Does a bottle constitute a binge?
Did you know that to count as a binge drinker, one merely has to drink more than four units of alcohol at least once a fortnight? That’s less than a bottle of wine.
By this reckoning almost everyone I know is a culprit, so I’m not surprised to learn that only Ireland has a higher percentage than England of binge-drinking women aged 17 to 30. At 57 per cent they top the world-wide poll, while we hover at 33 per cent and Iceland comes in at 30 per cent.
These figures also confirm my theory that the northern hemisphere’s weather is a primary cause of overindulgence. What else is there to do while the wind
and rain lash the west coast of Ireland other than huddle in the pub nursing a Guinness? And on freezing winter nights, young Londoners get drunk to build up a warm wine-bar fug and insulate themselves against the horrors of the night bus.
SHE’S GOTTA HAVE IT
If it’s really true that only 3 per cent of Italian young women ‘binge drink’, I attribute it to the passagiatta. With warm breezes caressing their naturally-tanned legs and cashmere-sweatered youths on hand to offer fulsome appreciation, stopping for a Campari is doubtless an unnecessary distraction.
SHE’S GOTTA HAVE IT
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