Counting the Cost

Another bout of puritannical ravings from the anti-alcohol fanatics at the Nuffield Council for Bioethics. Binge drinking's a serious problem, but the answer lies in better alcohol education starting from an early age, not a blanket punishment for every drinker: it's no coincidence that alcohol abuse in Southern European countries, where children are brought up to drink small amounts with meals and adults aren't flogged to death at work, is much lower than in Britain. And while there's definitely an argument for clamping down hard on under-age drinking, our taxes on alcohol are already among the highest in the EU - much higher than in problem countries such as France, Italy or Spain.