Britain’s Daily Mail never misses an opportunity to expose the working classes for the dirty, drunken yobs that it believes them to be. Their latest assault focuses on a 17 year old from Chesterfield who has tragically developed an alcoholic addiction that even George Best would have balked at.
Amy Lewis first hit the bottle at the age of 12 and is said to have developed a £200 a week habit fuelled by daily binges of wine, vodka and cider totalling a liver wrecking 180 units of alcohol a week.
The teenager has had her stomach pumped three times, punched a policeman while drunk and has thrown a chair at a teacher. ‘Once I woke up at around 20 miles away at a party in Derby and didn’t know how I got there. It was scary’ she said.
The story itself is a sad one and The Daily Mail is not one to waste an opportunity to use one girls tragedy to illustrate a nations crisis. The paper lets us know that Amy left school with no qualification, her parents are divorced and she works on minimum wage at McDonalds. Oh, and of course she steals from her mum to feed her habit.
The Mail then goes on to hoist it’s neo-prohibitionist banner, and by the end of the article we’re left in no doubt that Britain’s biggest selling mid-market tabloid is supports those who lobby for increased prices, more taxation and tougher licensing.
Amy’s disturbing story comes as a report reveals more than 1,500 men and women are admitted to hospital every day because of alcohol. The figure is 65 per cent higher than only five years ago, while drinking is to blame for around 15,000 deaths a year.
Overall, Britain’s addiction to alcohol is taking an average of seven months off the life of every man and woman.
In the worst-affected areas, life expectancy is shortened by almost two years. Health Minister Lord Howe said: ‘Levels of alcohol-related hospital admissions, crime, ill-health and deaths are unacceptable and we have already outlined our commitment to tackling the problem by taking action to stop the sale of alcohol below cost, to review alcohol taxation and price, and introducing a tougher licensing regime.’
Wineoftheweek has been banging on about the rise of neo-prohibitionism for a while now. Wine Drinkers of the world be vigilant.
Anyone know a good Speakeasy in their local area?
she’s a better class of alcie then, white lightning used to be the choice of park bench teenie drinkers but thanks to blossom hill adverts, jilly golden, oz clark et al she’s on the grape.
Shurely Merrydown for you Stevo?