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Bunny boilover
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Drinking
That’s it. We’ve arrived at what is officially termed the Dizzy Limit.
NSW Police, warming to their recent self-appointment as a freelance social policy think tank, trustee of public morality and holy rolling temperance society, have announced that Australia Day should be as dry as the Nullarbor Plain. Starting now.
They have reasonable cause. Shockingly, some people treat such occasions as an opportunity to get on the squirt and a small minority of those consequently get stupid and some proportion of those play up and a fraction of those become violent and commit felonies.
Continue reading "Sorry officer, but I’m drinking for Australia" »
If the legislation for the Orwellian-sounding Australian National Preventive Health Agency passes, then expect an avalanche of make-work exercises by the Agency all for the cause of making us healthier.
Armed with a budget of $133 million of your money over four years, the agency would get to work advising commonwealth and state health ministers about health issues surrounding alcohol and tobacco consumption and obesity.
It will look to create new policies about interventions in settings such as schools, workplaces and communities.
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Rodger says:
So the junk food industry must now be paying the IPA to represent them. $133 million over 4 years is probably less than 1 fast food chain will pay in advertising over that that time. When the IPAs employers spend millions encouraging us to eat unhealthily why can’t we (or… Read more »
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Dan says:
I agree with all the posts above mine, lets make everybody pay for their own health care all the fatties, unco-ordinated, allergic, disabled, too skinny, diabetic, people who choose to play sports (for fun or to keep themselves fit) and get injured, smokers (who were allowed to buy an extreamlly… Read more »
Well another day and yet another useless decision on alcohol.
Victoria Police will today continue their blitz on drunks at races with the running of the Oaks at Flemington.
Now it’s great that police are targeting these people to stop alcohol fuelled violence, but I personally don’t believe it’s the right course of action.
Continue reading "Targeting drivers is one thing, what about drinkers?" »
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DG says:
J (01:25pm | 06/11/09) “So now ordinary people have to monitor their behavior at public events or else they risk unflattering photos being plastered all over news internet sites” I’m genuinely worried that it takes a photo on the internet to make some people realise that they should monitor their… Read more »
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J of WF says:
J: If people are silly enough to get smashed in a public setting and place themselves at risk then they do run the risk of having their picture splashed across the national media. I’m not a wowser, Ive been very very drunk in public and I’m infinitely lucky that I… Read more »
This week parliament will debate a bill to establish a national Preventive Health Agency, reminding of that classic Mark Twain observation: nobody is safe while the legislature is in session.
On The Punch Federal health minister Nicola Roxon insisted that she was no nanny statist, and that the purpose of the Agency was about saving lives and reducing health costs.
Most modern governments understand the follies of outright bans, such as the failed US Prohibition movement from 1919 to 1933. However, the Agency plans what it sees as the next best thing.
Continue reading "Counterpunch: The nanny state will nag you to death" »
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SandDollar says:
Well the only fun things left, everything else if offensive apparently. Not sure this is the role of government. Business and government getting into areas of life and culture too much and too often. Read more »
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Julie Coker-Godson says:
I found this article on the BBC about discrimination against the overweight. http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/health/8314125.stm > It makes for interesting reading. Personally I’m fed up with all the judgemental statements being made about this issue and would be interested to see if it ever constituted a “hate crime” as discussed here. Read more »
Next week Parliament is set to consider legislation that is another first from the Rudd Government – Australia’s first agency dedicated to Preventative Health.
Currently the media abounds with stories about our obesity epidemic, rising rates of chronic disease and problems with alcohol and tobacco. This Agency will help us do something about those problems.
As much as some media outlets find the labels irresistible, this isn’t about creating a nanny state, or nagging people into being ‘good’. This Agency will be staffed with experts who will work hard to find the best possible ways to help us be healthier – and reduce our health bill as a result.
Continue reading "I’m no nanny, it’s about saving lives and the system" »
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KaXien VaLa says:
Basically the essence of this idea comes down to the process used to treat health issues and the pathway through treatments. The key elements to consider when proscribing a treatment is the risk to effectiveness relationship. Typically the more severe the issue the more potent the treatment…this means that for… Read more »
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gusgrogan@gmail.com says:
Thanks but no thanks Nicola Read more »
With the current kerfuffle about binge drinking, you might be inclined to think that drinking copious amounts of alcohol is a fairly recent phenomenon. The truth is that the history of Western civilisation is soaked in alcohol.
In the spirit of informing the current debate — and helping policy makers and public health officials to see what they’re up against — The Punch presents the following comprehensive* history, spanning over 2500 years of drunkeness.
360 BC — Plato. The history of binge drinking in the West begins in Ancient Greece with the philosopher Plato who compared drinking parties to going to the gym. Just as going to the gym temporarily weakens you but makes you stronger in the long-run, drinking parties, he argued, can make you stronger.
Continue reading "The complete* world history of binge-drinking" »
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Sam says:
@Lord Grognard The Persians didn’t “adopt” Islam. They were conquered by it. @Grant Regarding the “steadily declining” crime rates… Are you confusing statistics with reality? IMO - binge drinking is fun. I had lots of fun towards the end of high school, at the expense of my liver (at least).… Read more »
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brendon says:
The Gin Years. ...Good times, I think*. * Too much Gin has meant that one or two details have been omitted. Read more »
Things we should consign to the non-recyclable rubbish bin of a lost Australia.
Female tennis players winning Grand Slams. Babies christened Keith or Shirley. Bank branches in small country towns. Australian wine under ten bucks a bottle.
While you’re just as likely to bump into the Beaumont children as encounter any of the first three, there’s still an ocean of palate-numbing, environment-raping, image-trashing plonk out there and everything that is great and good about the Australian wine industry is drowning in it.
Continue reading "I got my cheap wine and a pending liver transplant" »
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jonathan says:
Chris: i’ve heard similar numbers thrown around. But don’t ask me to cite my sources, I’m just a humble research librarian. Andy: how about we blame the industry for the behaviour of the consumer? I think I’ll head home for a nice glass of dutch wine? etc? Read more »
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Andy says:
Absolute piffle. Blame the consumer for the behaviour of the industry Read more »
In having a gentle dig at US beer maven, food guy and legendary brewer Garret Oliver, Paul Colgan put his finger on what is the greatest obstacle to beer becoming anything other than a weapon of mass consumption for most Australians.
While it is OK – almost expected – for the urban sophisticate to have a touch of the wine tosser these days, if you show the slightest interest in what’s in your beer glass – or even ask for one when you order a beer – you are marking yourself as a twat of the worst order.
How things have changed. As a child in middle class suburbs of Brisbane in the 70s, I recall my parents going to parties where the dads all rocked up with a half carton of XXXX tallies and the wives with a four litre cask of Coolabah Moselle or Riesling.
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Michael F says:
There is of course a line that ,when crossed, reveals the true wanker - be they beer or wine drinkers. For the “Winus Wankerus” it’s when discussion turns to the side of the hill the grapes were grown on or the acidity of the soil in the permaculture of the… Read more »
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James McIlwain says:
As a wine fan (not wanker) and beer drinker I have had it recently explained to me that it takes a hell of al ot of beer to make a great wine. Further to that one can be clearly pegged as an Australian in other parts of the world for… Read more »
A new preventative health agency is set to be established in the coming months that will tell people what they can eat, drink and certainly not smoke.
It will also attempt to monitor how much of this bad behaviour we are indulging in by working out how fat we’re getting. It’s also likely going to aim to get us fit and exercising as “communities”.
So be prepared to be awoken by a megaphone wielding Nicola Roxon who will no doubt lecture you on why you shouldn’t be hung-over as she accompanies you to the local common for some invigorating star jumps.
The fat patrol are no longer vigilantes, they’ve been given their own agency.
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Michael Moore CEO Public Health Association of Aus says:
Good fun writing the article no doubt Leo - but you know better! No one WANTS to be fat. No one wants to be unhealthy. Actually the most common toast is “to your health”. The interference is actually coming from industry - the food manufacturers, the fast food chains, the… Read more »
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Reaper says:
A wonderful thing, death, so uncontroversial. Leave us alone, for crissakes. Read more »
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