The British obsession with drinking

The British are unusually childish when it comes to alcohol. From binge drinking in city streets after hours all the way to the precious giggle which accompanies the offer of a glass of wine at a genteel drinks party; it all betokens a weirdly teenage obsession with booze. I met a vicar who boasted that she never offered her guests tea or coffee, but wine, evidence of her urbane taste apparently but also the last thing I would want at a vicarage. I've been to lunch parties where the an offer of wine was greeted by: 'Oh I shouldn't, but I will'; or 'You know me, I wish I could, but I can't', and a comradely chuckle at such an illicit desire. To request a soft drink shows you are no fun or, worse, a flat out refusal of hospitality. Alcohol is special, desirable and naughty - for 14 year olds and for 60 year olds.

The teetotallers are in on this too. The deliberately intoned 'No thank you, I don't drink', is just as desperate for attention as asking for a second glass. What is it about booze that is so terrifying for those who reject it (on anything other than health grounds) and so tantalising for those who are convinced of its naughtiness? Given that almost no social situation is without the offer of alcohol, and drinking it has become almost a social requirement at many events, why doesn't it elicit the same reaction as water or Coca Cola? It is time for the British to snap out of this adolescent attitude to alcohol which is as embarrassing as the antiquated attitude to sex espoused in the Carry On films. Drink it if you like; don't if you don't. Either way don't make an exhibition of your sense of fun or your purity.

The Bible warns against drunkenness repeatedly (Ephesians 5:18; Proverbs 23:29-35) but rarely against drinking alcohol at all, presumably because water was far more dangerous for your health. Indeed wine became the centre piece of the Mass, as a representative for Christ's blood. This doesn't stop many Christian denominations from departing from Christ's own example in preferring Ribena to red wine in the Eucharist. The fear is presumably that one drink will lead to another, just as some Christian student groups disapprove of full frontal hugging on the grounds that it might lead to sex. This seems like a very odd notion for everyone apart from alcoholics and the most sexually depraved, who form only a small minority of society and so also most Christian groups. Who can't trust themselves with a hug or a single glass of wine? It seems possible, even, that it is the teetotallers and those who refuse any bodily contact who might be at most risk of falling of the other end of the wagon. The prayer is 'Lead us not into temptation' and not 'Do not tempt us'; without temptation how can we learn to resist? The most responsible attitude is to drink when appropriate, and to drink as much as is responsible, but not to deny it entirely on grounds of purity.