| William
Hague has taken a lot of stick for implying he
could drink a lot of beer - as much as 14 pints a
day. Some papers have
questioned the truth of Mr Hague's boast, others
have poured scorn on this latest gaffe.
It sends a message to young
male readers of GQ magazine that excessive
drinking is macho - "I was a lad too,"
Mr Hague wants us to believe.
In case you're thinking this
will be self-righteous, let me admit straight
away that I like beer and wine.
Indeed, MP's experiences ans
habits of drinking are probably similar to that
of the wider population.
However, the reason I think Mr
Hague's boast is irresponsible is because of the
correlation between alcohol and crime.
Mr Blair's idea about police
taking drunks to the cashpoint for on the spot
fines may have been ill-considered, but he had a
point - excessive drinking too often leads to
loutish behaviour and violence.
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One
of the reasons we desperately need a substantial
increase in police numbers in Kingston is the
challenge of policing the pubs and nightclubs at
closing time. On Fridays
and Saturdays our police are stretched and it is
no wonder they take longer to deal with other
equally disturbing incidents that occur in our
community.
So instead of politicians
bragging about drinking acheievements, we need
positive ideas for dealing with alcohol abuse.
Why shouldn't the police have
much stronger powers to close down places that
are known to sell drink to under 18s or people
who have drunk far too much?
With the proper safeguards,
even a temporary closure would surely lead to
more responsible selling of alcolhol.
We need political leaders who
act against loutish behaviour, not play up to it.
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