Cost of boozing

Clearly, Tiffany Jenkins is asserting what ought to be the case regarding the pub and drinking (Scottish Perspective, 3 January). Surely she must have some experience of town and city centre public behaviour fuelled by alcohol?

It is doubtful if her “pub panegyric” accords with that of the police and Accident and Emergency departments.

Ms Jenkins’s “wish fulfilment” is that: “Pubs are sociable. You drink together, which helps to regulate consumption.”

Rather, the dominant ethical sub-culture of drinking is to get “absolutely blootered” as efficiently as possible.

Haven’t recent TV documentaries on student behaviour supported this commonly held view of regular alcohol abuse?

Perhaps it’s time for a detailed cost-benefit analysis of the consequences of weakly regulated alcohol.

Arguably, rules to uphold the ethics of behaviour in public ought to override narrow sectional interests.

Ellis Thorpe

Old Chapel Walk

Inverurie