On…

Is there an acceptable way of communicating this sort of risk in a public health context?

I'm not trying to be glib here, but looking at ALAC's vile 'Lisa' ad (which has been discussed at length on PAS) and doing anything else is a good place to start. I know…

I think there is a marked difference between attributing blame and responsibility, and issuing a safety warning.

If we can look at a less contentious example, because honestly I can't be arsed trying to couch everything I say with caveats like "even though they don't deserve it" because that…

It's hard to see that Damien's scoop is coincidental – I'm sure he'd tell us, but I can't believe that somebody on the paper didn't get a tip from a "police source" that now would be a great time for a newsworthy story on the Evil Weed.

Yeah it is…

The sauvignon blanc is poked: do not buy.

That grassy piss is always poked. The only thing it's good for is export.

And the $9.99 gerwurtztraminer is sensational.

Next time you go, there will be none left. Anywhere. I'm getting a truck.

I'm not quibbling with the statistic, I'm querying its use in reply to a comment made regarding factors relating to statistics of hospital admission and harm caused by/related to drinking. I don't see pissed women becoming victims as their fault.

I don't think anyone was really saying that.

Assuming I…

Similar things have happened in New Zealand with a flat closing time: Queenstown is given as an example in the report. I imagine the rationale behind a no-entry policy at 2am and a closing time of 4am is so that people have a period of 2 hours during which…

Imagine drinking wine, that has no labels; Wine from a brown paper bag.

Felix Salmon often links to studies of wine blind test tastes. They generally find:

1. When you get above ~$50 a bottle there is no link between cost and appreciation.

2. But the more you think a…

I do that all the time (well, the no labels bit, not the brown paper bag). Cleanskin wine – it's the surplus from various vineyards, sold cheap in bottles with plain white labels giving you the year, grape variety, and region. You have absolutely no idea who made it.

Just…

Imagine drinking wine, that has no labels; Wine from a brown paper bag..

I do that all the time (well, the no labels bit, not the brown paper bag). Cleanskin wine – it's the surplus from various vineyards, sold cheap in bottles with plain white labels giving you the year,…

Or should we just put all that ALAC money into ads that say "Hey, don't rape drunk women, it's not cool." Because I don't know that rapists respond that well to social advertising.

I think we should find out:
If you kiss her and she doesn't kiss you back... it's…

Have NZ schools always had formal balls, or did they come in with the movie Pretty In Pink?

I found my '73 ball photos a while back. I had rather long hair, platforms and an electric blue flared suit. Considering the evidence presented in those now concealed, inc. negs, shots,…

It's knowledge bro!!

My 6th form in England had a student organised party in a club the summer after exams. That was the nearest it got to a formal, unless you went to St Posh's…

Here we call those "The After Ball", and schools threaten to cancel your ball if they go ahead.

They went through with it in my final year. So there was only the After Ball and the Unball (the student organized ball). It really came down to a moral panic about…

I can't say there's a really, really compelling social or moral argument why bars should stay open after 4am

And why do we need one? If having a good time is a good thing, then it's happened to me at 5, 6, 7 and later hours of the morning. For…

The report suggests that during those hours there is a higher incidence of alcohol related crimes, involving young people in particular. Crimes have victims, and a large number of those victims happen to be young women: of sexual assault, of violence, etc.

I was wrong to imply that a…

looked more like they were obliged to be where they were

bouncers? promo grrls?

No, not staff, punters. Unless the bars in question hire tens of bouncers.

What I mean is they didn't look like they were at the bar for a fun night/morning, but because they somehow had to…

It would have been nice if they were school sanctioned – that way you wouldn't have to get venue hire from one of Auckland's larger criminal organisations, or (on the other side…

BREAKING NEWS: In a shock move, the Government..

All being quick to emphasize the need to reduce smoking not increase revenue. Ruth Dyson made an interesting observation that the urgency was because Nats have got nothing to offer so Tarianas bill goes through.

No, I disagree. I agree overall that we have a cultural drinking problem, and something needs to be done about it. But I can't get on board with anything that places the responsibility for being a victim on the victim, be it rape/domestic violence/whatever.

As far as anti-rape advertising…

Let's remind ourselves what the the Prime Minister said yesterday about the same recommendation for liquor.

The biggest drinker…

And on Afghanistan, they might have 0.0 reported drinking,

And I'd say the same applies to Indonesia (0.1 on that list), unless those kids you see spinning around Central Java legless on bootleg whiskey were something I imagined.

As a Muslim you can't legally buy it, but you can buy…

It also wants to ban...all-you-can-drink "open bar" evenings at French high schools.

Here we call those "The After Ball", and schools threaten to cancel your ball if they go ahead.

(All you can drink open bar evenings at school? That doesn't sound like part of a healthy alcohol culture...)

@Tessa – It's a fine line I admit, but if statistics show pissed women are more likely to end up becoming victims of whatever, isn't it, from a…

If we do manage to get the French over here, can I…

But these days it does not seem to work like that any more.

"Our societies resemble each other more and more, and binge drinking, especially at weekends, has developed in recent years in France," says Patrick Bloche, mayor of the 11th Arrondissement, or district, of Paris.…

I'm not quibbling with the statistic, I'm querying its use in reply to a comment made regarding factors relating to statistics of hospital admission…

Cue my standard hand-wringing about the levelling effects of global capitalism on local culture.

Bad English aside, if that were true, France would be a complete wasteland; clearly it isn't, so there's more to it than simply the age of availability.

Ross has dealt with this pretty well, however I'd just had the same discussion with Rodney Hide in the Koru lounge, who believes…

I don't think Sir Geoffrey (not sure about your wife) has stepped foot in a bar after 4am for some time to see what's really going on.

I can put my hand up and say I have a couple of times, and my experience matches Damian's pretty exactly.

As a…

Here's the list of the 30 countries with the highest per-capita alcohol consumption.

and

Now the Finns have many admirable qualities but a restrained attitude to drink is not one of them.

bah! who needs alcohol when you can have hard drugs

I don't think you can show that French drinking culture is bad by pointing to studies of Finns

Agreed. In our article we covered French drinking:
Alcohol is involved in half of the deaths from road accidents in France (31 percent in New Zealand), half of all homicides and one-quarter…

I'm confused.…

The reference is to this paper. Now the Finns have many admirable qualities but a restrained attitude to drink is not one of them.

Indeed. Without wishing to generalise, all but one of the Finns I've ever met have been mad drunks. And the one who isn't likes a drink…

There seem to only be about 29 countries that drink seriously.

And the long list, beginning with Afghanistan (0.0)

Research has found that the younger people begin drinking, the more likely they are to become alcohol dependent later in life. [6]

The reference is to this paper. Now the Finns…

Actually, as far as hospital admissions go, the figures are about the same for males and females (3.59). Females don't get arrested as much as males – that's true – but younger women experience greater victimisation risks due to alcohol.

i haven't read the report, so i won't jump to…

Bad English aside, if that were true, France would be a complete wasteland; clearly it isn't, so there's more to it than simply the age of availability.

I think the phenomenon the commission were thinking of isn't so much being introduced to alcohol, the substance, as being introduced to binge…

I agree that the report is very easy to read. From the report, the WHO study is hardly conclusive:

"while extending times of sale can redistribute the times when many alcohol-related incidents occur, such extensions generally do not reduce rates of violent incidents and often lead to an overall…

I wonder what the "very important evidence" is, or whether it's all just "self evident"

Um, yes, and I certainly hope Chen & Palmer's lobbying (and Sir Geoffrey's teaching and academic work) was of slightly higher quality than "it's self-evident".

Palmer is a very smart and capable man, but he does…

Actually, as far as hospital admissions go, the figures are about the same for males and females (3.59). Females don't get arrested as much as males – that's true – but younger women experience greater victimisation risks due to alcohol.

i haven't read the report, so i won't jump to…

Bad, bad music and really hammered people just hanging on to the last vestiges of an ordinary night.

Nice line. I had some great times when I was doing that every single weekend, but at a certain point in the night/next day it definitely becomes (or always was, but I…

After 12 noon, until say 4am. Once it's 5am, early risers are starting to get up and it's actually morning (as compared to 3am, which is still 'last night'), no more of that thanks.

The previous night doesn't finish until you go home. This is a well established phenomena.

looked more like they were obliged to be where they were

bouncers? promo grrls?

but no one actually looked like they were having a good time or wanted to be but. Like me, it looked more like they were obliged to be where they were.

Some of us did /do thoroughly enjoy it and as Damian pointed out, differing professions creates differing biological clocks.…

Interestingly, the crowd outside Spy Bar is different.

Bless.

At the height of all this silliness, we sometimes wouldn't even go out until 4am. Our favourite bar didn't really get cranking until 6.

You know what is going to happen? The club will "close" at 4am. The staff and bouncers will clear out anyone who isn't vouched for by…

I interviewed a longtime drug-dealer for a magazine story once

Doug Myers?

Hey, I've got standards you know.

paedophobic wowserism

Genius summary

But I can't say there's a really, really compelling social or moral argument why bars should stay open after 4am.

Sure there is: that its just not the government's business when we should party. What next? A government-mandated bedtime?

No, I don't think that alcohol isn't a problem – just…

I interviewed a longtime drug-dealer for a magazine story once

Doug Myers?

They're also disproportionately male — why isn't the Law Commission recommending prohibition for APBs?

Actually, as far as hospital admissions go, the figures are about the same for males and females (3.59). Females don't get arrested as much as males – that's true – but younger women experience greater victimisation…

Any politician who voted for the law change, and now expresses surprise at what happened, is a fucking idiot.

I remember at the time Jenny Shipley said it would reflect our 'cafe culture society'.

Clear sign of a politician who needed to visit some different places to get a wider…

As the report points out (16.15 onwards): youth are disproportionately represented in A&E clinics and police cells on Friday & Saturday nights. People of all ages end up hospitalised or arrested of course, but under-20s make up a large proportion of those numbers.

They're also disproportionately male — why isn't the Law…

And, one would hope, more meaningful direction on host responsibility.

Let's not condescend and say 18 year olds are in a different class from 20 year olds.

As the report points out (16.15 onwards): youth are disproportionately represented in A&E clinics and police cells on Friday & Saturday nights. People of all ages end up hospitalised or arrested of course, but under-20s…

When I was at University the drinking age was 20, and I was in my third year before I could legally walk into a bar. Not that it stopped me, but it does seem a bit silly in retrospect.

And not so long before that, I was a full-blown alcoholic…

I interviewed a longtime drug-dealer for a magazine story once. They tend to be great talent.