Janey Godley: Alcoholism is the same illness no matter what job you do

Published on Sunday 30 November 2008 18:57

MIDDLE-CLASS parents were berated last week for allowing their children to get pie-eyed drunk. So, all the previous warnings from government agencies about under-age drinking were aimed only at the lower-income end of society? Was this latest warning sent out to the posh folks on headed notepaper with a scented candle and some couscous?

According to Tom Halpin, the Lothian and Borders' chief constable, doctors, lawyers, social workers, police officers and teachers – whom he classes as "respected pillars of society" – are failing in their role as parents by tolerating excessive under-age drinking in the home.

I have a few issues with this kind of attitude. First, I don't see doctors, lawyers, social workers, police officers and teachers as pillars of society. All these professions he named have a high incidence of alcoholism. How ironic.

I know of doctors who went drinking and their child got abducted; I know of teachers who have abused kids; I have encountered a few shifty lawyers; I know of social workers whose misplaced work values ended in a vulnerable child's death; and I know of police officers who shot an innocent man. Who decides the pillars of a community?

Having a degree and a professional job does not make you automatically eligible as a "pillar of society". That title has to be earned, surely?

Getting back to the issue of under-age drinking…

There are those among the middle-classes who, by allowing their teenagers to have a glass of vintage red wine, are no worse or better than the single mum who gets her son a can of cider to have his first tipple in the safety of her flat.

There has always been a sense of snobbery surrounding the abuse of alcohol and drugs. Sharp-dressed folks have often sneered at the heroin addict slumped on the street, but they find nothing distasteful about snorting coke off the toilet lid in a private club – and the only thing that separates the two is that one of these addicts has not yet run out of money. The same attitude applies to alcohol. Privately educated, pony-trekking prats who squeal loudly and vomit brandy over daddy's hand-loomed Persian rug are as bad as council-house kids staggering about the streets in shellsuits, clutching beer cans and swearing at pensioners.

Kids need to be educated on the effects of alcohol. An introduction to alcohol should come from a parent, in a responsible manner. You can't just expect teens to hit 18 years of age and drink their own body weight in lager without them getting severely poisoned.

Alcoholism affects every class, not just the people who can afford Champagne.

The truth is out there - somewhere

CONSERVATIVE shadow minister for immigration Damian Green, pictured left, was arrested last week, for allegedly conspiring to commit misconduct in a public office, by leaking embarrassing government documents.

It was stated that the Prime Minister was unaware of the arrest, but the acting Metropolitan Police Commissioner gave the go-ahead. Are the police running round London yet again without proper, clear instructions? Nine counter-terrorism officers were involved in Green's arrest; the locals must have thought Bin Laden had finally been found.

One stunning leak was that, in November 2007, the Home Secretary knew 5,000 illegal workers were employed by the security industry.

The hunt for "moles" in the Home Office has been ongoing, as ministers claim they are undermining the government – or "telling the truth" in a democracy, as I prefer to call it.

This incident gives Green some serious street-cred and makes the Labour government look decidedly KGB.

Age shall not weary us, but the young certainly will

YOU know you are getting old when you see young people out drinking in town and heading off to nightclubs and you say out loud: "She will catch her death dressed like that!"

But it is so true. I don't ever recall going clubbing in the early 1980s in Scotland in the middle of winter in a bra top, a tiny pair of shorts, with bare legs and strappy sandals. Some of the young women I saw were literally chittering in their skin as they waited in a club queue.

Blue skin and chapped lips is not a good look, girls. Get a coat!

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