Some thoughts on the "yoof" of today #1

This entry is slightly off-topic, but I felt strongly riled enough to write it so here you go!

Theresa May appeared on BBC Breakfast on Friday morning, defending the government's plans to increase the sale price of alcohol announced in Wednesday's budget. This is all in an attempt to tackle "binge drinking", with the finger firmly pointed in the direction of young adults.

Spin doctors have cleverly devised a label for the ritual of buying cheap booze in the shops beforehand, with the intention of getting drunk cheaply at home (at least cheaper than buying it in pubs and clubs) as pre-loading. *Sigh* It seems like nowadays every behaviour must have a label, you know. That way we can easily identify it as a Problem and attribute blame to somebody!

Anyway, this whole piece of journalism was farcical, for two reasons:

1. That binge drinking is a Problem associated with the youth of today and nobody else, and that raising the price of alcohol will combat this

2.That Theresa refused to admit her drinking habits. If she herself did not have a Problem then there would be no shame in admitting her consumption, surely?

The main argument is complete and utter BS. (We all know the truth about MPs drinking in the House of Commons bar thanks to the Telegraph.)

"Binge" drinking is as much a rite of passage as the first kiss or rebelling against parents - it's probably integral to both! It’s about exploring life and its boundaries, developing values and the self into a normal, functioning member of society.  It is unfortunate that the media have latched onto binge drinking as the scapegoat of most causes of social degeneration. “Binge drinking” brings to mind word associations of hoodies, riots, teenage pregnancies, and other general anarchy.

And this is, of course, on the assumption that it only affects young adults and not any other demographic of society. Let’s all be honest here, binge drinking happens irrespective of age or gender. It is part of the culture of many sports (I recall heavy drinking sessions from early afternoon to early hours of the following morning over a weekend, during my rugby-playing days…..) And if there’s a party – be it birthday, wedding, divorce, and so on – then we could all be guilty of drinking to excess and regretting it the following day. But this is conveniently forgotten about when we’re talking about what’s wrong with society…..

So the Problem is binge drinking, and the solution is higher sale price. Never mind that this will also penalise responsible drinkers. Why, oh why, I keep asking myself, does nobody ever look deeper to the real, fundamental causes of the Problems? Perhaps because that involves too many uncomfortable truths, or too much change to put things right, that may be beyond the scope of a single term in government?