A sober bid to get Britain off the booze

Most people enjoy a drink, and there is nothing wrong with that.

But drinking to excess night after night is doing terrible damage, not only to huge numbers of individuals but to the nation. Figures leaked to the Sunday Mirror reveal that 210,000 people were admitted to hospital with alcohol-related problems last year.

And that is only part of the story. Drunks cause mayhem in hospitals, abusing nurses and doctors and frequently assaulting them.

On top of that are the deaths caused by drink, conservatively put at 5,500 a year but in reality far higher, with excessive alcohol consumption responsible for heart disease and cancer.

For too long successive governments have done nothing to persuade drinkers to ease up. No doubt they didn't want to appear eager to curb people's pleasure - or, of course, upset the powerful drinks industry.

Now Gordon Brown plans to launch a campaign against the perils of binge-drinking.

But the government cannot - and should not - stand at every drinker's elbow, telling them they have had enough. The industry also has a part to play.

They are selling stronger drinks, in larger measures, and aiming them at young people and women, the two categories in which there has been an explosion of alcoholabuse in the past few years.

The cost to the nation of binge drinking is astronomical - to the health service, police, days lost at work and in family breakdown.

It isn't going to be easy to turn the tide. But Gordon Brown is right to make the attempt.

Gordon Brown vowed to take greater action to fight the "scourge of alcohol abuse".

The Prime Minister's promise came after leaked figures revealed the shocking extent of Binge Britain.

A record 210,000 people were admitted to hospital last year with booze-related illnesses, Department of Health figures show.

And the deaths of 5,500 people - 2,000 of them women - in 2006 were blamed on alcohol, according to leaked extracts from the report, out this week.

The figures have prompted Mr Brown to promise fresh action to tackle the problem, which costs the NHS billions each year.

Britain's binge drinkers will be targeted in a £10million advertising blitz.

Mr Brown and Home Secretary Jacqui Smith are particularly concerned about soaring levels of drinking among young women. The new report will reveal that one in 14 drink alcohol seven days a week.

It follows figures which showed the number of women and girls arrested for being drunk and disorderly has leapt tenfold in parts of the UK in the past five years.

In a speech to church leaders in Edinburgh, the PM said he fully supported the views of the church on the "misery caused by gambling, drug addiction and the scourge of alcohol abuse".

The "Know Your Limits" campaign will urge drinkers to find out how many alcohol units are in their drinks.

More and more bars are now serving wine in larger 250ml glasses.

More than half of those quizzed in a new survey thought a large glass of wine with a 12 per cent alcohol content has two units when it contains three. And more than a third did not know that an average pint of beer has two units of alcohol.

Health minister Dawn Primarolo said: "This campaign is all about helping people understand how many units are in their drinks, to help them keep an eye on their intake for the good of their longterm health."

Booze Casualties

210,000 people were admitted to hospital last year with booze-related illnesses

5,500 deaths in 2006 - including 2,000 women - blamed on alcohol

One in 14 women drinks alcohol seven days a week

Measure By Measure

Wine:

Small (125ml) glass of 12.5% wine = 1.5 unit

Large (250ml) glass = 3 units

Beer:

330ml bottle of ordinary strength lager or bitter

(eg Carlsberg, 4%) = 1.5 units

Pint of strong lager or bitter

(eg Stella Artois, 5.2%) = 3 units

Cider:

440ml can of Woodpecker (3.5%) = 1.5 units

Pint of Scrumpy Jack (6%) = 3.5 units

Spirits

25ml single measure of Smirnoff/Jack Daniels

(37.5%/40%) = 1 unit

35ml larger pub measure of Smirnoff/Jack Daniels

(37.5%/40%) = 1.5 units

Sunday Mirror