Vikings in the piazza
Jan. 8th, 2005 03:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
randomnessFrom http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displayStory.cfm?story_id=3536125:
"Britain's cities are already among the booziest in the world, and the worry is that they will become more alcohol-sodden once the old restrictions are done away with. The new act addresses some fears by giving local authorities more powers to move against troublesome pubs. But as Andrew McNeill, director of the Institute for Alcohol Studies, an independent think-tank, puts it, “It's not that the Pig & Whistle is badly managed. The problem is that there are 40 Pig & Whistles in a tiny area.”
"Drink has become more of a problem partly because Britons are drinking more. The average adult consumed 11.2 litres of pure alcohol last year—12% more than when Labour came to power, and more than twice as much as in the middle of the 20th century. While most Europeans have cut back in recent years and Americans continue in their moderate ways, the British and Irish are both on seemingly unstoppable benders.
"But the real problem is the way Britons drink. Like Scandinavians, they like to get very drunk, but their drinking habits are as sociable as more moderate Mediterranean tipplers. British institutions such as the round and the pub crawl encourage group boozing and clusters of outlets—a trend that has accelerated since the early 1990s as a result of more liberal licensing. The hope was that allowing people to drink when and where they want would encourage self-restraint. The effect so far has been akin to letting Vikings loose in the piazza."
"Britain's cities are already among the booziest in the world, and the worry is that they will become more alcohol-sodden once the old restrictions are done away with. The new act addresses some fears by giving local authorities more powers to move against troublesome pubs. But as Andrew McNeill, director of the Institute for Alcohol Studies, an independent think-tank, puts it, “It's not that the Pig & Whistle is badly managed. The problem is that there are 40 Pig & Whistles in a tiny area.”
"Drink has become more of a problem partly because Britons are drinking more. The average adult consumed 11.2 litres of pure alcohol last year—12% more than when Labour came to power, and more than twice as much as in the middle of the 20th century. While most Europeans have cut back in recent years and Americans continue in their moderate ways, the British and Irish are both on seemingly unstoppable benders.
"But the real problem is the way Britons drink. Like Scandinavians, they like to get very drunk, but their drinking habits are as sociable as more moderate Mediterranean tipplers. British institutions such as the round and the pub crawl encourage group boozing and clusters of outlets—a trend that has accelerated since the early 1990s as a result of more liberal licensing. The hope was that allowing people to drink when and where they want would encourage self-restraint. The effect so far has been akin to letting Vikings loose in the piazza."
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(no subject)
Date: 2005-01-08 03:48 pm (UTC)The other thing we noticed is that London seemed much more violent than any city either of us have ever lived in. Not only did we frequently witness fights on the street (personal favorite: a man attempting to fight his way onto a bus against the combined efforts of the driver and conductor while his girlfriend held his suit jacket and whacked his opponents about the head and shoulders with her purse screaming--well, slurring--"don't you touch my boyfrien'"...and this was in posh Kensington), but there were well over 400 violent attacks against tube personnel in 2001 (according to posters in the tube). While I know some people credit this to guns being scarce, I can't help but think that the omnipresence of alcohol probably fuels it.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-01-08 10:28 pm (UTC)Yes, I can hear the arch understatement in your voice from here. :)
The other thing we noticed is that London seemed much more violent than any city either of us have ever lived in.
*nod nod*
You can't be in London--or much of the rest of England--very long before running into something like this. One evening I was walking to the Underground along Tottenham Court Road when I came across a small, shocked circle of people outside the entrance to a pub standing around a man who was beating up another man who was lying on the ground. The man on the ground had already had his arm broken--or so I heard someone say--and the man beating him up was justifying himself to the circle whilst continuing to pound the guy on the ground.
No one was doing anything except making horrified noises and comments, so I crossed to the other side of the street to a phone box and made a 999 call. By the time I'd given my location the police cars were screaming down the street, and I figured the situation was well in hand.
But as a member of an identifiable ethnic minority, one is extra-cautious around English drunks.
While I know some people credit this to guns being scarce, I can't help but think that the omnipresence of alcohol probably fuels it.
Yeah, one wonders what it would be like if they did have guns.
Coincidentally, this week's Economist also has a story on guns in South Africa in which it comments "pub brawls quickly become fatal."