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The blog for the afternoon news and current affairs programme presented by Eddie Mair.
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Having been an expert in the noble art of alcoholic intemperence in my time I have to say that I get rather tired of self piteous 'victims' bewailing their 'illness' of addiction. Alcohol, like food or cigarettes are available as a matter of choice. One either indulges or one doesn't. If one 'chooses' the former then be it on that individual's head.I drank because I doted on my love affair with alcohol. No one held a shotgun to my head. I stopped in due course because I 'chose' to stop. Quad erat demonstrandum!
Bagehot
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Ugg! Naked ram-raider jailed - on the Web I just read this.
Perhaps Ugg was lead there by alcohol. Naked ramraiding isn't recommended I suspect. I drink too much I suspect too. But remain fully clothed and avoid any activity when I can. Sounds too tiring.
Ugg! Naked ram-raider jailed? About that - A deal - rearm -gag injured kid.
A deal? With whom and by whom? Ugg?
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In reply to Percyhotspur, I too was an expert in drinking large quantities of alcohol throughout my teens, twenties, thirties, forties and then I finally stopped, aged 51. The only reason I no longer drink is that I reached what I hope was a total and complete rock bottom. I didn't want to continue drinking, I couldn't stop, I considered suicide, I was on the verge of bankruptcy, I was completely isolated from the real world, delusional, paranoid, ill, looked and felt appalling. I was utterly desperate. I can assure you that if I could have stopped, I would have long before. But I could not, however much I tried to control my drinking. Once I took the first drink, the craving started and I literally had no control of what happened next. It was a total nightmare. I only, finally, came to terms with the fact that I was an alcoholic recently after 3 1/2 years of going in and out of AA. By going to AA meetings, daily if I can, working at the 12 step programme of recovery, keeping close to sober fellow ex-drunks, learning to follow a spiritual path (very new to me), I have managed to remain abstinent a day at a time. I have relapsed many times but the lengths of sobriety are growing longer as my acceptance that I am powerless over alcohol grows. I have no choice. If I drink I will die. As it is, my new sober life is full of more joy and real contentment now, even with its problems, than any of the hazy 'happy' memories I have from the past when I was drinking. I had no idea what contentment was then. For alcoholics, there is no middle path - it has to be total abstinence. I have 'experimented' enough times to know that is the only way, for me anyway. Whether alcoholism is a disease, has genetic origins, etc, no longer really concerns me. All I know is that I am one and with help, there is a 'cure'. The cure is not drinking one day at a time. The other fact that help to keep me away from alcohol is that it is the first drink that makes me drunk - not the 3rd or the 5th or the 10th. For an alcoholic, they would never be enough anyway.
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Thru' no fault of my onw, i have been diagnosed and treated for breast cancer 3 times,why should I,and others like me,have to fund alcoholics, drug users, and others with self inflicted "illness"?if it were up to me,i would just leave you to rot ,you know what you are doing.
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I listened to your series of reports on alcoholism all last week and ended up shouting at the radio each day. Why did you spend so much time talking to doctors and discussing how difficult it is to get treatment and how long the wait is to get to see alcohol specialists.
Why did you not report that Alcoholics Anonymous has a solution that keeps thousands of alcoholics sober on a daily basis - and that access to AA is instant and free of any charge. Why don't doctors tell their patients to go to AA - it is the most successful treatment for alcoholism in this country. Far too many alcoholics are not aware that alcoholism is an illness of the body and the mind - and in AA there is this solution which enables the alcoholic to stay away for a drink for a day at a time.
AA is a programme which is freely available to anyone who wishes to stop drinking. It works.
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Livingbridget - with respect, do you think that some alcoholics choose to lose their jobs, families or homes any more than you chose to have breast cancer ? Not withstanding percyhotspur's comments, people get addicted for a multitude of reasons, not all of which are within their control. Perhaps the most common realisation of alcoholics is that they can only recognise themselves as such with hindshight.
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I would like to add my comments regarding Alcoholics Anonymous. I was astonished that none of the professionals interviewed endorsed AA in anyway. It saved my life and a day at a time I don't have to suffer the illness - and it is an illness of alcoholism. AA is free, open to anyone who feels they have a drink problem, is non-judgemental and we are all professional alcoholics and so understand the still suffering alcoholic. To know that there is a solution if you want it, I hope will help. It is only a phone call away and it works.
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Eddie M - what happened to Friday's report and Liam Donaldson's take on it ? Does ANYONE know the cost to the economy overall ? Especially here in Scotland. Why DOES society sweep alcoholism under the carpet even more than most other mental health issues ? Why is so much support left to self-help and a network of well-meaning but sometimes badly trained volunteers, some of whom do more harm than good.
The series was good at highlighting the personal costs but otherwise scratched the surface. And I can't remember the last time the topic was tackled by the BBC on TV. It's usually binge-drinking that gets the attention, perhaps because that's where the BBC has TV images ? Both ITV and C4 have both done EXCELLENT progs on chronic alcoholism in the past year.
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Hear hear Dungbeetel (6).
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I have the strangest feeling that some alcoholics get that way because they are mentally out of balance in some way, and some alcoholics get that way through self-indulgence. It just seems so *likely* that not all of a class of people should have the same cause for their being as they are: it's that way with so many behavioural things that I don't see why habitually drinking too much must always come from the same root cause.
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