News headlines today that women are drinking themselves to death – a new report from the Joseph Rowntree foundation looks at British drinking habits and draws some interesting conclusions.
Finding that made it into the press:
– the number of women drinking double the recommended daily units has grown massively in recent years
Finding that didn’t make it into the press:
– the number of men doing the same, and the number of young people of both sexes, has fallen over the same period
Finding that didn’t make it into the press because it didn’t even get into the JRT’s press release – in fact, it got buried on page 83 of the report:
– over the survey period, the way units of alcohol are measured changed, so that a glass of wine now counts as two units rather than one – meaning that someone who drinks wine (i.e. women) would see their measured unit ‘consumption’ double even if the amount they drink stays the same.
My favourite though is the bit in JRT’s press release where there is a subtitle that reads “An increase in alcohol consumption amongst children”, and the first line of the para that follows begins “Fewer children are drinking”. (The point being, to be fair, that those kids who are drinking are drinking more. But still.)
Ah, you’ve got to love ’em.
