UK teenage girls 'worst drunks' [Archive]

edesignuk

Sep 1, 2009, 05:55 AM

Young teenagers in the UK are more likely to get drunk than anywhere else in the industrial world, shows an international survey.

Girls in particular have pushed up this level of drunkenness in the UK, says a report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Among 15-year-olds, girls are more likely to have been drunk than boys.

But the report also says young people in the UK are materially well-off and enjoy a "high quality of school life".

The report from the OECD compares the well-being of young people living in the leading industrial economies. BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8227443.stm).

How sad :(

iPhone 62S

Sep 1, 2009, 05:57 AM

As a UK teenage boy (15), I'm not surprised. It's a sad state of things. I've also seen loads of people in my class smoke, and I know someone who used to smoke weed too... It's just considered normal these days.

remmy

Sep 1, 2009, 10:22 AM

It is not surprising, were I live drink was the only affordable social entertainment there was and probably still is.

iShater

Sep 1, 2009, 10:24 AM

It is not surprising, were I live drink was the only affordable social entertainment there was and probably still is.

I thought it was expensive compared to other drinks? wouldn't it be more expensive to get drunk that to buy a movie ticket?

iBlue

Sep 1, 2009, 10:38 AM

I thought it was expensive compared to other drinks? wouldn't it be more expensive to get drunk that to buy a movie ticket?

Haven't bought a movie ticket lately, have you? :p You could easily buy a top shelf liquor for the cost of two movie tickets. Not that I am justifying it at all but the costs to drink are much less than a trip to the cinema.

Now if you may grant me a moment to sound like an old woman - (some) kids these days are boring little snots. They have their entertainment spoon-fed to them and have very little creativity as a result. I am certainly not innocent to being inebriated but I seldom used boredom as an excuse to get loaded. Maybe I was just lucky and I grew up in an interesting place but I suspect there was more to it than that.

http://upc.edesignuk.com/uploads/smilies/angrywife.gif

Peace

Sep 1, 2009, 10:40 AM

"But the report also says young people in the UK are materially well-off and enjoy a "high quality of school life".

So this means the richer you are in the UK. The more booze you drink ?

tabasco70

Sep 1, 2009, 11:02 AM

http://upc.edesignuk.com/uploads/smilies/angrywife.gif

Like

No1451

Sep 1, 2009, 11:02 AM

Haven't bought a movie ticket lately, have you? :p You could easily buy a top shelf liquor for the cost of two movie tickets. Not that I am justifying it at all but the costs to drink are much less than a trip to the cinema.

How expensive is it to go see a movie there that it would be cheaper to get loaded? Tuesdays I can see a movie for $4, certainly not enough money to even enjoy a single well-mixed cocktail, let alone get myself unable to properly use my pockets.

As for the OP, not really surprising. Canada has this issue as well, younger kids who seem to think it's fun to get completely gone.

iBlue

Sep 1, 2009, 11:08 AM

How expensive is it to go see a movie there that it would be cheaper to get loaded? Tuesdays I can see a movie for $4, certainly not enough money to even enjoy a single well-mixed cocktail, let alone get myself unable to properly use my pockets.

Last time I went to see a movie (that wasn't at a daytime discount sort of thing) it was about £25-30 for two of us.

No1451

Sep 1, 2009, 11:10 AM

Last time I went to see a movie (that wasn't at a daytime discount sort of thing) it was about £25-30 for two of us.

That is expensive, especially once I take into consideration just how weak my iced over Canadian dollars are:o. $10.50 flat for a movie all days(cept tuesday) here, woo:D

iPhone 62S

Sep 1, 2009, 11:26 AM

Last time I went to see a movie (that wasn't at a daytime discount sort of thing) it was about £25-30 for two of us.

Does that include drinks and food? I know for a fact that the two most marked up products in the world are Coke and popcorn.

No wonder illegal downloading and pirate DVDs are so popular though!

EDIT: Oh, and as a 15 year old, I must say that I fail to see the attraction in getting drunk. It's utterly stupid.

GSMiller

Sep 1, 2009, 11:28 AM

e, your new obsession with troubled teenage girls (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=777346) is...Unsettling..

edesignuk

Sep 1, 2009, 11:29 AM

e, your new obsession with troubled teenage girls (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=777346) is...Unsettling..Blame the BBC's Most Popular Stories (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/live_stats/html/map.stm)!

iBlue

Sep 1, 2009, 11:37 AM

robbieduncan

Sep 1, 2009, 11:39 AM

Does that include drinks and food? I know for a fact that the two most marked up products in the world are Coke and popcorn.

No wonder illegal downloading and pirate DVDs are so popular though!

A standard (not IMAX, not 3D) movie ticket for an Adult is £8.00 (about US$13) at my local mulit-screen cinema. Child tickets are for 14 and under so 15 year olds have to pay full price. That's before transport there (at least £2 return on public transport, 15 year olds can't drive).

iPhone 62S

Sep 1, 2009, 11:44 AM

A standard (not IMAX, not 3D) movie ticket for an Adult is £8.00 (about US$13) at my local mulit-screen cinema. Child tickets are for 14 and under so 15 year olds have to pay full price. That's before transport there (at least £2 return on public transport, 15 year olds can't drive).

Pah, that's mad! There's a cinema near me that's cheaper, but it's in a dodgy area I'd rather not go to.

Quick note on the driving thing: I wish I could drive at my age! In some US states and Canada, you can get a provisional lisence at 14!

netdog

Sep 1, 2009, 11:48 AM

As an American living in London since 2003, I think I am qualified to say that English girls are the best drunks!

JLUGO35

Sep 1, 2009, 11:53 AM

Quick note on the driving thing: I wish I could drive at my age! In some US states and Canada, you can get a provisional lisence at 14![/QUOTE]

Most be rural states such as Montana or Kansas. In SC you can only get a beginner's permit at 15 and a restricted license at 16. Not that I actually obeyed the restrictions at 16 lol. This could be a good thing. The native population in Europe is stagnant I heard so a lil booze and hormone charged teenagers...bingo, no more negative population growth. LOL

iBlue

Sep 1, 2009, 11:56 AM

A standard (not IMAX, not 3D) movie ticket for an Adult is £8.00 (about US$13) at my local mulit-screen cinema. Child tickets are for 14 and under so 15 year olds have to pay full price. That's before transport there (at least £2 return on public transport, 15 year olds can't drive).

GAH, I got the price wrong in my previous posts. I've not been drinking, I swear! I thought we had paid about £13 per ticket before but I've looked it up and you're right. Still awfully expensive but not as expensive as I had said. Sorry about that.

iPhone 62S

Sep 1, 2009, 11:57 AM

Quick note on the driving thing: I wish I could drive at my age! In some US states and Canada, you can get a provisional lisence at 14!

Most be rural states such as Montana or Kansas. In SC you can only get a beginner's permit at 15 and a restricted license at 16. Not that I actually obeyed the restrictions at 16 lol. This could be a good thing. The native population in Europe is stagnant I heard so a lil booze and hormone charged teenagers...bingo, no more negative population growth. LOL

I'm 15 and responsible but I can't drive coz of the stupidity of everyone else... What a fair world we live in!

robbieduncan

Sep 1, 2009, 11:57 AM

Quick note on the driving thing: I wish I could drive at my age! In some US states and Canada, you can get a provisional lisence at 14!

Off-topic but you've got be 17 in the UK. And they talk about raising it to 18 every so often (maybe they've done it already and I wasn't paying attention). And once you've passed your test be ready to pay way more than £500 for the most basic insurnace on the slowest, nastiest car.

iPhone 62S

Sep 1, 2009, 12:04 PM

Off-topic but you've got be 17 in the UK. And they talk about raising it to 18 every so often (maybe they've done it already and I wasn't paying attention). And once you've passed your test be ready to pay way more than £500 for the most basic insurnace on the slowest, nastiest car.

Yup I know all of that, and some tricks to get cheaper insurence too (mostly getting insurence as a second driver on parents' insurance). The laws in this country are crap. We also have a higher age of concent than most of Europe.

robbieduncan

Sep 1, 2009, 12:08 PM

and some tricks to get cheaper insurence too (mostly getting insurence as a second driver on parents' insurance). The laws in this country are crap.

Personally I think that 17 is a sensible age to be put in control of a 1.5+ ton machine capable of high speeds.

Of, and if it's a car that you are the primary driver of that is called "fronting" in the industry. That's just a nice word for criminal fraud. People do get caught for doing this. Normally when the child/young adult crashes. At that point as they policy was taken out using false information it is invalid so they get no payout, they and their parents are taken to court and get a criminal record and it becomes much more difficult to get insurance at a reasonable price for the next 10 years or so. Don't do i.

iPhone 62S

Sep 1, 2009, 12:18 PM

Personally I think that 17 is a sensible age to be put in control of a 1.5+ ton machine capable of high speeds.

Of, and if it's a car that you are the primary driver of that is called "fronting" in the industry. That's just a nice word for criminal fraud. People do get caught for doing this. Normally when the child/young adult crashes. At that point as they policy was taken out using false information it is invalid so they get no payout, they and their parents are taken to court and get a criminal record and it becomes much more difficult to get insurance at a reasonable price for the next 10 years or so. Don't do i.

I heard that, but TBH it's unlikely you'll get caught anyway, and I didn't say I was going to do it, I just said I knew about it :p

Anyway, we're just taking the thread off-topic now!

Peace

Sep 1, 2009, 12:23 PM

I heard that, but TBH it's unlikely you'll get caught anyway, and I didn't say I was going to do it, I just said I knew about it :p

Anyway, we're just taking the thread off-topic now!

Not necessarily. There could be a drunk teen-age girl driving a car while trying to text a post from her iPhone in this discussion right now!!

Heilage

Sep 1, 2009, 12:43 PM

In light of recent posts in this section, is the UK broken?

iPhone 62S

Sep 1, 2009, 12:53 PM

In light of recent posts in this section, is the UK broken?

Our government is. The whole place is also very 1984-like (cameras everywhere, for example).

BanjoBanker

Sep 1, 2009, 01:14 PM

Off-topic but you've got be 17 in the UK. And they talk about raising it to 18 every so often (maybe they've done it already and I wasn't paying attention). And once you've passed your test be ready to pay way more than £500 for the most basic insurnace on the slowest, nastiest car.

I WISH my son's insurance was on $800 ( roughly 500 lbs). He has very basic coverage - liability only - and it is over $1200 USD annually. Never had a wreck or ticket. And he drives a 13 year old Yukon, nothing expensive. :D

remmy

Sep 1, 2009, 02:15 PM

In light of recent posts in this section, is the UK broken?

You work for the Daily Mail? ;)

arkitect

Sep 1, 2009, 02:35 PM

yellow

Sep 1, 2009, 02:36 PM

Time to bump the drinking age up?

yorkshire

Sep 1, 2009, 02:49 PM

This does not surprise me. I was at the Leeds Festival at the weekend, and the amount of drunk people I saw was ridiculous (although, to be expected).

robbieduncan

Sep 1, 2009, 02:57 PM

I WISH my son's insurance was on $800 ( roughly 500 lbs). He has very basic coverage - liability only - and it is over $1200 USD annually. Never had a wreck or ticket. And he drives a 13 year old Yukon, nothing expensive. :D

That was the absolute minimum I can imagine anyone getting insurance for at that sort of age. Most would be more like £1000. For me, a driver with 12 years experience and another, much faster car, insured to insure a 12-year old £370 VW Golf third-party only with my learner driver girlfriend on the insurance was over £560. If we wanted comprehensive insurance it would have been over £800, or had wanted her to learn in a nicer car it'd have been well over £1000.

trule

Sep 1, 2009, 03:13 PM

In light of recent posts in this section, is the UK broken?

Did it ever work? Oh yes, back when it was head of an empire :rolleyes:

Suggest watching Yes Prime Minister for more background. A fictional series that's strangely accurate, over 30 years old and still relevant. Only last week old Gordie was planning to cut spending on Trident which is exactly the story line from the first series all those years ago.

Loge

Sep 1, 2009, 07:19 PM

From the same research,

Highest rate of bullying: Turkey

and

Enjoy school most: Turkey

:confused:

iBlue

Sep 2, 2009, 02:59 AM

Time to bump the drinking age up?

Hmmm, dunno about that. I'm not sure what an appropriate solution would be but I don't think raising the drinking age would help all that much. This is such a drink-happy place, shockingly so. It's not so easy to drown out those habits, as it were.

edesignuk

Sep 2, 2009, 03:00 AM

Time to bump the drinking age up?Putting it further out of legal reach isn't going to help. They're already under age, doesn't seem to stop them.

arkitect

Sep 2, 2009, 03:02 AM

From the same research,

Highest rate of bullying: Turkey

and

Enjoy school most: Turkey

:confused:

Masochists…

iPhone 62S

Sep 2, 2009, 04:46 AM

You work for the Daily Mail? ;)

Don't you mean Daily Fail? :p

Time to bump the drinking age up?

As someone else said, the age is already 18 so these people are already underage. IMO alcohol should be illegal, but that probably wouldn't work either TBH, but if it was treated like weed and other illegal drugs it might discourage some people.

iBlue

Sep 2, 2009, 04:49 AM

As someone else said, the age is already 18 so these people are already underage. IMO alcohol should be illegal, but that probably wouldn't work either TBH, but if it was treated like weed and other illegal drugs it might discourage some people.
Yeah, because prohibition works. :rolleyes:

AAPLaday

Sep 2, 2009, 04:49 AM

Did it ever work? Oh yes, back when it was head of an empire :rolleyes:

Suggest watching Yes Prime Minister for more background. A fictional series that's strangely accurate, over 30 years old and still relevant. Only last week old Gordie was planning to cut spending on Trident which is exactly the story line from the first series all those years ago.

Ah yes. Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister are fantastic shows and still just as funny 30 years on. And like you said just as on the ball now as they ever were, maybe more so now :rolleyes:

iPhone 62S

Sep 2, 2009, 04:55 AM

Yeah, because prohibition works. :rolleyes:

Which is why I said "that probably wouldn't work either, TBH".

The problem is that it's been accepted as normal for so long that it's impossible to get rid of it unfortunately.

AAPLaday

Sep 2, 2009, 04:59 AM

I reckon the 20 somethings have a lot to answer for a lot too. Binge drinking among them is going to be high as well i reckon. Its become a part of UK culture and little or nothing has been done by the government/authorities to stop it. A lot of teens will pick up the habit and the alcohol from an older sibling or friend.

jeremy h

Sep 2, 2009, 07:17 AM

I think it's deep seated thing in UK culture - we've always been a bunch of drunks. My Grandmother 'signed the pledge' as a reaction the damage done to family life by 'strong drink' in the Welsh valleys. Before that the Victorians were obsessed by damage drink was doing to society and even before that Hogarth favourite subjects was the gin soaked working class and the port soaked upper class.

I think the only solution is some sort of additive that makes 'young people' suffer the same sort of hangover I do these days!

BoyBach

Sep 2, 2009, 07:38 AM

w00t! we're no. 1! :(

"But the report also says young people in the UK are materially well-off and enjoy a "high quality of school life".

So this means the richer you are in the UK. The more booze you drink ?

Yep. Head to Newquay in the post-GCSE summer months and you'll find its beaches and streets strewn with drunken 16 year-old Hooray Henry's. (And you're not even allowed to beat them up, apparently that's "against the law" or some such nonsense.)

In light of recent posts in this section, is the UK broken?

You're (Just call me) Dave Cameron and I claim my £5! ;)

Fuzzy14

Sep 2, 2009, 08:06 AM

It's a culture thing, and making alcohol less accesible or more expensive (as they are trying to do here in Scotland) will not change matters. We need to make alcohol more accesible and brought into family situations with moderate drinking to remove the stigma from it being 'special' and change our attitudes. How many stories that you hear start 'I was so drunk and...' Our kids are brought up believing that the only way you can have a good time is to have a drink, and you can't stop after a few drinks, you need to go to excess.

It doesn't happen in Europe, you can pick up wine anywhere, in Spain the legal age is 16.

I occaisionally work shifts and have to do my shopping late at night/early doors but the new laws just brought in here mean that I can't buy a bottle of wine until after 10am. Because I want to buy a bottle of wine with my £100 weekly food shop doesn't mean I want to drink it at 9.30am.:confused: Point being if the government define a time when it is acceptable to buy/consume drink then come that time the people will just shirk their personal responsibilities and go with it. If all barriers are removed the people can decide that for themselves.

robbieduncan

Sep 2, 2009, 08:15 AM

Dagless

Sep 2, 2009, 02:17 PM

Last time I went to see a movie (that wasn't at a daytime discount sort of thing) it was about £25-30 for two of us.

That seems excessive. It's only £5-6 at our Cineworld and the most I ever paid for a ticket was £7.

Living on the edge of Oldham I see this kind of thing way too much. There's a girl just up the street who is probably headed into a world of liver problems, gets into trouble, causes fights, unprotected sex blah blah. But she doesn't care. Doesn't seem like many of them do.

AAPLaday

Sep 2, 2009, 02:25 PM

There is no discipline anymore and the parents are as much to blame as anyone. Come half term and you know several bus shelters are going to be smashed up. When i was that age i would never dream of doing anything like that and if i did my dad would have killed me. Nowadays when im on way home from the local on a weekend night you can see kids as young as 12-13 hanging about on the streets gone midnight in certain areas of manchester

robbieduncan

Sep 2, 2009, 02:25 PM

That seems excessive. It's only £5-6 at our Cineworld and the most I ever paid for a ticket was £7.

Living on the edge of Oldham...
Everything is cheaper up North. Standard Cineworld prices are £8 here in East London. Even more for central (Zone-1) London.

Mark-Mac-Attack

Sep 4, 2009, 11:39 AM

Where are these drunk girls? Send them my way! ;)

whooleytoo

Sep 4, 2009, 12:08 PM

It's a culture thing, and making alcohol less accesible or more expensive (as they are trying to do here in Scotland) will not change matters. We need to make alcohol more accesible and brought into family situations with moderate drinking to remove the stigma from it being 'special' and change our attitudes. How many stories that you hear start 'I was so drunk and...' Our kids are brought up believing that the only way you can have a good time is to have a drink, and you can't stop after a few drinks, you need to go to excess.

Agree wholeheartedly with this.

After about 8pm on most nights (particularly weekends), the city centre where I live can become quite rowdy. Not necessarily violent, but a lot of drunken arguments, things being knocked over, public urination etc. For that reason, you generally only see young people out at those hours, which just magnifies the problem.

I remember a trip to Buenos Aires, where I was walking around the city around midnight and you had children playing in the playgrounds still, and groups of old people gathered around a table outside a cafe enjoying a bottle of wine together.. You just don't see that here any more.

The government here recently proscribed having children in a pub/bar after 9, however that just means no children and few parents are going to be in these premises. Hence - you just have pubs full of teens and twenty-somethings; little wonder things get rowdy. The move has, IMO, entirely back-fired.

whooleytoo

Sep 4, 2009, 12:10 PM

Yeah, because prohibition works. :rolleyes:

A license to drink might not be a bad idea though..

star-fish

Sep 4, 2009, 12:21 PM

Everything is cheaper up North. Standard Cineworld prices are £8 here in East London. Even more for central (Zone-1) London.

One of the many, many reasons why I would never live in London. Nice for occasional visits and few day stays, nothing more.

What's worrying is that people in London seem to have less of a concept of the north as time goes on. I noticed a website listing Cheltenham as the Midlands a few days ago.

seb-opp

Sep 4, 2009, 12:24 PM

IMO alcohol should be illegal, but that probably wouldn't work either TBH, but if it was treated like weed and other illegal drugs it might discourage some people.

Alcohol would never be made illegal in the UK. Its part of our heritage. In the 1700s there was a huge Gin craze in London, everyone drank it and the government at the time reacted similarly to what they are doing today. In the late 1800s 1/4 of working class wages was spent on Ale because water carried diseases and alcoholic drinks do not (that's why Pirates drank Rum). And of cause Churchill was off his face for the duration of WWII, and that turned out ok for everyone.

The only way to stop under-age drinking is to stop marketing alcohol to tweens. Who really drinks Smirnoff Ice, Bacardi Breezers, Lambrini etc APART from young teens? Alcopops should be banned, as well as strong cider like Frosty Jacks & White Lightning. If they were, then there would be much less drinks to chose from that are the same price. For under £4 all you could get is Beer, Cider and ****** wine, and I doubt many teen girls would drink those.

whooleytoo

Sep 4, 2009, 12:34 PM

The only way to stop under-age drinking is to stop marketing alcohol to tweens. Who really drinks Smirnoff Ice, Bacardi Breezers, Lambrini etc APART from young teens? Alcopops should be banned, as well as strong cider like Frosty Jacks & White Lightning. If they were, then there would be much less drinks to chose from that are the same price. For under £4 all you could get is Beer, Cider and ****** wine, and I doubt many teen girls would drink those.

Don't agree with that (and not just because I'm a 36 year old guy who likes Smirnoff Ice!). Teens don't drink because of marketing, they drink because their friends all do it. It's a cultural thing, and has been so for some time.

Tom B.

Sep 4, 2009, 03:47 PM

It doesn't happen in Europe, you can pick up wine anywhere, in Spain the legal age is 16.

Well...

Milan has banned the consumption and sale of alcohol to young teenagers in an effort to curb binge-drinking.
Parents of children under the age of 16 caught drinking wine or spirits will be liable to heavy fines of up to 500 Euros ($700;£450).
A third of 11-year-olds in the city have alcohol related problems, it says.
In a country where for centuries wine has been part of local culture - and prohibition would be unthinkable - the ban has come as a shock.
But the authorities are deeply concerned about the increase in consumption of alcohol by children as young as 11 in the country's industrial and financial capital.
So as an experiment, supplying alcohol - either wine or spirits - to youths under the age of 16 in bars, restaurants, pizza shops and liquor stores will be banned.
Heavy fines will be imposed on the parents of offending children and on shopkeepers or bar owners who serve them.
A national law banning the sale of alcohol to under-16s is only loosely enforced, as Italian families are used to sometimes giving young children a teaspoon of wine as a family party treat.
In past centuries, Italian children would sometimes even be given wine to drink in preference to water which was often polluted.
There has been a storm of protest by bar owners who refuse to act as alcohol police for young people.
But changing social customs mean that old easy-going attitudes towards consumption of alcohol in Italy will have to change.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8157725.stm

xIGmanIx

Sep 4, 2009, 03:52 PM

Where are these drunk girls? Send them my way! ;)

My thoughts exactly, once they turn 18 of course:D

Fuzzy14

Sep 4, 2009, 06:40 PM

Interesting stuff Tom B. I've traveled about Europe on business (not touristy places) and have spotted youngsters on street corners but never really anything like we have back here. That story stating 1/3 of Italian 11 year olds having a problem also kinda contradicts the point of the original story saying British teenagers are the worst! Can we not be No.1 at anything for long before we get knocked off!:rolleyes:

I also had the same thought at whooleytoo that a license to drink might be a good idea, you could loose it for a few months if you get too drunk etc. Doesn't get round the problem of people buying drink for others though, and it also helps the original problem of alcohol being treated as 'special'.

Interesting that seb-opp mentioned the Gin Craze in London, each generation seem to have their fix, in the same streets where the 'Gin Whores' operated in 300 years ago are now operated by 'Crack Whores' (apologies to any passing moderator, language used is to demonstrate actual as-used in history books.) I believe that despite government intervention with taxes and licensed premises (similar to what they are doing now!) the Gin Craze was actually ended by crop failures and the price of grain rising.

Link to Gin Lane picture (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:William_Hogarth_-_Gin_Lane.jpg)

Mark-Mac-Attack

Sep 7, 2009, 07:26 PM

My thoughts exactly, once they turn 18 of course:D

;)

A friend of mine from eastern Europe believes we drink so much due to the weather...:p (I believe iBlue may agree on this one)

Anyway, I didn't hear her complaining when I said I could take any country lane from our current location and find a pub within 5 minutes. I did find a pub within 5 minutes, but 2 drinks and some KPs for £8 was a little more than I wish it was! :rolleyes:

instaxgirl

Sep 8, 2009, 02:30 AM

Off-topic but you've got be 17 in the UK. And they talk about raising it to 18 every so often (maybe they've done it already and I wasn't paying attention)

They can't already have done it because my 17 year old brother just passed, but my 15 year old sister won't be able to learn until she's 18. Don't know exactly when it's coming into force though

IMO alcohol should be illegal, but that probably wouldn't work either TBH, but if it was treated like weed and other illegal drugs it might discourage some people.

I've never smoked so much as a bog standard cigarette but back home I could get weed within, oh, an hour max. In 1st year uni I lived above a dealer and I know countless people that smoke it. Now I think about it it doesn't even register with me as illegal. I've never heard of anyone getting in trouble for drugs. Thinking back I know who I could have asked about getting it when I was 15.

The only way to stop under-age drinking is to stop marketing alcohol to tweens. Who really drinks Smirnoff Ice, Bacardi Breezers, Lambrini etc APART from young teens? Alcopops should be banned, as well as strong cider like Frosty Jacks & White Lightning. If they were, then there would be much less drinks to chose from that are the same price. For under £4 all you could get is Beer, Cider and ****** wine, and I doubt many teen girls would drink those.

I like Smirnoff Ice (I'm 20) Incidentally can I introduce you to Strongbow and Buckfast? Big favourites with teens

I was an outsider when I was 15 because I thought drinking until you were sick was stupid. At 20 I try to be the one who's just a few drinks shy of getting really useless, stupid and vomiting everywhere.

covisio

Sep 8, 2009, 10:23 AM

This is typical of the scapegoating that gets put about by the UK media these days, implying that social problems like excessive drinking are restricted to 'out of control kids'.
The whole country drinks too much, in all age groups. It's just that when kids do it, it's A: illegal and B: visible (because they often have to do it out on the street).
Mrs Daily Mail gets all hot under the collar about it and then goes and sinks eight double G&T's before bedtime - pure hypocrisy.
One of the biggest problems is the differential between the price of alcohol bought in stores, etc., and the price that is paid in pubs. Pubs are closing all over the UK because people are opting to drink at home, far more cheaply. What this ultimately leads to is the complete normalising of habitual drinking at home, at every opportunity. It's a behaviour pattern that is easily carried over to the next generation.
I'm no abstainer myself, my alcohol intake waxes and wanes but is generally moderate. Getting blasted every now and again though is pretty essential for my mental wellbeing. It's just that nobody criticises me for it because I'm a 40 y.o. homeowner with a wife, two kids and a dog.

barkmonster

Sep 8, 2009, 03:36 PM

It was no different when I was 15 or 16 myself in the early 90s accept some of them were as young as 12 or 13!

I was in lower 6th form at high school and girl I knew a couple of years below me, 13 at the time was drunk with friends, ended up losing her virginity to a guy in his early 20s who either didn't know or didn't care how old she was.

She turned up at mine that night in tears about it, I went to the chemist with her the next day because she was very shook up about it and didn't want to go on her own, refused to go to the police about him and I didn't either then weeks later she took a lot of paracetamol but ended up being ok and I never knew if the situations were related.

Cut to a few years ago...

This guy had had a lot of people taunting him for a long time, it's a small village and by then he'd slowly comes round to the idea of lying to everyone to try and make light of it. He concocted a story that he was nailing her mum one night and she told him he couldn't leave till he slept with her daughter too.

I heard this version of events a few years ago. After the constant gossip and taunting drove him to suicide.

The whole situation really got to his niece who's 19 at present. She said it was all lies but I know for a fact it wasn't but what he ended up doing was so sad for his niece and family, could have obviously being a lot worse all those years ago but still boils down to the fact that a drunk under age girl who's tall for her age and looks 16 or 17 is going to be tempting to someone morally ok with that kind of thing if she's not letting on about her age.

It also shows what a recluse I was at the time when I was glued to my nintendo, not drinking with them myself. I wouldn't have even considered trying it on with her or any of her friends either. 13 is a kid whether your 16, 26 or whatever. Unless your sick.

Tower-Union

Sep 11, 2009, 09:53 PM

Tower-Union

Sep 11, 2009, 09:55 PM

What he ended up doing was so sad for his niece and family.

you mean the molestation or the suicide? I agree with the molestation but I give a big thumbs up for the suicide! :D

Heilage

Sep 12, 2009, 07:26 AM

Interesting how you perceive things, my first thought upon reading the thread title was that they're bitches to deal with.

Interestingly enough that may be true, I've worked as a doorman for ~2.5 years and BY FAR the worst drunks to deal with are young (18-20) year old girls. I'm in Canada BTW drinking age is 18. I mean with guys, they act tough but they generally know when to back down, or if I step in to break up a fight, as soon as they guy realizes the person grabbing him is a bouncer he stops resisting, usually apologizes. Girls on the other hand KEEP FIGHTING, and biting and scratching, and try to kick you in the groin. . . then they get all pissy and claim "You can't hit me I'm a woman!" After you knock 'em to the ground :rolleyes:

Anyways that's my little rant. . . to all you under the age of 25, if you can't handle your liquor and be a decent drunk, stop ****** drinking and try again in a few years. . .

The drinking age for light alcohol in Norway is also 18, and I worked in as a door-man in one spot and a bartender in another for a couple of years, both with an 18 limit. To be honest, I get why a lot of bars raise their limit to at least 20 in this country, even though it's not required by law. The general standard in the bars with an 18 limit is that everyone is too drunk, people fight and do generally stupid things. In the 20 and above limit bars, fights are a lot less frequent, most people are okay to deal with and everyone seems to have a good time.

barkmonster

Sep 12, 2009, 06:28 PM

you mean the molestation or the suicide? I agree with the molestation but I give a big thumbs up for the suicide! :D

I can never be sure how things happened exactly, just the effects it had afterwards but I agree with you. Whether the girl had agreed to it or not, a guy in his 20s shouldn't get his jollies with a girl who's barely in their teens.

At least meeting a girl in a bar or club, you can assume them to be over the age of consent because they'd have being legal for 2 years once they can drink in the UK. Drunk on a park on the other hand just screams of under-age to anyone with common sense or morals but so far as townies/chavs, they're not the sharpest or most moral bunch.

21stcenturykid

Sep 12, 2009, 07:51 PM

I think a lot of the problem stems from how kids are brought up these days. I was brought up thinking that getting blind drunk was stupid and a waste of money. After doing this steadily during the first year of uni I decided that this was in fact the case. I have much better things to spend on than booze!

If kids grow up around their mums and dads drinking and getting drunk, at an impressionable age there is no wonder they think it's a good idea. Or they use it as an excuse to misbehave etc etc.

Dagless

Sep 12, 2009, 10:45 PM

barkmonster

Sep 13, 2009, 03:13 AM

Well I don't know why but there's a fair few drunks out tonight. A group of drunk girls just went around the side of our house and sat against a wall for a bit. And that takes a fair bit of doing because of the walls and fences up, one of them was sick in the garden.
We're not allowed to swear on the boards :mad:.

What a pain in the neck. That's the perfect opportunity to say, "it gets the f out of my garden, or it gets the hose".

Chavs are social cancer no matter where you live. It's a shame they can't be screened from the genepool before there's any more of them seeing as they breed every 15 years and get everything handed to them on a plate by a benefit system that favours their kind so they've got no motivation to do anything more constructive.

AAPLaday

Sep 13, 2009, 09:50 AM

The british chav.....

194189

iPhone 62S

Sep 13, 2009, 09:53 AM

On the subject of chavs...

What's a chav's favourite car? Anything with no alarm.

What do you call a chav in a nice house? A burgler.

Why is it a tragady that 3 chavs drove their car off of a cliff? The car seated 5.

What do you call a chav in a good car? A theif.

Two chavs in a car but there's no music playing, who's driving? The police.

Did you hear about the chav that got into university? Someone left the window open.

whooleytoo

Sep 14, 2009, 07:08 AM

The whole country drinks too much, in all age groups. It's just that when kids do it, it's A: illegal and B: visible (because they often have to do it out on the street).

That's precisely it. If kids want to get plastered drunk in their homes, it's between them and their families, it doesn't matter to me. It's the public fights, assaults on passers-by, urination, defecation and vomiting with which people have a problem.

Dagless

Sep 14, 2009, 09:32 AM

That's precisely it. If kids want to get plastered drunk in their homes, it's between them and their families, it doesn't matter to me. It's the public fights, assaults on passers-by, urination, defecation and vomiting with which people have a problem.

Bingo. I don't mind people on their own self destruct courses, I just dont want it (literally) spilling onto my doorstep.