are being spread in Canada about yer boozing ....
U.K. DRINKERS PREFER POUNDING TO SIPPING : CABINET MINISTER
New 24-hour alcohol licensing laws have failed to help Britons adopt a more relaxed attitude toward drinking, a cabinet minister said, according to a Sunday newspaper.
Most Britons enjoy drinking too much to emulate the cafe culture of continental Europe, said Hazel Blears, chairman the governing Labour party and a member of Prime Minister Tony Blair's cabinet.
"I don't know whether we'll ever get to be in a European drinking culture, where you go out and have a single glass of wine," Blears said, according to Britain's Sunday Times newspaper.
"Maybe it's our Anglo-Saxon mentality. We actually enjoy getting drunk," she was quoted as saying.
Britain's drinking laws were changed in November 2005, allowing licensed premises to apply for permission to open round-the-clock. Proponents of the laws had hoped they would nudge Britons toward gentle tippling rather than relentless chugging, by ending the scramble to guzzle as much booze as possible before an early closing time.
British consumption of alcohol is not the heaviest in Europe, but is among the most notorious. In recent years, the government has launched a campaign against anti-social behaviour, including binge drinking.
Despite her reservations, Blears, previously a Home Office minister in charge of tackling alcohol misuse, said that critics who feared the reforms would lead to increased alcohol dependency and related crimes had been wrong.
"The 24-hour drinking was supposed to be the end of the life as we know it. That hasn't happened," the newspaper quoted Blears as saying.
Blears said she was concerned about the potential health implications of relaxed drinking laws, particularly on young people. A 2004 study found half of teenagers who were 15 and 16 consumed more than five alcoholic drinks, classed as binge drinking, in a single session each month. The minimum drinking age in Britain is 18.
© The Canadian Press, 2006
