Part of the problem Dave, as far as I believe anyway, is that drinking is so taboo - until you reach 18yrs. Then it seems to be a free for all. Plus there’s this culture of ‘You don’t drink? How odd’ that pervades all sections/ages of society.

I don’t drink much (I think maybe one or two in the last two years) however my husband does socially. We’ve never demonised alcohol in our house. The kids know when dad’s got a hangover and why, if there’s a family meal then we’ve allowed them a ‘taste’ as appropriate but ensured they realise that it has it’s bad points as well as tasting nice.

Maybe if drink wasn’t so cheap in supermarkets, maybe if non-alcoholic drinks were cheaper in pubs/clubs, maybe if it wasn’t so frowned upon in our culture for parents to allow an occasional celebratory drink as appropriate, maybe if it wasn’t seen as socially unacceptable to be sober on a night out…

There’s lots of reasons and potential solutions but unfortunately it seems that market forces, peer pressure, profit and the nanny state in which we live at the moment will never allow a good resolution. (sorry, am I really sounding that pessimistic?)

Thanks for that, it wasn’t all pessimistic! I actually emailed my MP describing the situation and she got back to me saying she would be investigating it! There really is no excuse for the “free drink” thing so hopefully things will happen about it
On the whole attitude thing it does need some kind of sea change in social attitudes - but that can happen!