Brown: 24-hour drinking law to be reviewed

It is another feeble measure to show it is Brown in charge not Blair (because otherwise nobody would notice). Same with the casino 're- think'.

Watch 'In the Thick of it' and you'll get the picture....

There was one study, published last week

But how they can say that the results from a single A&E department can safely be extrapolated to cover the whole country, I don't know.

And what that story also does not mention is the overall effect. It says only that the number of alcohol related "night visits" had risen from 79 to 250 for the same month a year apart. They really should have counted the overall total, not just "night visits".

"Night visits" being defined as between 9PM and 9AM, and "alcohol related" being defined as "if they had drunk before going to hospital, or if they were intoxicated when examined or in their final diagnosis. "

So not actually anything to do wit whether the injury was caused or exacerbated by alcohol either.

That's quite right: my local paper (Coventry Evening Telegraph) had a very small piece in it last week saying that my local hospital had experienced no such rise in admissions. Obviously such good news would not be worth the Daily Mail or even the Times wasting its newsprint on printing it!

It doesn't actually mention that the little tick sheets they have in A&E never used to mention alcohol except where serious physical harm had occurred due to massive consumption, now they do.

What's the betting that during the changeover period any hospital would record minimal alcohol "related" episodes before and hundreds afterward.

Simple statement of fact most people drink at the weekend and in the evening if at all. Another fact most people go out for pleasure at the weekends and evenings.

Most injuries involve pleasure pursuits.

Take them together and you have the inescapable conclusion (in the Mail etc) that the injuries must be due to alcohol.

It strikes me that when more people visit pubs etc because as non-smokers they can enjoy the place now and they have accidents people will conclude that smoking prevents injuries.

Why doesn't the Mail stick to blaming Gordon Brown for the floods?

This is similar to what happened when some health authorities increased their investment in mental health services and increased the number of hospital places available for sick people. This increase in the numbers of patients was taken as proof of the escalating impact of super strength cannabis on mental health.

ffs - why do you keep quoting the Daily Mail and their distortions:

The Daily Mail: The British Crime Survey found that in the first full year of the new law the number of drink-related offences rose by

The British Crime Survey: Based on the 2006/07 BCS there were

(I think you recently said that you had always voted Tory - just about sums things up - you read it in the Daily Mail - it must be true (if you're a Tory))

I suspect he will dismiss it as it is "sensational" s**te - with nothing to back it up - see my earlier response with the source of their data.

I know of no other "newspaper" (using the term reservedly) who will lie and distort "facts" to the degree that the Mail will. (Oh.... ok, perhaps the Sun as well)

Why don't you start your move upmarket and graduate to the Sun as a first step?

See the final paragraph below: "These findings are not consistent with the hypothesis that implementation of the 2003 Licensing Act in November 2005 would increase violence in England and Wales."

There is more information at:

eg We cannot assess to what degree these patterns have resulted directly from the licensing changes, or other factors. However, the number of violent crimes, disorder and criminal damage offences occurring in England and Wales as a whole during the night-time period can be estimated by applying the proportion of offences by type occurring between 6pm and 6am recorded in the 30 forces in the two twelve-month periods to the overall numbers of offences in the 43 Home Office forces during the same periods. By following this approach it is estimated that overall there were around 12,000 fewer violent crimes with injury in the night-time period in the year after the Licensing Act was introduced, December 2005- November 2006, compared with the year before the Act came in (a fall of six per cent for more serious violent crime offences and three per cent for less serious woundings).

and at:

Violence in England and Wales 2006 An Accident and Emergency Perspective V Sivarajasingam, S Moore, J P Shepherd Violence Research Group, Cardiff University, Heath Park, Cardiff, CF14

The Mail is somewhat unique insofar as its editor has been allowed to present his own personal agenda as if it were the newspaper's policy.

Paul Dacre is tee-total and a fervent anti-gambler; he also appears to have an unhealthy obsession with both Charlotte Church and Cherie Blair.

You only have to pick up a copy of the Mail and these four things leap out at you on a daily basis.

Just how old are you?

Dave

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't uno-hoo a retired policeman?

Cross postings removed.

Yes, real name Kev.

So he has an axe to grind.

Well, let's see:

"The Home Office is carrying out a review, and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport is monitoring statistics, but recent reports show in some areas drink-related offences have soared by 130 per cent between 3am and 6am. "

What has happened to "drink related offences" at other times? 130% sounds bad, but if pubs are opening later it seems likely that any problems are being spread out more.

"The British Crime Survey found that in the first full year of the new law the number of drink-related offences rose by 64,000 to 1,087,000."

What is a drink-related offence? Are we really talking about alcohol-fuelled violence, or technical offences like drinking in a public place (which is often completely harmless)? How does the British Crime Survey measure crime? Actual convictions? Crimes reported by the public? Public perception of crime? Or is it because police can now give fixed penalties when in the past they couldn't, so now activities are reported as crimes when in the past the police just sensibly calmed things down and moved people on.

This article

No, I don't think there is one.

You should be quoting original data to support your stance. Then we could all analyse the British Crime Survey and say if we come to the same conclusions as you. As an ex-Policeman I would have thought analysing crime statistics would be something you could very easily do, without having to let the Daily Mail do your thinking for you.

I get fed up of all this talk of 24hr drinking , in reality very few or any pubs have a round the clock licence, the latest is probably

Fed up *with*.....