Bottoms Up

Pete Brown, an English beer writer, whose blog I follow had a most interesting post on Monday and “Neo-Prohibition.”

Ever wished you could just slap a hysterical country around the face?

There is no objectivity here whatsoever. Absolutely no research or reasoning that any of these measures will discourage the minority of people who drink dysfunctionally.

We’re demonising drink. Independent anthropological research by Brown University in the US shows that it is this demonisation – this removal of drink from the context of ordinary life – that plays a major contribution in developing a dysfunctional relationship with alcohol. If you don’t believe me, spend an afternoon on the ferry between Elsinore (Denmark, where drinking laws a relatively liberal) and Helsingor (a couple of miles across the water in Sweden, where drinking laws are extremely tight)…READ MORE…