Alcohol gets a lot of bad press. The 'hair shirt brigade', having done away with smoking, have it firmly in their sights. And, indeed, it is true that abuse of alchohol is bad for you and/or others, no argument there. Don't drink and drive. Don't drink if your doctor has told you not to. Keep it very modest or zero when you're pregnant. Don't buy booze with the rent money. Recognise if you might be alcoholic. Don't drink at all if it makes you violent. Etc.
But use isn't. Use of alcohol, if you fancy it and it suits you, is good for you. As a young man I drank quite a lot and it was brilliant. But over the years, as my social life quietened with age and age itself began to count, the amount I drank petered out to virtually zero. And I missed it, I really missed it.
In the last couple of years I have put some effort (and some money) into increasing my drinking, and it's been a howling success. A long-lost friend coming back into my life. Does me nothing but good. Being slightly squiffy is a very pleasant sensation, I can't recommend it highly enough.
The killjoy arm of the medical professional will say that anything more than a glass of red a day is doing some form of damage, and in purely medical terms I'm sure that's true. But in purely medical terms we should eat nothing but barley, with occasional raw liver for a treat, and absolutely nobody thinks that's a good idea. The reality is that if you fancy a few drinks on an appropriate occasion, they'll make your world a better place. "A little of what you fancy does you good" as they say. And it does.
The Inebriati
That Mitchell and Webb Look
BBC