There’s no point telling Brits not to get ‘blind drunk’ during an ambulance strike – we can’t help ourselves

We’re the messy, vomiting Brits abroad, wrecking football matches and strewing kebab wrappers and cigarette ends in our wake

As ambulance strikes continue, Steve Barclay, the “low-energy health secretary”, has urged the public to “use their common sense” – and Professor Sir Stephen Powis, medical director of NHS England, has warned people not to get “blind drunk”.

There’s something deeply depressing about this. Why do we – the British public – need to be told not to imbibe so much alcohol that we need emergency medical attention? Can you imagine the French or Germans having to be told the same thing?

No, you can’t because they don’t drink like we do in this country. We drink like we don’t want to live anymore – and can you blame us, just look at the state of things. We’re a nation of binge drinkers, boozing to celebrate, to commiserate, when we’re bored, tired, anxious, stressed or elated. And we rarely do it in moderation.

We’re the messy, vomiting Brits abroad, wrecking football matches and strewing kebab wrappers and cigarette ends in our wake. In Europe, we’re definitely the embarrassing drunk slurring nonsense at top volume, while other countries look on in consternation.

The advice given during historic industrial action by NHS nurses, paramedics and ambulance workers should prompt some reflection on how much our drinking affects the health service. In 2019-2020, there were 280,000 hospital admissions where the main reason was alcohol. Alcohol misuse was identified in 2018 as the biggest killer of working-age adults in England.

I remember visiting Berlin five or six years ago, and seeing Berliners enjoying a Pilsner on the U-Bahn as they made their way home from work. My first reaction was surprise at how… sensible people were. They didn’t appear intoxicated, they weren’t shouting or arguing or throwing up. There’s a reason why open containers of alcohol are banned on the London underground and on buses.

We spend roughly £2bn a year on booze, and the alcohol lobby has a not-insignificant influence in this country. Consider that, at a time when the government’s “stealth tax raid” means Britons will be paying £150bn in extra national insurance contributions and income tax over the next six years, the freeze on alcohol duty has been extended six months to August 2023. As Baroness Dianne Hayter wrote for Voices in November, freezing alcohol duty has been shown to increase the number of alcohol-related hospitalisations, premature mortality and rates of alcohol-related crime.

Some people – usually Conservative politicians and commentators – like to bemoan the influence of the “nanny state” in Britain. Make a bonfire of EU health and safety regulations! Let three-year-olds have a collection of knives to play with! But what could be more infantilising than earnestly informing the public as a whole to moderate their Christmas drinking when ambulance staff and paramedics are on strike?

It would help everyone – nurses, doctors, paramedics and all those who use the NHS – if we had more awareness of how our actions impact the health service and those who work in it. But this is not a lecture from a holier than thou fun-sponge who’s found enlightenment after having their last drink 444 days ago. When you’re embedded in a culture where binge drinking is entirely normalised – and even encouraged – in social situations, on festive occasions (and to mark virtually every major life event plus the obligatory after-work debrief down the pub), it’s quite difficult to remove the beer goggles and take a step back.

The reasons why people drink to levels that endanger themselves and others vary, and include self-medicating for mental health issues, social anxiety, wanting to fit in and be part of a group, feeling pressured by others – and alcohol dependency. There are over 600,000 dependent drinkers in England, and only 18 per cent are receiving treatment.

Yes, as Brits, our drunken antics can be worse than cringe, and we’ve got to admit that other countries put us to shame. But we can – and should – approach this issue with empathy, and be mindful of the reality that many of us are conditioned by a culture where overdoing it on the booze is normalised and the alcohol industry has considerable power.

At the present moment, there is an ambulance strike going on – the blame for which must be laid squarely at the feet of this government. Refraining from getting so plastered that we need medical attention is clearly in our personal interest right now. But even when the strikes end, maybe moderation in drinking is the way forward. It’s good for the NHS, for all the emergency services, for families, relationships and our own health. Merry Christmas, I’ll be on the “nosecco” this year.