Another Pointless Survey

According to the Lifestyle Survey conducted by the ONS, managers drink more than manual workers.

People in managerial jobs drink more than their counterparts in manual jobs, official statistics show.

The annual Lifestyle Survey, published by the Office of National Statistics reflects the habits of UK adults in 2009.

Average weekly alcohol consumption for managers was 13.5 units, compared with 10.7 units in those in manual jobs.

I can’t help wondering why people respond to these surveys. Why don’t they just tell the buggers to go away and leave them alone. If everyone did this, such nannying, hectoring nonsense would be harder to come by.

And, what else do we get in this puff piece?

The current recommendations for daily alcohol intake are that it should not regularly exceed three to four units for men and two to three units for women.

Sigh… These figures are made up, invented, constructed out of the ether, a fabrication. In short; a lie. Yet still they peddle this garbage. What is okay for you may not be okay for me. Individuals will have individual tolerances to alcohol.

However, the survey reveals that amongst managers, 41% of men and 35% of women exceeded these recommendations, on at least one day in the week before they took part in the survey.

Yes? And? So? Given that the limits are pure fantasy plucked from the collective arseholes of the so-called researchers commissioned to come up with them, exceedence is a non-issue.

When people were asked about heavy drinking – defined as more than eight units for men and more than six for women – 23% of men and 15% of women in managerial households had reached those levels of drinking on at least one day in the week before the survey.

I’m sorry, but really. One day in the week preceding the survey is not by any stretch of the imagination “heavy drinking”, which definition is itself based on junk science.

Chris Sorek, Chief Executive of the charity Drinkaware said heavy drinking among professionals was a cultural problem:

No, it isn’t. In my occupational field I mix with all sorts, from track workers to company directors. I have not noticed a culture of heavy drinking. I do come across people who like to unwind with a pint at the end of a working day if that is what Sorek means. Oh, yeah, it is what he means.

“While there continues to be a strong culture of drinking as part of professional roles it’s not surprising to see managers drinking more than manual workers. Meetings and get-togethers are all situations where professionals may feel under pressure to drink. We also know many de-stress with a drink at home after a long working day.”

And how many professionals are rolling about fighting in the gutters on a Saturday night, one wonders. I do know that I’ve never felt any pressure to drink when working with managers and directors –  not least because drink during the working day is usually off limits anyway. And it certainly is in my industry. When away at a conference or training event, the same rules tend to apply with people drinking lightly if at all over an evening meal.

The drop in alcohol-related deaths was welcomed by the charity Drinkaware.

However, its chief executive, Chris Sorek said it was important not be complacent: “It’s really encouraging to see a drop in alcohol-related deaths but the fact that thousands of people are still dying from alcohol misuse shows we must not rest on our laurels.”

Yeah, I’m sure you won’t. CS Lewis had you people summed up.

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”

Says it all, really. And if the ONS ever ask me to take part in one of their surveys, the answer will include the word “off”.