A parting shot

Simon Denis

What a perfectly ghastly little man this Donaldson is.

emil

That'll be more huge tax increases on alcohol coming our way then, and of course when the workers complain the blame can be pinned on those nasty middle classes and their concerted attempt to turn their offspring into hopeless alcoholics..

All from the government who though 24 hour drinking was a good idea. Common sense let me introduce you to Mr Window.

Sir Graphus

Goodbye and good riddance. Please take your joyless state-supervised Puritanism with you.

Frank S

Donaldson is a nervous and fussy old dear who is totally unsuited for any position of power or influence.

Dungeekin

The Government's chief medical adviser has called for new legislation to be introduced to protect middle-class children from the dangers of binge drinking.

Sir Liam Donaldson said that 'the middle-class obsession' of allowing children to taste alcohol from an early age was leading children toward dangerous activities in adulthood.

Sir Liam said, "our interpretation of scientific evidence* indicates that children under the age of 15, in middle-class families, who are given watered-down alcohol with a meal, are at increased risk of binge drinking. This middle-class obsession can, and does, lead to alcoholism, drug addiction and, worst of all, an increased risk of voting Tory. Obviously this is something that we cannot accept for children.

"We are therefore seeking to implement legislation ensuring that middle-class children under the age of 15 are not exposed to alcohol in any way. This includes a ban on sales of alcohol to parents, legislation to make it illegal to drink in front of a minor and further legislation imposing severe penalties on any parent taking a child to what could be classed as a 'drink-fuelled event'. This class-based and reprehensible attempt by middle-class parents to prepare their children for adulthood must stop."

Sir Liam said that the Department of Health was 'liaising closely' with the Children's Minister to assess the likelihood of new legislation requiring middle-class children to be wrapped in cotton wool and hermetically sealed in an oxygen tent until their majority, but added that the planned legislation would not affect the provision of alcohol to the usual gangs of feral council-estate chavs or to core Labour voters.

However, the Chief Medical Officer's comments were attacked by middle-class families. The Diary spoke to one parent, who simply said, "tasting alcohol promotes binge-drinking, does it? Explain France and Italy, then.".

*That is, the scientists said one thing and the Government said something completely different while putting the scientists under NDA.

TrevorsDen

Another example of non objective science pursuing a self serving agenda

Dr. Mark Pasola

He is widely despised within his own profession.

D K McGregor

The most important thing is not to upset the suoermarkets. Stop and have a thought about how many problems they are at the root of.

peter

He exemplifies everything this government stands for i.e. interference, interference and more interference.

Rhoda Klapp

It seems to me that the third word of your headline is misvowelled.

Holly ......

A bit like that other ugly obssession of the Barbara Cartland class.......PINK!!
Ban the middle class and see how the lower classes fare.
Bring it on I say.
Kids will be back up chimneys before you can say Artful Dodger. As poor as Labour want everyone to be...except them of course.
But who will pay them?

Nicholas

Idiot. Get lost. Good riddance. Now the rest of this rotten government's state-sponsored nannyism and nose-poking should be binned too.

Woodbine Willy

A parting shot ?
But he's got 6 months too go yet - plenty of time come up with more of his "guidance".
Time to break his silence on the unacceptable menace of passive aftershave wearing...

David Bouvier

Of course when a "binge" has been redefined to include a Gin & Tonic before dinner followed by a half a bottle of wine during dinner, then I would not be surprised if being taught to drink like a normal person is associated with - shock horror - drinking like a normal person.

I will try to track down whether they have actually studied "middle class watered-down wine drinking" or just have a study showing that early introduction to drinking is associated with more later drinking - a much broader question that encompasses truants clutching bottles of cider as well.

Peter Stroud

Thank God we will soon not be depressed by Donaldson's miserable face during breakfast.There is only one worse sort of wake up call and that is a manmade global warming believer.

Moraymint

I did what I've been doing ever more frequently these days when I heard the BBC leading its news agenda with this utter guff; switched off my radio and played a CD.

I just wish the state would leave me alone.

Yam Yam

So, let's see. That's Ian Blair gone... Liam Donaldson gone... How many more New Labour place servers does that make still to go?

Andy Carpark

The incarnation of jack-in-office pestilence.

P-ss off and don't come back.

Frank P

Rhoda K

"Misvowelled".

Love it: a multi-purpose gem! Common currency, no doubt, w.e.f today. Please may I have a dispensation on the copyright?

G Adlam

Isn't it clear this guy is a serial attention seeker?

Its right that he is resigning - after all when has he been right about anything? So resigning is the right thing to do...and pick up pension, become a BBC pundit, get appointed to ZanuLabour quango, become ZNL peer....One thing I am sure of; he will keep popping up with some scare story - he is an addicted attention seeker.

Dean

I don't see anything controversial about Donaldson's remarks. Binge drinking is a major social problem in Britain - far more so than in other Western European countries (except possibly the Netherlands) - and it is not 'nannying' to point this out. If I am threatened by drunks when I am out walking in a British town on Saturday night, my freedom and security are infringed.

Surely it is right for parents not to expose children to alcohol at an early age? I have no problem with 18 year olds drinking alcohol, but 15 sounds too young to me and this is the point Donaldson was making. In the USA, the legal limit in most states is 21 so British laws are already quite liberal.

peter

Dean

You are making the assumption that giving alcohol, responsibly, to children binge drinkijng. There is no evidence for that connection whatsoever.

Yam Yam

Incidentally, funny how no official in this nanny state of ours ever frets aloud about the dangers of exposing our young people to under-age sex.

Rachael

"Whilst listening to Dr. Sir Liam Donaldson tell the Today programme that parents should not offer their fifteen year old offspring alcohol, my pocket-radio had an altercation with a wall."

It's funny because whenever I read what you write I want your prose to have an altercation with my heel.

You are as phoney as Oborne.

Go away.

Anna

What an idiot Donaldson is. At my somewhat advanced age of sixty something, I was introduced to alcohol by my parents around age twelve, I guess, with very limited quantities on special occasions. Dear God & horrors, they also took me to the occasional pub to enjoy a meal out, with maybe a half glass of wine.

I repeated the example with my own daughter. Guess what? Neither of us is an alcoholic, neither of us consumes alcohol except on social occasions, and even then don't get inebriated. Okay, she may have gone a bit - even a lot - further in her student days, I did too, but early example prevails in the end. Forbid all alcohol, provoke a rebellion. But this government and its cohorts are too stupid to do anything other than dictate.

Rhoda Klapp

Frank P. I can't claim originality on misvowelled, google has 41 hits, one of them from this very forum, a year ago.

JohnAnt

Surely the scientific medical method to rid the body politic of 'middle-class obsessions' is to get rid of the middle classes?
Sorry, I forgot - that's already on the agenda.

Giles

From the report:

"Drinking in family contexts is protective
against underage drinking and problem
drinking in later life

Warner and White, 2003; Foley et al, 2004"

Perhaps Donaldson should read his own report.

SUSAN HILL

So it is the middle class children drunk in City Centres at 3 every morning, fighting with the police, urinating and vomiting is it ?

Nicholas

One stupid pillock goes but two more pop up in his place:-

"Dr Nathan Grills and illustrator Brendan Halyday, from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, said the current image of Santa promotes obesity, drink-driving, speeding and a general unhealthy lifestyle.

"Santa's universal fame means he is used by companies around the globe to sell all kinds of products, including unhealthy foods, they went on. For example, there is very high awareness of Santa among young children - higher than the McDonald's fictional character, Ronald McDonald.

"Writing in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), the authors said Santa used to also sell cigarettes but that has now been banned.

"They went on to provide a full list of Santa's unhealthy behaviours, including encouraging fathers to step in and eat leftover mince pies, thereby expanding their own waistlines. With billions of homes to visit, Santa is also soon over the drink-driving limit due to too many brandies and sherries.

"The authors conclude there is a need for Santa to undergo an image overhaul - one that promotes healthy living.

"We need to be aware that Santa has an ability to influence people, and especially children, towards unhealthy behaviour," they said. "Given Santa's universal appeal, and reasoning from a population health perspective, Santa needs to affect health by only 0.1% to damage millions of lives. We propose a new image for Santa to ensure that his influence on public health is a positive one."

Bet they are lefties. Lord spare me from any more of these wazzocks. It would do my health no end of good if the world was rid of all these Khmer Rouge wannabes once and for all.

David Blackburn

Rachael,

I'm glad someone found it amusing; it was a laboured joke.

john miller

Hey, doesn't he look a fun kinda guy?

Just the sort of bloke you'd invite over to your place to break open a bottle.

Over his head...

Rachael

David, everything you write is 'funny', but not funny ha-ha.

Back to your private tuition with Oborne.

Liz Brown

he has rightly concluded that there will be no place for him under a conservative Govt. The man is a deluded menace who just loves the limelight. Sadly, I expect that he will become another mini celeb to adorn such as Question Time. Daily Politics etc
I am still waiting to be struck by SARS, avian flue, piggy flue, passive drinking and God only knows what other doomsday disasters he has dreamt up over his tenure in office

Andre

"my pocket-radio had an altercation with a wall." Were you sloshed when you chucked it?

JONNY

As the man said in Good Morning Vietnam
he never saw a guy who looked more in need of a decent blow job.

Fearless Frank

@Rachael: I don't understand either of your posts. Is this some kind of private vendetta?

General Zod

"We are therefore seeking to implement legislation ensuring that middle-class children under the age of 15 are not exposed to alcohol in any way. This includes a ban on sales of alcohol to parents, legislation to make it illegal to drink in front of a minor and further legislation imposing severe penalties on any parent taking a child to what could be classed as a 'drink-fuelled event'. This class-based and reprehensible attempt by middle-class parents to prepare their children for adulthood must stop."

Presumably he's teetotal then?

So, being a parent, I should no longer be permitted to buy alcohol.

It shoudl be an offence for me to have a glass at wine at a meal with my children (I'd have to have had it bought for me by a non-parent of course in order to be able to commit the offence).

As Cameron said, it was always the kids who weren't allowed near alcohol who bought the nasty cider at the corner shop and drank it on the park bench.

John Bracewell

Rachael, not sure about 'private tuition with Oborne'
wrt 'my pocket-radio had an altercation with the wall'
sounds more like he has had lessons from that other Labour clown Gordon.

Marcher Baron

If you want to compare drunkenness and comparative sobriety look at the difference between pre-and post-WW1. Then reflect on the licensing laws that were introduced for safety in the munitions factories. Labour clearly doesn't do joined up thinking - nor does it learn from history.

David Blackburn

Andre, no I was recovering.

Beer Moth

Joy to the World.

Another buffoon malcontent of the class of '68 decides he would like to spend more time with his matchstick model of the Berlin Wall.

It doesn't get much better: it's snowing Bing Crosby flakes and I'm off to an outdoor carol gathering followed by one or two jars in the Blue Boar, 'where the pretty small birds do offer up their voices, and every moment blows blustrous wine'. First round will be toasted to Mr Donaldson.

Then it's out to the gazebo for a surreptitious seegar.

My advice to Mr D is loosely borrowed from W C Fields: Always have a small flask of whiskey about your person in case of snake bite. And always carry a small snake

Michael Booth

"We are therefore seeking to implement legislation ensuring that middle-class children under the age of 15 are not exposed to alcohol in any way. This includes a ban on sales of alcohol to parents, legislation to make it illegal to drink in front of a minor and further legislation imposing severe penalties on any parent taking a child to what could be classed as a 'drink-fuelled event'. This class-based and reprehensible attempt by middle-class parents to prepare their children for adulthood must stop."

FFS - this is too much, where's the kalashnikov?

roman lee

the french and italians binge drink like the resr of us only they do it out of sight in bars and such. they tend not to go out of the bars to stand outside and let people see them drunk. they think it is somehow distasteful. at touch of british reserve there pity it is not in britain

Beer Moth

Michael Booth

I wouldn't swear to it, but if it will help you in any way, I think the Vodka you are looking for is just between the Glenlivet and the Wood's.

Chin chin.

JohnAnt

We need to be more aware as a society of the depths of depravity to which to passive idiocy can bring us.
Liam Donaldson gives us, as ever, a timely reminder of the dangers of being exposed to the 18-caret horse manure that issues from all the orifices of this government.