Sir Liam Donaldson, the chief medical officer for England who is stepping down in May 2010, has issued a self-contradictory message on children and alcohol.
Parents who allow their children alcohol at home may be increasing the chances of future drinking problems, he claims. Sir Liam described the idea of a glass of watered-down wine for a child as a “middle-class obsession”, whilst also declaring as scientific fact the idea that “a lack of parental supervision, exposing children to drink-fuelled events and failing to engage with them as they grow up are the root causes from which our country’s serious alcohol problem has developed.”
Well, which is it? Are “middle class” parents (whoever they are) really causing the city streets to be full of drunken lads and ladettes every weekend?
He also wants to take the monetarist approach in tackling this scourge. If alcohol were more expensive, people wouldn’t get drunk. Do they have the same problems in France, Spain or Italy where alcohol is cheaper than in Britain?
The issue is cultural, not price driven. You don’t change attitudes to drunkenness by targeting parents who show good modelling about moderate alcohol consumption. Neither do you convince young people that it is not fun to drink until you are sick, by increasing the cost of doing so.
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