Touching a nerve over alcohol

The middle classes are not happy about questioning their drinking habits

The debate over alcohol has taken another twist this – with the focus switching to the home.

The call from Alcohol Concern for parents who give alcohol to children under 15 to be prosecuted, even if it is with a meal at home, prompted an immediate backlash – particularly from the middle classes.

If the anti-alcohol charity thought such a move was a practical solution, it has a real fight on its hands. Even public health minister Caroline Flint said she thought the idea unenforceable.

But if the aim was to raise debate over child alcohol abuse, then it has hit the target. “We are simply not doing enough to protect our children from alcohol,” said Alcohol Concern chief executive Srabani Sen. “One of the things we need to do is get parents on board.”

Whether they are on board or not is arguable, but many have certainly become engaged. The immediate media reaction was a widespread defence of introducing youngsters to drink at an early age to help them “learn respect”. The “French example” of giving teenagers a little wine with meals was much quoted.

What the Alcohol Concern intervention has done is touch a nerve among many “responsible”, middle class families happy to give their children a drink at home or turn a blind eye to underage drinking out of home too.

The point is that many of these are fully paid-up members of the “something-must-be-done” brigade. For them the problem of children and alcohol lies elsewhere – probably on run-down housing estates, with delinquent kids high on cider and lager. It’s the supermarkets, corner shops and pubs that are to blame, certainly not them and their children. So when the problem is laid at their doorstep, it becomes uncomfortable.

Whether they are right or wrong in their analysis and indignation is not the issue.

Alcohol Concern has done us all a favour by moving the debate on – into the domestic environment, where this column has consistently argued the focus should increasingly fall. The availability of alcohol in the home and the unsupervised access that the under-aged often have to it are crucial issues.

The pub and bar industry can rightly claim to have taken major steps forward in tackling underage consumption on its premises, but it remains an easy target. It needs to take advantage of this change of focus not just to state its case, but to engage those newly outraged adults who actually don’t want draconian restrictions on alcohol in their own personal lives.

They don’t like their behaviour and attitudes to drink being challenged – just as the responsible licensed trade doesn’t. There could be common cause.

It is just a pity that, yet again, few voices from the pub and bar industry felt it appropriate to state the case when given the opportunity this past week.

firts published on M&C Report Online 30/04/07