Let's have a drink

Want to meet up for a drink? It's either one or the other alcoholic beverage, then. Very rarely do you go out of the house for anything less, and chronic coffee consumption presents its own set of problems.

Alcohol abuse isn't just a blight on remote Aboriginal communities - it's something that affects Australian society as a whole.
Adele Horan's article of 30/08 in the Sydney Morning Herald rightly points out that even a week without alcohol is a very trying task for most people. The recent launch of On the Wagon Week presumably launched a collective chill down the spines of adult Australia.

The binge drinking of teens and young adults has come increasingly under the microscope, but what of the hordes of parents who enjoy a glass or two "to unwind" after a hard day at work? It might begin this way, but I've heard anecdotally of many friends' parents who, after many years, are technically alcoholics.

There are several factors at work here.

Firstly, our casual approach to "having a few drinks" - i.e. getting blind. It's all treated as a bit of a laugh, really, and I've certainly enjoyed my fair share too. But when it becomes a ritualised, unthinking habit, it not only eats into our wallets and workplaces (sickies are a great Australian tradition), but it's setting us up for serious health problems in the future.

Horan also notes the alarming availability of cheap cask wine in large volumes - three or four litres for ten bucks. Until wine is taxed at a more consistent rate, this seems unlikely to change. Apparently the region in S.A. which produces most cask wine is home to two of that state's most marginal seats. It would be a foolish political party to upset the winegrowers here.

Other drugs are demonised, yet alcohol remains acceptable. If there are health warnings on tobacco pouches, why not on bottles of alcohol?

Australia is addicted. It's time to accept this, and look at either changing the culture, or preparing for a very long liver-transplant waiting list.

First Blog

This is my first blog, not counting the two pieces I once posted on my myspace page (which have since been deleted).
Apparently this is a space in which to vent anger, spleen and other, possibly more constructive things.
I do enjoy complaining about and discussing a wide range of issues with my friends and family. Why not share these views with the world? The problem is knowing where to start. Wait a moment as I scroll through the days headlines.

The obvious place to start is with the case of Mohammed Haneef.

Along with many others, I'm not impressed with the way the federal government has handled the Haneef case. Regardless of his innocence or guilt, there is no justifying the appalling treatment Haneef has endured. To be told you have been granted bail, only to have that right taken away from you almost immediately, is a sort of torture in itself. It is hypocritical of the government to say it is doing justice when the legal process is mishandled in this way. All citizens deserve a right to due legal process.