Binge drinking and young people - a potent combination?

Every pub shutting at the same time simply meant violence and disorder in our city centre's taxi cues and kebab shops where drunken arguments and fights often start as a swell of drunken people were pushed out into the street together. The problem is that if we link failure of the reform of the licensing laws to the failure to curb alcohol related disorder, we might run that risk. The reality is that trying to link opening times to alcohol related disorder was, and remains, foolish.

So what are we to do then, well the government think that the answers might include:

•A fivefold increase in the maximum fine for antisocial drinking in public places (it rises to £2, 500)

•An extension of the use of juvenile acceptable behaviour contracts for youthful drunken behaviour (the first step toward an Asbo).

•Tougher enforcement action against underage sales of alcohol in shops with a tough new 'two strikes and you're out' penalty against shopkeepers

•Requiring the drinks industry to take action to stop irresponsible promotions

What does all this show us? Well firstly, it show the well established tendency to see see the problem as separate, on the basis of age. Think how often and quickly the term 'binge drinking' is coupled with the word 'teenage'. Once again the governments plan targets that group, perhaps because it is popular to clamp down on rowdy, disorderly teenage drinkers. This group are much disliked, often they equate in the popular mind to the image of the 'hoody', hanging round outside the off licence on the local estate causing problems. They need to be put on the pathway to an Asbo and forced to behave.

Then, seemingly there exists a seperate problems with the adult drinkers in city centres. They are not regarded as so much a problem though. They do not need to be given acceptable behaviour contracts, a fine will do. Indeed, notionally, given today's plans a few adults might face an increased maximum fine for antisocial drinking. However, It's unlikely they will ever get one. It is more likely that if they misbehave, they will get an £80 on the spot penalty if there is a police officer around to issue one). The adult drinker, unlike the young drinker, will not,in all likelihood be put on the track towards an order that if breached, can result in five years in custody. Yet this is backwards. We are treating the young as if they are the problem.

The fact is that what the government seems to have spectacularly missed is that the problems with alcohol and disorder are not about age, but about culture. There is more that unites the street drinking hoody, the middle-class teenage drinker at a house party, and the many 'respectable' and sometimes irresponsible bar and club patrons (including many professionals who like to get 'out of their heads' on a Friday and Saturday night) than we often notice. The thing that divides them is we seem to view the adults as less the problem. Hold them less culpable when they cause disorder and seemingly, target them less directly. Is this not madness?

I accept that young people break the law when they drink. But many adults break the law when they drink too. We should not forget that being drunk and disorderly is an offence whether adult or teen. In Britain we have a culture where alcohol is everywhere, and drinking it is one of the most frequently engaged in forms of recreational activity. We drink for leisure and we drink to get away from pressure. We do it as adults and it is inconceivable that young people don't follow. But if we are looking for a cause here is what I blame.

When Britain's industries collapsed, the government got into bed with the alcohol industry, because the later could re-generate the city centre's and build the type of shiny new buildings that would be fitting of post-industrial Britain. There wasn't much thought about where we were heading. The drinks industry then won rules that meant licences could not be refused on the basis that there were enough bars in an area. Drinking culture grew, and people flocked to pubs and clubs. A decade on, and this is still happening. Now the young are following adult role models. The alcohol industry won, and now it can make money back by selling copious amounts.

The government's alcohol strategy today is part of the problem because it shows they are not able to see the real problem. It is comfortable to see alcohol related disorder as a problem of youth, which sometimes it is. But the problem extends way beyond that. Anyone who believes the alcohol induced disorder and binge drinking problem resides only amongst the young should take a stroll in the 'regenerated' pub and club streets of Birmingham on a Friday or Saturday night. Disorderly scenes accompany alcohol use in an array of contexts, and we should quickly dismiss the notion that it is only the young that are the problem drinkers. Barristers, office workers, solicitors, teachers, police officers, doctors and managers all drink in the night time economy, and not all behave responsibly when they do, by any means. I guess that there might be some quite irresponsible and disorderly drinking sessions in the bar at the Houses of Parliament on occasions.

All of the above would seem to confirm that it is going to take a lot more than rules, regulation and legislation to change Britain's reliance on alcohol. If the young are turning to drink on an ever greater basis then ought we to be asking why? Might it be the fact that alcohol represents a pathway to adulthood, and they are emulating the behaviour of their elders (and supposedly betters?) I for one hope that they are not, because on the basis of today, it seems that it is for them, and not their elders, that the consequences of drunken misbehaviour are becoming worse.