Ann-Widdecombe on binge drinking.

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17813245

http://www.telegraph....named-and-shamed.html

Hate her or love her, do you think on this subject our Annie has got a point?

/// “If the police carried out the occasional big blitz in the city centres on a Friday night, drafting in extra manpower and pursuing every single person who was drunk in A&E or incapable on the streets, then people going out specifically to get drunk would risk finding themselves in court on the Monday with their names and photographs in the papers. ///

[EDDIE51]

AOG I said 'simply being drunk is not an offence' obviously drink driving or being in charge of an infant is along with being drunk in charge of a horse , but I said 'simply being drunk' Half of them have posted their drunken antics on Facebook any way so being in the papers would not concern them , apart from raising their social profile , most of them would actually be proud of getting so p*ssed that they were in the papers !

[chaptazbru]

ladybirder - I coldn't have put it better myself.

JJ - if you watch some of the many police series on TV, you'd see that these drunken louts commit a great deal of crime and cause lots of problems.

[ladybirder]

May be they wouldn't be so chuffed when their boss saw it.

[Zeuhl]

I don't understand the issues here with AW's broad point.

People who are drunk but behaving themselves aren't the problem.

Anyone who ventures into our town centres or A&Es on certain nights knows exactly what the issue is

- there are violent, noisy, aggressive people (almost always drunk) who are bothering others, causing damage or simply making a mess of the place.
- and despite laws to deal with this, police response is 'patchy' to say the least

So what's the problem with <<the occasional big blitz in the city centres on a Friday night, drafting in extra manpower and pursuing every single person who was drunk in A&E or incapable on the streets>>

[Canary42]

Name/photo in paper would increase their street cred, so would encourage them rather then discourage them. Otherwise, it's worth a try perhaps but rather an extravagant use of scarce enough police manpower.

[anotheoldgit]

Of course reading back you are perfectly right, oh dear I do apologise to you most sincerely.

Maybe this is a prime example of why we need the use of italics bringing back ED?

sp1814 if you are reading this, my comments to the ED are now targeted at you.

/// And another thing...why just women? ///

Regarding the fact that she was specifically targeting women, might be due to this.

http://pubs.niaaa.nih...nsfact/womensfact.htm

[AB Editor]

Zeuhl. I certainly wouldn't mind them giving it a go of an evening, or two a month. I'm not sure if it would help in the long term however.

[Zeuhl]

<<scarce enough police manpower>>

I think that's the problem - how resource is allocated.

Q1: is making our streets safe to use a police responsibility?

Q2: how many police are allocated to your town centre on a weekend night to ensure that? (see if you can find out - you may be shocked at the answer)

Q3: on that basis, if you were attacked by drunks how confident would you be that any police would be available to come to your aid?

[sandyRoe]

These old reformed sots are all the same. They spend a lifetime drinking, then find God, and then they're telling us not to make the same mistakes they did.
How many times did she start fights in Annies Bar while she was an MP?

[anotheoldgit]

mccfluff

/// putting the price up won;t stop that. ///

I think not only Ms Widdecombe but also many others would agree with that.

/// Introducing a minimum price of 40p per unit of alcohol, as the Government has proposed, will not constrain the drinking habits of professionals with money to spend, Miss Widdecombe
argued. ///

[hc4361]

Why not prosecute bar and club owners who serve alcohol to drunks?

[anotheoldgit]

Canary42

/// Name/photo in paper would increase their street cred, so would encourage them rather then discourage them. ///

I don't think professional women such as Teachers, Solicitors, Nursers, scientists, or accountants, would feel the need to gain 'Street Cred' and these are the type of women Ann went out with.

/// The group included a scientist, a nurse, two teachers and an accountant, none of whom consented to have their full names given on radio. ///

So I don't think any of those would wish their names and photos in the papers, do you?

[sp1814]

AOG

No - believe me when I say, I am not a fan of right wing politicians in general, so her views on civil partnerships was just the cherry on the cake.

But to sidetrack for a moment - her sheer dishonesty was quite breathtaking. She squirmed out voting for civil partnerships because she thinks that would be discriminatory against elderly siblings and their tax burden.

If she were honest, she would've said, "Look - I'm a Christian, and I don't think that gay relationships should ever be formalised and if that means gay men and women having no rights of succession, no hospital visitation rights, no pension rights, wel...tough"

But to come out with this nonsense about brothers and sisters?

But back to the subject at hand...AB Editor - let's see whether Miss Widdecombe ventures anywhere near the well heeled, or whether its the 'oiks' she focusses on.

[andy-hughes]

AOG - you appear to be taking the same moral high ground as Ms. W in this issue - that tiresome "We know better ..." approach which has a habbit of making people run in the opposite direction.

You cannot shame adults out of stupid behaviour, you can educate them out of it before they become adults - that is the only real solution that will change the UK's attitudes to alcohol.

i have banged on about this before - oreventative education is the way forward, not finger-wagging from some sanctimonious spinster - that solves nothing at all.

[anotheoldgit]

/// .AB Editor - let's see whether Miss Widdecombe ventures anywhere near the well heeled, or whether its the 'oiks' she focusses on. ///

Please read the answer I wrongfully aimed at the ED.

If it is a level playing field yo are seeking, make the suggestion to the BBC and get them to enrol the services of such a person as George Galloway.

[sandyRoe]

So, Galloway to attack his betters and Widdecombe to look down on the Oiks? Seems sensible.

[sp1814]

Okay AOG/Ed - I understand...

But I still have a huge problem with the idea that we should separate women's binge drinking from men.

There can be only ONE reason to be concerned with women getting wasted...and that's men...men who take advantage of a woman's incapacitated state.

So with that I return to previous point - men do more damage sexually, socially and criminally than women whilst drunk, so why is Ms Widdicombe waving her fingers at them?

Also, there's a crazy reference to the fact that people drink more wine now. That's not because we've become a nation of boozehounds, it's a hang over (no pun intended) from the 1970s when more people could afford foreign travel and got used to drinking wine with a meal.

OUr eating and drinking habits have changed ENORMOUSLY since the early 60s.

Museli for breakfast? Bottled water? Garlic bread? Vegan restaurants? Alcopops? Curries? Gastropubs?


Our drinking habits are exactly the same as they were in the 1950s, except back then, working class men would stagger home on a Friday night, and now its not just the men, but the women.

Why?

Because women have money of their own...they have their own careers and their own circle of friends and don't need 'permission' from men to go out and have a good time.

Some will fall down drunk.

Some will sprain and ankle due to unfeasible knock-off Louboutins.

Some will have some very regrettable sex with someone whose surname is a mystery

Some will throw up on the curbside and some will lose their front door key, mobile phone or purse.

But the vast, vast, vast, vast majority won't.

They will wake up with a slight hangover, have a cup of tea, then do their weekly shop at Asda.

But that doesn't make good copy...

[whiskeryron]

What happened to ''Drunk & Disorderly'' ? There was a time when drunks causing problems WERE arrested & held overnight until they sobered up & then they made their own way home in the morning.

W Ron.

[Zeuhl]

Exactly RON: Drunk AND Disorderly

as sp says, most drunks go about it quietly at home or in town - but too frequently our town centres and hospitals are surrendered to anti social behaviour because resources aren't applied to enforcing existing laws.

[sp1814]

whiskeryron

It's the 'disorderly' bit that wouldn't work with what Widdicombe has in mind.

You can be arrested for being abusive, peeing in shop doorways, fighting etc whilst drunk, but if you're slumped on the ground by a taxi rank, you're drunk but NOT disorderly.

What the police will do then, is wake you up, ascertain where you live and 'strongly advise' you to make your way home - unless you're with friends, and then they will insist your friends will take you home.

If however, you are arrested for being genuinely drunken and disorderly, what Ms Widdicombe proposes is you have your picture printed in the local paper...which is a thoroughly daft idea. Newspapers aren't interested in who got done for being D&D. If they were, they could EASILY get that information from the police.

Newspapers and other media outlets want stories about rape, murder, Kim Kardashian, Victoria Beckham and how Christians are being marginalized by secularists and Stonewall.

That's what sells nowadays - not stories about people getting drunk...with the one exceptio of Ewan Blair who was cautioned Leicester Square - that was HILARIOUS.