Britain's drink culture

[mickd1961]

Thankfully the Irish never got into that whole boozing culture you have over there.....

I'd be interested in your medical thoughts in regards to the liver and kidneys Dubs?

I've been amazed at how quickly people I've known have gone from being regular drinkers with no obvious ( to them ) physical issues to suddenly seeing their health plummet due to the liver especially suddenly causing severe issues.

Am I right in thinking the liver pretty much acts normal even at 15-20% capacity and then suddenly waves the white flag?

[Dubbag]

I'd be interested in your medical thoughts in regards to the liver and kidneys Dubs?

I've been amazed at how quickly people I've known have gone from being regular drinkers with no obvious ( to them ) physical issues to suddenly seeing their health plummet due to the liver especially suddenly causing severe issues.

Am I right in thinking the liver pretty much acts normal even at 15-20% capacity and then suddenly waves the white flag?

The liver is brilliant cause it can renew itself constantly...which is handy......but interesting enough....the last ten years has seen a huge increase in under 30 year olds with liver disease.....and a big % is women......it is regarded as epidemic stage now over here...
Down to coinciding with cheap liquor been sold in supermarket chains.....
For women, there liver doesn't cope as well with the binge drinking associated with the trends this past decade....
I kid you not...we would maybe see one alcohol case on the unit every few months..(not talking about the frequent fliers who are regularly in ICU because of alcohol) but now just before the pandemic...they were on the unit all the time, young girls in particular.
I can only imagine what it must be like now...many dead in homes...not getting into hospital...sad really...whole life a head of them...

Two years ago it was estimated that drink related illness cost the hospital system over €2.5billion to treat......barely got that in tax revenue in the first place...

[WBA1955]

Good points but denial is not just down to alcohol. I have seen more people destroyed by gambling than alcoholism. Still say everyone to their own but alcohol becomes more serious with heavy spirits.

I'll drink to that.

[WBA1955]

Thankfully the Irish never got into that whole boozing culture you have over there.....

😂😂😂😂

[Albionic68]

Good points but denial is not just down to alcohol. I have seen more people destroyed by gambling than alcoholism. Still say everyone to their own but alcohol becomes more serious with heavy spirits.

Fk me Al', here we go again. Blood clots and deaths in the vaccinated, heart attacks in the physically fit, people getting knocked over, drinking themselves to death and now ruined by gambling.

Knowing you really should come with a fkn government health warning. Do you walk around in a black hooded cloak and carry a scythe in your spare time?

Well, when you're not making millions and flying around the world to personally lambast Greta for having the same iPhone and laptop as you?

Spending any genuine length of time with you must be like knocking about with the Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse...... with air miles 😊?

[mickd1961]

Heavy spirits usually get the blame Al but the truth is very different.

These days the Heath related alcohol tsunami is caused by the “chill out with a wine in the evening brigade”.

People like to trot out the old....”a glass of red with the evening meal like the French have always done” mantra.

The truth here in the U.K. is very different.

It’s not a homemade paella with a lightly tossed salad accompanied by a small glass of red or white it’s a Chinese, fish and chips or a MacDonalds delivered by a spotty ****ager on a moped followed by a bottle or more of red or white each.

Then there’s the oversized glasses so that people can kid themselves they only had “a glass or two” when in truth they’ve sunk 6 to 8 times a normal single glass.

A girl I lived in the same street as up until I moved four years ago was a “chill out” drinker, her son was mates with my lad.

My son spent a lot of time at their house and was amazed how much she drank, it was slow and steady throughout the evening.

Their “empties” on refuse collection day were the talk of the street, every fortnight you’d be looking at 60-70 wine bottles alone and she was the only one in the house who drank wine.

She was a pretty girl back at our school in the 70’s but she’s now a hideously bloated and red faced 57 year old.

Like I’ve said previously, if you can’t go a day or more without thinking about it or reaching for it and you get through more than a bottle of wine a week then anyone in that category has a problem.

I’ll admit, I will be having two choc chip cookies at 9.00pm tonight regardless of my arteries screaming “NO MORE” at me!

[baggieal]

Heavy spirits usually get the blame Al but the truth is very different.

These days the Heath related alcohol tsunami is caused by the “chill out with a wine in the evening brigade”.

People like to trot out the old....”a glass of red with the evening meal like the French have always done” mantra.

The truth here in the U.K. is very different.

It’s not a homemade paella with a lightly tossed salad accompanied by a small glass of red or white it’s a Chinese, fish and chips or a MacDonalds delivered by a spotty ****ager on a moped followed by a bottle or more of red or white each.

Then there’s the oversized glasses so that people can kid themselves they only had “a glass or two” when in truth they’ve sunk 6 to 8 times a normal single glass.

A girl I lived in the same street as up until I moved four years ago was a “chill out” drinker, her son was mates with my lad.

My son spent a lot of time at their house and was amazed how much she drank, it was slow and steady throughout the evening.

Their “empties” on refuse collection day were the talk of the street, every fortnight you’d be looking at 60-70 wine bottles alone and she was the only one in the house who drank wine.

She was a pretty girl back at our school in the 70’s but she’s now a hideously bloated and red faced 57 year old.

Like I’ve said previously, if you can’t go a day or more without thinking about it or reaching for it and you get through more than a bottle of wine a week then anyone in that category has a problem.

I’ll admit, I will be having two choc chip cookies at 9.00pm tonight regardless of my arteries screaming “NO MORE” at me!

Still say everyone to their own. If you don’t drink then alcohol is a sin - if you didn’t go to university - it’s a waste of time - if you don’t go overseas then staying in the U.K. is better.

I had some wild times in my youth as a travel rep in Spain and best memories of my life. It would have not been great chatting up a girl with a Diet Coke in your hand and likewise all the girls had drinks.

Having a bottle of wine in France and Spain at dinner is the norm but hey most of their kids are not obese and rude as they are in the U.K. or fuelled on drugs.

Gambling destroys lives from what I have seen far more than drink. People who turn nasty when they have had a drink are usually the bottom of the barrel anyway and would be nasty with a lemonade!

I would be far more worried if any of my kids were addicted to gambling or drugs than having a drink if not in excess.

Always best not to judge. I say to those not vaccinated too - your lives and not my business especially as every single person can pass the virus on. I would never jab a kid under 15 as madness in my eyes after research but those who do - their business and not mine!

To much herd mentality in the U.K. as so many thick people who can’t do their own research and make their own decision,

[WBA1955]

It goes way back to medieval times when the water wasn't safe to drink. The lords used to drink wine with breakfast lunch and dinner, while the peasants, us, had beer with the same meals.
But the beer was weak and watered down, it was about 2% abv.
I used to drink Bank's mild and Holden's bitter mostly. Banks's mild was 3.5% and the Holden's was 3.8%.
Now the average beer is around 4.4%, some are 5%, Sarah Hughes's mild is 6.0%. Some beers in my local are 6.5%.
These beers can't be quaffed like the ones in the old days.

[baggieal]

It goes way back to medieval times when the water wasn't safe to drink. The lords used to drink wine with breakfast lunch and dinner, while the peasants, us, had beer with the same meals.
But the beer was weak and watered down, it was about 2% abv.
I used to drink Bank's mild and Holden's bitter mostly. Banks's mild was 3.5% and the Holden's was 3.8%.
Now the average beer is around 4.4%, some are 5%, Sarah Hughes's mild is 6.0%. Some beers in my local are 6.5%.
These beers can't be quaffed like the ones in the old days.

You are right Des! I know people who drink like fish ( my fitness coach for one ) but he’s mega fit and healthy. Depends on the individual and life style. I would be more worried about eating rubbish than drinking alcohol!

Personally I would not want to live much past the 80’s and to be reliant on others but many do - I get that too!

[mickd1961]

It’s not about “judging” people, I just think that with drink people really don’t realise the harm it’s doing inside them especially with our blasé attitude to it in the U.K.


It’s also nothing to do with social standing either in regards to whether people turn nasty after a few drinks.

I had mates from council estates who were as daft as a brush after a few and knew people from the supposed higher echelons of society who were really horrible f u c k e r s after a few pints.

I don’t object to drink because I myself don’t enjoy it, my kids like an odd drink as does my wife but my son abstains because it lowers his defences against using substances, he found that a few beers and the “Devil’s Dandruff” went hand in hand.

Not that I’m suggesting any of our esteemed posters is rat a r s e d on Lidl vino and on all fours plowing through a pile of nasal candy! 🤣

Be interesting if anyone on here was brave enough to admit to using it though!?