Click the image below or here. ■
New: Alcohol Companion LinkedIn discussion group
There is an exciting new, moderated discussion forum for people interested in the findings of alcohol science, drawing on and feeding into the research for the book Alcohol Companion. It will focus on helping in the understanding of broad findings and solutions, rather than specific cases. Professionals and non-professionals in the field are welcome to join in. To become a member, please click here or on the graphic below. ■
Children of alcohol dependents lose Tory champion | philcain.com
Conservative MP Nicola Blackwood, who as health minister ordered a strategy to help the children of alcohol dependent people, narrowly lost her Oxfordshire seat to a Lib Dem in last week’s parliamentary election.
There is no mention of the strategy in the Conservative or LibDem manifestos, while an explicit commitment to it appears in Labour’s. Labour champions of developing a strategy, Jonathan Ashworth and Liam Byrne, were re-elected.
Blackwood’s replacement as minister with responsibility for public health has yet to be named. Ashworth was re-appointed Shadow Minister for Health on Wednesday. ■
[news] Jeremy Corbyn: ‘I don’t drink’. My secret is tea, apple juice and coconut water | philcain.com
Q: Home brew or [Carlsberg] Special Brew?
A: I don’t drink. I’m really boring. I’m not saying I’ve never drunk, I have, never a lot. I don’t drink anything at all. … I enjoy a cup of tea. Do you know what my secret is? Apple juice or coconut water.
—Jeremy Corbyn, Labour leader
Source: http://www.bigissue.com/news/big-issue-interviews-jeremy-corbyn-live-facebook/ (@27m56s)
Note: A list of manifesto pledges on alcohol can be found here. ■
[music] Alcohol-related music playlist
Note: It is possible to appreciate (or not) these songs without consuming alcohol. It is interesting to observe how many of them decribe using alcohol as a way to soothe the discomfort of a personal trauma or mishap, something which tends to deepen and prolong our discomfort. The playlist includes:
- Cigarettes and Alcohol, Oasis
- Last Night (Beer Fear), Lucy Spraggan
- Milk and Alcohol, Dr Feelgood
- Born Slippy, Underworld
- I Am A Cider Drinker, The Wurzels
- Tequila, The Champs
- Red Red Wine, UB40
- Drunk, Ed Sheeran
- Alcohol, Gogol Bordello
- Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers, Motörhead
- Whiskey In The Jar, Metallica
- Alabama Song (Whisky Bar), The Doors
- One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer, Amos Milburn
- Streams of Whiskey, The Pogues
- Beer Drinking Songs, Johnny Cash
- Gin & Juice, Snoop Dogg
- Too Drunk To Fuck, Dead Kennedys
- Drink to Get Drunk, Sia ■
[radio] Interviews with children of alcohol dependents (five parts) | BBC Woman’s Hour
Part 1 (@17m10s): Lynne who grew up in Yorkshire with an alcoholic mother who died twelve years ago from complications caused by her drinking.
Part 2 (@18m40s): Hilary’s mother lost herself to alcohol and no one in the family ever talked about it, apart from Uncle David. He intervened and persuaded Hilary’s mum to stop drinking while her daughter was doing her A levels.
Part 3 (@23m30s): The story of Jackie, known as Jabs, age 22, whose father died two years ago as a direct result of his drinking.
Part 4 (@start): We hear from listener Camilla who’s supporting her dad with his recovery and from Hilary Henriques, the CEO of the National Association for Children of Alcoholics, about helping a parent.
Part 5 (@14m50s): Listeners Karen and Liz discuss the support their friendship has given them with their experience of growing up with an alcoholic parent. ■