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Some sensible thoughts to stop us losing to boozing

The Punch Team

by The Punch Team

28 May 05:50am

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Filed under: Alcohol, Beer, Drinking, Fare

68 comments

How old were you when you first had a few drinks?

One at a time… Picture: The Courier-Mail

There’s a good chance that by the time you turned 16 you would probably have had a few beers and/or plastic pillows of cask wine. Chances are you got it from either someone like a sibling who was of drinking age or your parents.

Well, it was reported yesterday that the NSW government is stepping up a push to change teenage drinking culture. Targeting adults.

Adults who supply alcohol to other people’s children would face up to a year’s jail under changes being pushed by Premier Barry O’Farrell, Fairfax reported.

It’s an interesting proposal. It’s just one move the state’s government is looking into to change youth drinking culture. There’s already been criticism that the move could unfairly criminalise parents who just got one of their kids’ friends a couple of beers.

The Punch Team are just about the furthest thing from wowsers. Drinking can be fun. It’s a social lubricant. 

But at the same time, it’s understandable to see where New South Wales’ government is coming from. Each week, 70 Australians under 25 are hospitalised from alcohol-related assault. Four Australians under 25 die due to alcohol-related injuries in a week as well. Getting smashed can annihilate enough brain cells to leave young people with lasting damage.

We’re not sure of the merits of the O’Farrell government’s suggestion just yet, but we thought we’d chuck out a couple of thoughts that any government that takes action on alcohol abuse should ponder.

In the past, we’ve suggested that while you can’t force an old head on young shoulders, Australia could do with tackling some of the entrenched attitudes that exist around binge drinking.

Some of the truisms surrounding binge drinking should be confronted. Many people say “eating is cheating”. By cheating, it really means preventing yourself from coating your possessions in spew between in the AM hours. Peh. It might be fun getting a bit loose on the piss, but it’s really not when it’s your stomach fluid that has loosened and has forcefully exited your mouth.

How do you fight something like that? Our Lucy Kippist had some good ideas late last year after visiting a FARE (Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education) event:

Instead of the standard drink message on the back of bottles of beer and wine, labels could read: Did you eat before you left home? Are you hosting a party? Make sure you are serving food with drinks. Have you drunk a glass of water between drinks? How large is your wine glass? Are you feeling more tired than normal – just stick to light beer. And how about an advertising campaign to raise awareness about how long it takes for alcohol to leave your system after a big night out.

Advocates of drug decriminalisation often say it would be a lot safer if it was regulated. But if that were to ever happen, Australia’s problem with alcohol, particularly when it comes to beer barn culture, is an example of how not to do it.

That above solution, or at least something along those lines, is one advanced and non-wowserish way we could change that.

Another interesting point: according to a major drug study, in 2010 the proportion of 12 to 17 year olds who abstained from alcohol had increased. The 2010 National Drug Strategy Household report said:

The proportion of 12–15-year-olds and 16–17-year-olds abstaining from alcohol increased in 2010 (from 69.9% in 2007 to 77.2% and from 24.4% to 31.6%, respectively.

Wonder if they’ll stay that way. As anyone who has been involved in Dry July or Sober October or one of those months knows, abstaining for a long time is trying. But could we be seeing the rise of a small group of people who are straying away from alcohol altogether?

Maybe they’ll have the brain cells left to think of some big fixes.

Most commented

68 comments

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    • PrickWithaFork says:

      06:27am | 28/05/12

      This is just the latest in a series of pro-FARE stories on this site, which is interesting for a number of reasons: FARE is linked to the Greens and Labor Left (i.e. the nanny no-fun brigade), and they issue studies based on a lot of motherhood statements and cost-benefit analyses but are pretty opaque about methodology. Australians pay more for booze than a lot of other countries (certainly Americans) and consume in about the mid-range of OECD countries. Stop enabling the wowsers, guys. Really.

      Reply

    • M says:

      07:35am | 28/05/12

      Thanks for that comment PWaF, I always find it interesting to see which side of the political spectrum a particular lobby organisation is linked with.

    • James1 says:

      10:12am | 28/05/12

      How does the idea that the Greens are part of the “no fun brigade” fit with their drug policies, particularly in relation to marijuana?

    • AdamC says:

      10:52am | 28/05/12

      I agree. With all this ludicrous hysteria aroung drinking,  a reasonable person would assume that rates of alcohol use and abuse were rising rapidly, or at least are around historic highs. The reverse is the case. And, as noted above, Australians are not especially heavy drinkers by international standards.

      In contrast with boozing, what is very much on the rise is the tide of wowserism. Despite the continuing rise in people’s life expectancy, many people seem to think the average Ausralian needs to be rescued from destroying their health with substance abuse or other unhealthy behaviour. Does it frustrate the legion of self-appointed nannies that, despite Aussies’ collective naughtiness, our health outcomes continue to improve?

    • M says:

      12:22pm | 28/05/12

      Puratinism finds a new outlet through the greens/leftie movement as opposed to it’s traditional outlet of Christianity.

    • Economist says:

      01:50pm | 28/05/12

      I’m interested in the statement that FAREs is pro-Green/ Labor left. Wasn’t FAREs set up by the Howard government with a grant from a new excise? That Labor originally opposed? Wasn’t it part of the Liberals campaign to outsource advise the Department of Health would traditionally provide?  Along with NCPIC on cannabis?

      Don’t these organisations have to prove their grants from the public purse via their research and no doubt the usual rubbish like squeezie toys, friz-bees etc. handed out at career expos for kiddies? Isn’t it in their interest to make claims and do research based on their mission statement to continually validate their existence? I’m not disagreeing with your assertions about wowserism, just more curious about the origins of these organisations and know doubt the fact that you probably work for the opposing pro-industry lobby, if you were the bloke on here last week talking about FAREs

      I look at FAREs website and see it’s board members also have religious righties?  Tim Costello or is he a religious leftie? There is certainly a huge focus on indigenous issues.

      I got smashed a few times and it certainly resulted in injuries. I did stupid things while smashed and it was more luck that nothing more seriously happened. No amount of warnings or research from these organisations would have changed the situation, it was more to do with who I was drinking with at the time and how much cash I had on me. I’d be more inclined to message that it’s important to look out for your mates rather than piss yourself laughing at their antics as they pass out in the gutter. I’ve had to tell mates no more and cop a blow or two on the chin. Once they’d sobered up they regretted it, but isn’t this a better message?

    • AdamC says:

      04:01pm | 28/05/12

      Economist, I would say Tim Costello is a religious leftie. He is also an arch-wowser.

      I also do not disagree with you re messages around binge drinking. However, I suspect more social damage is done by the long-term, pysiological effects of excessive alcohol consumption than by drunken mishaps alone. Also, the frequent, daily drinkers are the ones the liquor industry would make their big money from, not the weekend bingers. I for, example, have recently cut down my drinking due to a reality check about the health effects. And I am hardly the tyoe for melodramatics like passing out in gutters or getting into drunken brawls.

    • Emma says:

      06:50am | 28/05/12

      This whole approach of damning something and putting millions or laws into place to prevent teenagers from doing something particular is the most silly approach ever to me.

      In the culture I grew up in, alcohol is part of life. I am not talking binge drinking. I mean alcohol in cooking, baking, a bottle of wine, a cognac after dinner. And this includes the whole family. My father would let me taste, I would be allowed a glass when I liked it, I was explained what a good cognac is and how to distinguish them. Alcohol is not the devil but something to enjoy with responsibility. It gave me a far more natural relationship to alcohol. I dont binge drink, I have been drunk in uni maybe a handful of times, but never took any risks. How come people see alcohol as fuel to get wasted rather than something to savour, a little indulgence?

      Reply

    • Adriene says:

      07:59am | 28/05/12

      Yes, as you say ‘Alcohol is not the devil but something to enjoy with responsibility’.

      Sure. I’m on your page. But sadly, most Australians have not been fortunate enough to grow up in a home like yours where intelligent alcohol education came with the package. The problem lies with the cultural encouragement and abuse of alcohol.

      Perhaps government sanction is not the answer. Perhaps we need to focus more on education, but kids who grow up in families unlike Emma’s deserve at the very least to share in the knowledge of what alcohol is and can do to their health and lifestyle.

      Anyone who has seen the underbelly of Australian alcohol culture surely knows that it’s not all apples and roses.

    • Emma says:

      08:44am | 28/05/12

      Or course Adriene

      Unfortunately we cannot rely on the families to all do the right thing and teach their kids how to drink responsibly. Its a bit of question of approach though. Where I come from, the government has a bit more of a common sense approach and leaves more to education than to legislation. Of course, as you said, not all kids are so fortunate to have a good education at home. I just see in Australia that there is a tendency to overregulate. And it doesnt seem to improve the situation. I dont think its smart to take all responsibility away from the people. Educate, yes, but dont treat them like dumb cattle.

      It just this idea of making something forbidden that makes it even more tempting for teenagers. Like telling them to not ever have sex instead of giving them information.

    • acotrel says:

      09:11am | 28/05/12

      The problem with alcohol is that it enhances the emotions.  If a drunk is nasty or aggro that was there before he/she had a blast.  What is really needed is a programme to combat the depressive illness which is endemic in the community. - Start with the media - limit it’s crassness ! Freedom of speech is bullshit when TV airtime is taken up with 90% lies in the form of advertisments, and talk show hosts who are kids with typically down mentality. Let’s get the tone up a notch ?  And get rid of negative idiots from amongst the politicians ! ! !

    • Lod says:

      10:27am | 28/05/12

      I agree with you Emma. I grew up in a family where I wasn’t allowed to drink. When I left my country home to move to the city and go to uni I had free reign. Pretty much binge drinked my way through the first 2 years at uni while living at residential college. Wasn’t until I was asked by the Dean to take a year off and figure out what I wanted to do that I calmed down. I hardly drink now days and enjoy good alcohol rather than alot of alcohol. Perhaps I have a addictive personality but can’t help thinking if alcohol wasn’t so rebelious I wouldn’t have gone so overboard.

    • Kheiron says:

      10:37am | 28/05/12

      Emma’s got it right. Putting alcohol on some out of reach pedestal only enhances it’s appeal, and saying “No!” to the teenagers while every adult around them is drinking without meaningful restriction is a kick in the groin to a group struggling to be seen as adults themselves.
      Those warning labels won’t help either. Teenagers tend to view them a little backwards.
      “It says I shouldn’t have more than two standard drinks…that sounds like a challenge.”
      ...and seriously, what kind of warning is “Are you feeling more tired than normal?”. That’s just what we need, alcohol bottles sounding like a timid nanny. “Are you sure you want to use that chainsaw inside the house?, yes?, ok then…”

      How we view alcohol needs to change, not how we legislate it.

    • Anne71 says:

      12:47pm | 28/05/12

      So true, Emma.  When I was a kid, my parents would allow my siblings and I a small sip of wine or beer if we asked for one. It certainly didn’t turn us into serial binge-drinkers - if anything, I think it helped in that it took the “mystique” out of alcohol.  We didn’t feel the need to sneak away somewhere and drink a few bottles of Passion Pop, like so many of my classmates did smile

    • kitteh says:

      01:20pm | 28/05/12

      Actually, the most recent studies show that the supposedly European ‘teach them to enjoy alcohol when they are young’ philosophy actually breeds more chronic alcoholics and problem drinkers than restricting the drinking age. It isn’t a direct correlation, which is where the misunderstanding seems to arise - ie: drinking while underage doesn’t always result in alcohol abuse. But the evidence seems to suggest that normalising alcohol in the teens is a strong risk factor.

      The claim that ‘if you restrict it they will just want it more’ with regards to teenagers is also a false argument. It only applies if it is presented as a wonderful, wonderful thing. As a teenager, I watched an alcoholic family member dissipate before my eyes. It was enough to show me that the ‘social lubricant’ was actually a toxin - and that’s why it wasn’t available to minors.

      So I agree that education is the key, but this idea of how wonderful alcohol can be ‘in moderation’ is potentially damaging too - especially since Australians have no real idea what moderation is. If it is part of your life every day, it is not moderation even if you don’t binge drink. Unbiased studies - not the ones sponsored by wine associations and so on - have shown that your cancer risk rises even with drinking at ‘safe’ levels. The AMA doesn’t publicise this as most Australians already see the current recommendations as ‘too restrictive’. I also agree that you can’t legislate everything, but I also think people deserve the truth - not just what they want to hear.

    • Kassandra says:

      01:45pm | 28/05/12

      Agree Emma. I had a similar experience. Alcohol is not the problem per se, it’s binge drinking alcohol that is the problem. Getting happily tipsy at a party or on a night out is fine, but getting falling down spewing up drunk is definitely not ok. Otherwise it is meant to enhance food, not to obliterate your brain.

    • Emma says:

      02:17pm | 28/05/12

      kitteh

      Obviously I only have my own family to relate to. In my particular case it actually ended in me not drinking alcohol much at all as I dont like the taste of wine, beer, etc. So I tasted it all but just came to the result it wasnt much for me. Apart from cooking and baking but obviously not in your every day meal smile

      I am surprised by the study though. I assume though that family and immediate surroundings play the biggest role no matter what.

    • M. says:

      06:59am | 28/05/12

      A year’s incarceration for supplying under age drinkers with alcohol? Seems a bit extreme to me.

      Reply

    • thomas vesely says:

      10:35am | 28/05/12

      to me also, but it seems to me that the incarceration of the people is an educative policy of fear of authority.
      defenestration overdue…..........

    • M says:

      01:13pm | 28/05/12

      Enlgish please?

    • Gerard says:

      07:18pm | 28/05/12

      Extreme? I’d call it incomprehensibly stupid. The logical result of this moronic policy is that parents will simply go out while their kids have a party. End result: greater consumption of alcohol with no adults around to deal with emergencies.

    • Fiddler says:

      07:00am | 28/05/12

      yes, because it’s up to the government to tell people what they can and can’t do. Or they could simply start making people responsible for their actions, commit a crime when under the influence or because you are an alco then tough titties, it isn’t considered an excuse.
      The notion that the government should be telling us what we should think is getting a little tiresome

      Reply

    • M says:

      07:37am | 28/05/12

      Tiresome for some, to others it’s a welcome safety blanket.

    • Fiddler says:

      09:07am | 28/05/12

      true, and I do need idiots who can’t cope to fall first allowing me to survive zompoc

    • Emma says:

      09:30am | 28/05/12

      Fiddler

      You mean the upcoming zombie attack?

    • Austin 3:16 says:

      12:26pm | 28/05/12

      —commit a crime when under the influence or because you are an alco then tough titties, —

      Yeah ‘cause nobody weighs up the pros and cons of their actions as well as somebody who’s had a few drinks

    • Al says:

      01:13pm | 28/05/12

      Austin 3:16 - ‘but judge, I never would have driven home drunk if I wasn’t suffering the disease of alcoholisim!’
      ‘oh, in that case lets reduce the punishment’.

      I am of the point that if you do something stupid and illegal, the fact you were drunk/high/stressed etc. is absolutly no excuse for a reduction in the punishment, but it appears to occur all the time.

    • Dan says:

      02:42pm | 28/05/12

      @Al - no it doesn’t. Being under the influence of anything other than a prescription medication cannot be used to mitigate guilt in a courtroom. It actually never happens.

    • Fiddler says:

      04:19pm | 28/05/12

      Dan, try going into a courtroom sometimes. It is pulled out at least 50% of the time. Claiming to need rehabilitation for alcohol or drugs is used to get “special circumstances” to avoid gaol sentences in probably every courtroom every day.
      What you are probably referring to is the now unlawful concept of being found not guilty due to being able to form a mens rea due to level of intoxication.

    • Ear to the Ground says:

      04:27pm | 28/05/12

      @Dan.  Actually mate it does.  A murder conviction in the Territory is nigh on imposible to achieve because the overwhelming majority of perpetrators are affected by alcohol to the extent that the prosecution is unable to establish the necessary intent.  Result is invariably a plea down to manslaughter or even lesser charge.

      I’m not familiar with the situation in other states, but presumably its not too different across the country?

    • thomas vesely says:

      07:02am | 28/05/12

      there is a good chance of govmnt over reach here.

      Reply

    • Steve says:

      07:45am | 28/05/12

      Too many Australians have forgotten that alcohol is a two-edged sword and it needs to be treated with respect.  it would be good to re-enforce the idea that alcohol is for adults. We have a legal age for buying alcohol at 18 for good reasons. 

      That said, I worry that O’Farrell and other politicians are too easily persuaded by Police Commissioners, FARE and like-minded NGOs to impose yet more laws on the rest of us because something must be seen to be done.

      This latest move smacks of the ‘Sunday Announceables’ used so often by the old Labor government to manage the media cycle and public opinion.

      Reply

    • PrickWithaFork says:

      07:45am | 28/05/12

      And in terms of the O’Farrell Government’s plan, is this what historic parliamentary majorities are for? It’s like the entire cabinet has been taken over by a bunch of Today Tonight producers.

      Reply

    • Steve says:

      01:13pm | 28/05/12

      Next Sunday’s announceable will be the tough action against the packs of wild rabid dogs roaming at night in Sydney’s inner suburbs. 

      You heard it here first!

    • David says:

      08:18am | 28/05/12

      In the UK you can buy a 6 pack of beer for £2.99 yet alcoholism is no more of a problem than in Australia. I think the Australian government just sees alcohol excise taxes as another easy revenue source.

      Reply

    • M says:

      08:39am | 28/05/12

      No duh, they see cigarettes in the same light. It’s funny how the latest tax hike on cigarettes came out only a few months after Rudd gave everyone 900 dollars.

    • Willie Mac says:

      10:28am | 28/05/12

      They also earn a lot less in Britain. And you’re not taking exchange rates into account.

    • David says:

      11:25am | 28/05/12

      Exchange rates??? 1.00 GBP = 1.57 AUD.

      That’s $4.69 for a six pack of generic private label beer. The cheapest in Australia? $12.99. Australians don’t earn that much more than UK workers.

    • Dan Webster says:

      09:06am | 28/05/12

      The government needs to run ads that show a mixed group of 12 happy binge drinkers being bowled over by Cirrhosis bowling balls.The Grim reaper (the bowler) then turns around and points at the screen saying “you’re next”, and then grabs another bowling ball.

      Reply

    • Kika says:

      09:18am | 28/05/12

      6. My mum used to give me beer in tiny little shot glasses so that I’d “get used to the taste”. Hahaha. Gross. I hated it. She used to give us tiny glasses of wine too every now and then.

      Mum also bought all my friend’s alcohol for schoolies too. haha she’d be in trouble now for that.

      Reply

    • Jolanda says:

      10:10am | 28/05/12

      My kids have been invited to parties for under 18’s where the invitations says that alcohol is permitted.  The parents let them.  I say fine the parents and make them responsible as they are the biggest part of the problem.  If the parents were worried that if they are caught they might have to spend some time in prison then they would be more careful about what goes on in their house.  Some parents want to be ‘popular’ and that is what they are teaching their kids.

      Reply

    • M says:

      10:36am | 28/05/12

      Jolanda, be cool, be cool Jolanda.

    • Samantha says:

      11:03am | 28/05/12

      @Jolanda, I once went to a party back in high school where the hosts gave all the invited guests an agreement that the parents had to sign as part of their responsibility.  I thought it was a brilliant idea.  It meant that anyone who was causing a nuisance to everyone else could be booted and the parents had to come and pick them up.  If not, then they had the power to call the police due to trespassing or something similar, can’t remember the exact detail.  Yes, alcohol was allowed, but it came at a cost.  I think my parents, who were drinkers only very very occasionally (and even then it was usually only a glass of wine with tea) were very happy to sign the agreement as a result.

    • James1 says:

      11:56am | 28/05/12

      The parents must be the biggest part of the problem.  After all, it’s not like the teenagers in question would just drink without the parents’ acquiescence.

    • Gerard says:

      07:27pm | 28/05/12

      Well, fining the parents would certainly stop those invitations being sent out. Wouldn’t stop them providing alcohol though. All that would change is that you’d have no idea which parties your kids were drinking at.

    • Slimeon says:

      10:11am | 28/05/12

      What about Parents giving sweet lolly alcopops to 10 year olds so they can watch them puke! happens where i live and i wish the cops WOULD do something, Perhaps the new laws are aimed at people like that!

      Reply

    • Steve says:

      10:40am | 28/05/12

      it’s not new laws that are needed, but new parents.

      Unfortunately, no government can do anything about that, so new laws are passed instead.

    • Markus says:

      11:04am | 28/05/12

      Laws are already there for that scenario, just as the laws are already there to cover the scenarios of DUI and drunken assault.

      Heavy new penalties are not going to do anything if the existing laws aren’t being enforced as is.

    • Dan says:

      02:45pm | 28/05/12

      These are the working families that our taxes keep going to.

    • Little Joe says:

      10:44am | 28/05/12

      Took my son to the city when he was 7-yo to show him first hand the impact of alcohol.

      “Why is that man laying in the gutter??” he asked.

      I simply replied, ” That’s the impact of too much alcohol.”

      “Why can’t that man walk properly??” he asked.

      I simply replied, ” That’s the impact of too much alcohol.”

      “Why is that woman thowing up??” he asked.

      I simply replied, ” That’s the impact of too much alcohol.”

      This was 8-years ago ..... and he has never shown any interest in alcohol. I still realise that he will come home one night and throw up on my front lawn one night ..... but at least he has been given a first hand education of the impact of too much alcohol.

      Reply

    • Samantha says:

      11:07am | 28/05/12

      @Little Joe, your approach is something that I hope to do for my kids (when I have them). Show them the darker side to drugs/alcohol and say that yes, I physically can’t stop them from drinking but to be aware of the side effects. Sure, I still expect that one day they will come home drunk but that hopefully those times are few and far between.

    • Kika says:

      12:26pm | 28/05/12

      Little Joe - Wow. I had the best first hand experience with alcohol - an alcoholic father. But being raised with it around, and the effects of it - like Dad falling through the glass table in the middle of the night, or the fighting and other BS that goes on was just ‘normal’ for me! haha. I still used to drink but gave up cold turkey early this year. Best decision ever.

    • M says:

      02:44pm | 28/05/12

      I’ve had coke before and I’m not addicted. w

    • Jenni says:

      10:50am | 28/05/12

      Regardless of whether sensible amounts of alcohol were part of YOUR upbringing, and regardless of YOUR views on what constitutes acceptable use of alcohol, you don’t have the right to make that decision for *somebody else’s* child. If you raise your family with a healthy respect for alcohol that’s great, but that doesn’t mean you can give “a couple of beers” to someone else’s underage teenager. It’s not your call. If you do, you are showing huge disrespect for someone else’s family and the way they choose to raise their kids.

      Reply

    • Fred says:

      11:30am | 28/05/12

      Can we get the nanny state onto people using caps? It is NOT necessary and VERY annoying. $100 fine per word.

    • thomas vesely says:

      11:03am | 28/05/12

      i was 84 when my mummy let me have a drink.
      it totally ruined my life.

      Reply

    • Luce says:

      11:06am | 28/05/12

      One of the things that makes alcohol so inviting to under age people is purely the fact that you’re not allowed to touch it. The more out of reach you make something to a teenager, the more they want it. And when they do get hold of it, the higher the risk they will go overboard and put themselves in danger.

      I’d be sceptical about whether making it even more inaccessible is really the right approach.

      Reply

    • amy says:

      12:32pm | 28/05/12

      that or that fact that “everyone does it and your uncool if you don’t”

    • Fred says:

      11:27am | 28/05/12

      “The proportion of 12–15-year-olds and 16–17-year-olds abstaining from alcohol increased in 2010 (from 69.9% in 2007 to 77.2% and from 24.4% to 31.6%, respectively.”

      Our kids is learning then yeah? Good for them. I think it’s because the music has become so horrendously crap. Also probably because if you want to have a normal life these days you have to start saving straight away because of house prices.

      I wouldn’t trade my binge drinking late teen years (18+) for the world. Ok, I would, but I wasn’t going to get the world anyway.

      I think the trend these days is to waste your youth travelling. Then end up 30 and broke just like the dirty alchos.

      Should we sick the nanny state onto the travellers to support the politico-housing complex?

      Reply

    • M says:

      12:24pm | 28/05/12

      No, the nanny state should give me enough information to make an informed decision about my health and then it should get the f—- out of my life.

    • Elphaba says:

      01:00pm | 28/05/12

      Who says travel = broke?  They’re doing it wrong…

    • Economist says:

      01:58pm | 28/05/12

      How do you rate heavy drinking with travel? What’s the politco-housing complex?

    • Inky says:

      01:00pm | 28/05/12

      Perhaps part of the problem is if I ever admit to people I’ve never been more than tipsy, they see that as a challenge, as if their job is to get me plastered.

      Reply

    • Dan says:

      02:50pm | 28/05/12

      Well I just want to say that I enjoy a beer after a day at work and I’m sick of having to pay so much for it.

      Australia is the most wowserish country in the world. All of you wowsers are going to die too you know. How many years does it take off your life worrying about everyone else? How much does it cost our health system?

      I think we really need to ban wowsers…I’d be quite happy to see them locked up for a year for interfering in someone else’s life with their arrogant and immature attitude that they know what is best for everyone. Then they would think twice before whining about whatever they’ve been told to worry about this week.

      Reply

    • Jason says:

      04:53pm | 28/05/12

      Why is this seen as a new challenge for society??  At age 14 in year 9, EVERY WEDNESDAY MORNING would involve at least a bottle of scotch shared between 6 of us before school.. This is in the western suburbs of Sydney at an average state high school in 1985.  So is this a new problem, or just a new soapbox for the PC brigade?

      Reply

    • Michael says:

      10:13pm | 28/05/12

      I dont see how putting messages on bottles will ever change anything, because, once you’ve started drinking, your decision making process is compromised. I think that maybe the answer is to encourage responsible drinking from an earlier age, rather than complete prohibition until a later age. Pretty much the opposite of whatever they’re doing now, is likely to achieve better results.

      Reply

    • Joan Bennett says:

      08:06am | 15/06/12

      I think I last had a drink in 2007.  I guess when you have a really good brain, it’s more important to you to preserve it grin

      Reply
 
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ToryShepherd 18 May 13 10:48PM

. @mcguiremi is journo of the year! #samediaawards

ToryShepherd

ToryShepherd 18 May 13 10:35PM

.@mariamosco @msmarto Super Smarto. And Shirley Stott Despoja into the Hall of Fame #samediaawards

ToryShepherd

ToryShepherd 18 May 13 10:14PM

Best print journo to @mcguiremi woot! #samediaawards

Anthony Sharwood

antsharwood 18 May 13 10:11PM

The AFL needs a special draw song. Feels weird having no club song at the end of #AFLSwansFreo. But what song?

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From: Hasbro, go straight to gaol, do not pass go

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Gentle jabs to the ribs

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