EARLIER this year David Cameron announced a crackdown on binge drinking. Using a five-year-old survey to illustrate the dissolute state of Britain’s youth, the prime minister suggested that boozing was a perennial problem. But following a peak around the millennium (when drinking hit levels not reached since before the first world war) sobriety has set in. Since 2004 alcohol consumption has dropped by one-eighth, to 8.3 litres per person per year, according to an official survey. Tax receipts tell a similar story.
The young are leading. In 2003 70% of 16- to 24-year-olds told interviewers they had had a drink in the previous week; by 2010 just 48% had. The proportion of 11- to 15-year-olds who had drunk in the previous week halved over the same period. Heavy drinking sessions are down too. (By contrast, drinking among older age groups has remained steady since the late 1990s.) The fate of “alcopops” is indicative. Luridly coloured and aimed at young women, they invited tabloid disdain. But today’s teenagers are unimpressed (see article). > > > > Read More
