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-Short Attention Span Theater-
Minister: Britons Enjoy Getting Drunk
2007-01-01
LONDON -- New 24-hour alcohol licensing laws have failed to help Britons adopt a more relaxed attitude toward drinking, a Cabinet minister said, according to a Sunday newspaper. Most Britons enjoy drinking too much to emulate the cafe culture of continental Europe, said Hazel Blears, chairman the governing Labour Party and a member of Prime Minister Tony Blair's Cabinet. "I don't know whether we'll ever get to be in a European drinking culture, where you go out and have a single glass of wine," Blears said, according to Britain's Sunday Times newspaper. "Maybe it's our Anglo-Saxon mentality. We actually enjoy getting drunk," she was quoted as saying.

Britain's drinking laws were changed in November 2005, allowing licensed premises to apply for permission to open round-the-clock. Proponents of the laws had hoped they would nudge Britons toward gentle tippling rather than relentless chugging, by ending the scramble to guzzle as much booze as possible before an early closing time.
Posted by:Fred

#10  That's the point where the Powerful Islamic Courts™ will be run out of Britain.
Posted by: Fred   2007-01-01 18:41  

#9  Not to worry. The the black banner flutters over Buck House all alcohol will be banned. That should make these weak-kneed types happy.
Posted by: Excalibur   2007-01-01 12:13  

#8  One of the glorious episodes of righteous British inebriation, thanks to the traders at the IPE, London.

They were just Cockney barrow boy spivs. Total thugs!
Posted by: mrp   2007-01-01 09:57  

#7  There is also a statistical jump in alcoholism that begins after a Labour government is elected.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2007-01-01 08:22  

#6  Hello, my name is Ship and I'ma Brit.

:>

Posted by: Shipman   2007-01-01 07:44  

#5  I guess back in college, me and my friends were British.
Posted by: Swamp Blondie   2007-01-01 06:59  

#4  Public intoxication is like a sport in the UK. Personally, I only like the buzz that you get from 3-4 ounces of Rye Whiskey. I haven't been dead drunk since 1991.
Posted by: Sneaze Shaiting3550   2007-01-01 06:56  

#3  "Minister: Britons Enjoy Getting Drunk"

Some of us have suspected this for some time.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy   2007-01-01 02:08  

#2  "I don't know whether we'll ever get to be in a European drinking culture, where you go out and have a single glass of wine,"

Wait a few years when a pint will be 10 Euros.
Posted by: Herb Tarlek   2007-01-01 01:55  

#1  Proponents of the laws had hoped they would nudge Britons toward gentle tippling rather than relentless chugging, by ending the scramble to guzzle as much booze as possible before an early closing time.

Words fail
Posted by: gromgoru   2007-01-01 00:55  

00:00