changes but realised after a while that you can't put the cart before the horse. Also I think they headed down the pub and realised what they would have been missing out on if they were in a cafe!
Paul
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