Oh, God! Here We Go Again.

Apparently geriatrics need to moderate their drinking.

Recommended safe limits for drinking alcohol by older people should be drastically cut, according to a report.

The Royal College of Psychiatrists says people over 65 should drink a maximum of only 1.5 units of alcohol a day.

That is the equivalent of just over about half a pint of beer or a small glass of wine.

Okay, a number of points. The “safe limits” recommended by the government are nonsense that have no basis in fact. They were made up. I’m not sure how many times this inconvenient fact needs to be pointed out, but here we go again with the “safe limits” cockwaffle. There are no safe limits. What is okay for one person will not be for another. We have differing levels of response to alcohol and it is up to each individual to deal with that as they see fit. We don’t need the government to tell us how much we should be drinking.

The other significant point is that having reached such an age, the whole thing is moot anyway. Maybe older people would rather trade the risks posed by alcohol with the tedium of following government health advice. Frankly, the level of hectoring and nagging by the health fascists is enough to drive anyone to drink.

The other significant point is that it is no one else’s business what people drink or how much they drink –  least of all the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

Fuck off already, okay?

They also want GPs to screen every person over the age of 65 for substance misuse…

You what? I am a ways off from that age yet, but if my GP wanted to screen me for substance abuse the response would be very short and negative.

17 Comments

  1. It’s questionable how many of this target audience could afford to buy a small glass of beer/wine at any time, let alone every day!

    Thanks to other government “targets” (yes, you Huhne, you piece of crap), most of them will be struggling to keep warm and fed…

  2. “I’m not sure how many times this inconvenient fact needs to be pointed out…”

    As many times as we see the unchallenged assumption baldly stated in print as a ‘fact’…

  3. Since I am past the age of 65 and continue to smoke, drink more than these mythical ‘units of alcohol’, and eat salty things, I must be dead already but haven’t noticed*; waste of time screening me.

    * I guess the items on that list must have destroyed my mental acuity.

  4. My dad, 83 and still going strong, worked in a brewery and is still entitled to discounted crates. Two or three times a year he gets to walk through the health centre reception area to deliver a crate his GP has requested. The same GP who, on noting his blood pressure and general good health, told him to keep taking the whisky (not that he needed telling). Not all doctors are cretinous healthists.

  5. Of course the government places arbitrary guidelines on how much we should drink. In fact, the entire purpose of statutory government seems to be the purpose of drawing lines in the sand!

  6. The Queen Mother (God bless her) used to put away industrial quantities of gin and she lived to 102.

    I think all us over 60s should raise several glass to her every day in recognition of the fine example she set for all of us.

  7. I had occasion to see my doctor a while back, and she asked me for no reason at all, how much I drank…

    I looked into her eyes, with a twinkle in mine, and said…

    21 units a day whether I’m thirsty or not.

    Ah, she said, with a chuckle, Nuff said, It’s the Govt, they keep sending us all this bumf with boxes to tick.

    We then promptly got back to the problem I’d come in about.

  8. I think this is the most stupid statement ever made. It assumes everyone over 65 is a doddering cretin, kept alive by beta blockers and already on their second heart attack.

    If anyone sends me a survey I will tell them where to put it and it will be unprintable. If anyone answers one of these things it will only serve as more ammunition for the insurance companies not to pay out on holiday insurance claims etc..Knowledge is power, keep them all in the dark I say. I either lie, or never answer medical questionnaires, that is unless the information is verifiable and if that is the case why are they asking me!

  9. PTB.

    My Dad is just coming up to 80 and works as a self-employed builder. He wants to know if your Dad needs a hand at the brewery.

  10. There are NO ACTUAL KNOWN SCIENTIFIC VALUES FOR SAFE ALCHOHOL CONSUMPTION ….
    The “safe limits” were dreamed up and have no validity, one way or another..

    Grrrrr …
    As a lifew-member of CAMRA and a trained scientist, I get really annoyed by this lying nannying.

    And it is lying.

  11. These limits are mostly not respected because nobody trusts the ‘specialists’ anymore, it’s a mad world and everyone trusts no one but himself. That’s my opinion.

    Cadouri Victor

  12. Geriatrics need to save up for a decent bottle of single malt and get stuck into it. That’s what this one plans to do when he gets there.

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