derf, i just dont like wars and guns and stuff (except in games, then it rules ) so even as a guy i'd be opposed to mandatory military. I'm not dumb enough to think wars etc will ever be gotten rid of, but doesn't mean i have to be a part of it

on the pub thing: in theory yes, it'll be more staggered, but it wont really. binge drinkers (ie teenagers/young adults, you know the type. students etc) will just stay out til half an hour before their next lecture or something. and i dont see how it will solve anything really. just means instead of being forced to go out from 9 - 2, you can go out between 12 - 5, or whenever you want. Probably wouldn't be so bad if it was just pubs open, as usually people go to pubs for just a couple before they go home or go on to the club. It's more relaxed (in general), whereas in clubs the whole point is drink as much as possible, as fast as possible. As long as I don't get drunk prats coming near me they can do whatever the hell they want. Gah I hate drunks.

so far I'm liking Satis' island theory. But I disagree, I think we give them all guns and let them play 'last one standing'

isn't that kinda what we call 'prison'?

Anyhoo...Yeah Derf, I propose just that as a solution, the closing hours. It's a simple comparison to see how it makes the difference..what I said about the mainland. The UK really isn't such a country of degenerates that binge drinking is a specific national sport imo...it's just the hours. If you know just about every place closes at 11 o'clock you drink fast and hard, it's really that simple. If you know the pub's open till 7AM, why bother binge drinking? It solves a lot of problems.

I think the main issue here is: do you believe binge drinking is connected to the early closing hours, yes or no? I say it is. Binge drinking as such doesn't have much of a point, unless you're in college. Must drunkeness I know happens spontaneously...of course, all this is assuming the UK isn't the land of the professional alcoholics.

As for army service...it's all dependent of social and cultural factors. Mandatory military service worked in Belgium, but it wouldn't -say- in the US because of different circumstances. I don't think it differs all that much in the end. I honestly don't think someone like Satis changed a lot in/because of the army. (not that I knew him before but hey )

I never did that, and I never will. I doubt anyone does that more then once in his life (when you want to attend that lecture off course). You may think it's fun, but in the end it really doesn't have a point.
I never drink that much in pubs or clubs, it's so fucking expensive, while at my student club I get a pint for 90 cents.

I never did that for a lecture, heck after an all-nighter of boozing I got better things to do than go to class.

I once did it for an exam though, it was harder to not attend that. I actually owned the exam btw...it was multiple choice and I had drunk luck.

I realized it was more of a coincidence than a meaningul chain of events, so I never did that again. Really, looking back it was totally moronic. No wonder I spent three years over my first year at college.

@ Ox:

I think you underestimate the problem in the UK. This is seen as pretty much a major social problem at the moment, one of the most significant. I certainly dont agree that binging is mainly linked only to closing hours. Nor do i only thinik that students do it. Infact theres a wider band of people that do it. For one, its mainly people who work alot suring the week, then on a saturday/friday night, go out and get totally plastered. So as i say, the problem is spanning far more around the general people and it seems to be still rising.

arathorn, I didn't either. But I did live in Student Halls, and I know what percentage of those students would start drinking in the kitchen at 4 (heavy drinking too), then head out to the pubs when they opened at 7, then would come back at around 3 or 4, only to continue drinking in the kitchen until around 6am. Then I would hear them go to bed.

Pissed me off like mad since I used to get up at 7 just to avoid them all. And three of them I knew had early lectures, coz they were in the same class as me. And this was only in Scarborough! After visiting my best mate in Nottingham, where she went to uni, I saw what they were like there, and that was out of control. Even my mate did it a couple of times and she's one of the most sensible (yet also has barely any common sense sometimes) people you could meet.

I have no clue if this is due to opening/closing times or what. i just don't wanna end up being near this kind of moron at, say, 1pm when I'm on my lunch break or something. At least if they're going home in the middle of the night I'm unlikely to be outside

Oh and derf, yeah I agree not only students do it. But they're certainly a large majority, and it's probably those that don't get fed up of it at uni who continue it on into their 20s/30s. Gotta agree with you on the weekend thing. Those who go to the pub after work every night for a couple with their mates probably rarely binge drink, except on special occasions.

Heck even I do it (well used to). I go out twice a year if that (dont like clubs so I don't go often) and, because I don't drink the rest of the year, I will tend to drink 4 or 5: hardly binge drinking but still a lot to bombard your body with if you rarely drink.

You know whats funny. People who do it, dont seem to realise the damage they do to their brain. I was with four 3rd year lads at a house in uni last year, and i would dare to say they were severely....slowed by all that drinking they had been doing.

I think that the closing times play a big factor as well though.

If i see what you (english) guys (and girl) are saying about the kind of people that get really hammered, i don't see any difference with for instance belgium. We have big alcohol consumption in belgium as well, i knew several people will stop in a local pub after a hard day work as well.
Closing hours just don't work well.

Btw i don't think that the effect on the brains is that severe Derf, i know i've been drinking heavily (sorry Pev) in my first 4 years at uni. And i don't think i'm a retard now
I'm not saying it wasn't very unhealthy though, got to agree on that, but those bits of braincells that died won't make that much of a difference.

Then perhaps would you say it has altered your character, rather than your brain-cells directly?

Well my character has changed from when i first got to Uni, but i wouldn't link that with my drinking habits (but for instance being away from home the whole week). It's pretty normal that you're not the same person anymore when you turn 22 as when you were 18 i think.

And i don't think my character changed in a negative way either.

But do you think your character changed even partially as a result of heavy drinking?

No i don't think it did.

I binged other things. I don't think it changed my character or made me stupid either. I'm just thinking that anyone that drinks the way pevil describes probably isn't very smart to begin with.

Hehe...I'm in the J and Satis camp: as long as you don't do it in EXTREME quantities or develop a habit you'll be just fine. Really, those 3-4 years of my life were not wasted. Like J said, the change in character if any is more due to me growing up than anything else.

At a given moment (well it's not so much a moment as a general sentiment) you just stop seeing the fun of getting drunk/stoned all the time. As a purpose, I mean. I go out way less than I used to, and I watch my money now...even tho the circumstances haven't changed a but (still in uni, still single, still a moron).

Of course, I still get drunk from time to time, but that's more of a side-effect than the actual goal these days. And it gets rarer.

rofl j, dont gotta apologise to me, just dont come near me drunk hehe.