Now here's a priest to get behind

[Shaker]

http://goo.gl/Gk78si

A priest has been suspended after he admitted assaulting a police officer and a paramedic on a drunken night out.

The Reverend Gareth Jones swore at officers and claimed he had diplomatic immunity from the Vatican when he was arrested two weeks ago.

A paramedic found him passed out in his clerical clothes on Charing Cross Road, in Covent Garden, central London.

He had drunk three bottles of wine, several pints of beer, a number of gin and tonics and vodka.
Highbury Corner magistrates heard he kicked a paramedic twice in the leg before punching him and trying to bite him.

I deplore attacks upon people doing such a valued and valuable public service ... but a pissed priest trying to bite a paramedic ...

[Rhiannon]

How on earth is it possible to drink that much in one session?

Or am I just a bit of a wuss?

[Shaker]

Practice 

[Rhiannon]

If I tried to drink like that all I'd be practicing was toilet cuddling.

[Shaker]

I never thought I'd use this phrase, but it's different for girls*

* In terms of alcohol actually it is, literally.

[Rhiannon]

The worse thing for me to drink is anything with fruit juice or squash anywhere near it. Vodka and orange, snakebite and black...not good.

[Shaker]

How come? One of your five a month, surely.

[Gonnagle]

Dear Shaker,

Should be mandatory training, I will write to the CoE, Vatican and the CoS, see if they can put it in the training manual for all considering the calling, no use preaching about the demon drink if you have not experienced it first hand, hmmm!  What about sexual depravity, I am sure the top bods have contacts

Gonnagle.

[Rhiannon]

How come? One of your five a month, surely.

Toilet cuddling likelihood increases massively.

Think I'm ok with snakebite without the black but I can't quite remember.

[Brownie]

I am surprised he isn t dead, I would be after all that booze.  Toilet cuddling I would do after a fraction of his intake.
It was quite funny him saying he had Vatican immunity, hilarious.

[Owlswing]

With that much alcohol inside him it probably just as well that no-one lit a match or cigarette lighter! He would have prematurely experienced the fires of Hell - up close and personal!

[floo]

Disgusting behaviour for anyone, whatever their calling!

[Humph Warden Bennett]

I am surprised he isn t dead, I would be after all that booze.

So would I, although I don't think that I would get past the second bottle of wine.

[Shaker]

What a bunch of lightweight Lionels we've got here!

[Nearly Sane]

What a bunch of lightweight Lionels we've got here!

Good, we have a culture where heavy drinking is too prevalent, in part because we think it reasonable to mock people who don't drink or drink sparingly.

[Rhiannon]

Good, we have a culture where heavy drinking is too prevalent, in part because we think it reasonable to mock people who don't drink or drink sparingly.

As someone with firsthand experience of the damage done by heavy drinking I disagree with that. Binge drinking among the young may be influenced by peer pressure, but leaving aside the fact that we are a bunch of mature (honest) people for whom this is just banter batted back and forth, heavy drinking is a very different creature.

[Nearly Sane]

What bit of 'in part' did you not understand? I've seen many theoretically 'mature' people persuaded into drinking more by this sort of peer pressure. Will it make them all heavy drinkers, no, of course not. But is it part of a culture where drinking to excess is seen as acceptable, yep.

[Rhiannon]

So you are talking about binge drinking, not heavy drinking, and in a situation where people are drinking, not talking on a message board.

What happened to taking personal responsibility? If someone is drinking so much that they try to bite paramedics, or terrify their family come to that, the only responsible thing to do is face up to it and try to deal with it, not blame advertising or a bunch of twats in the pub.

[Nearly Sane]

No, I'm not talking about binge drinking though that forms part of a culture of heavy drinking. And yes, i'm obviously talking about drinking as opposed to listing on a message board, not sure what point you are trying to make there. (though there are posts in here which seem soaked in gin)

And noting that we have a culture where drinking excessively is seen as more acceptable than being teetotal is taking nothing away from personal responsibility. Rather it's arguing that part of that responsibility is for people not to indulge in the sort of behaviour which contributes to that culture.

[floo]

My husband and I watched a programme about alcohol, and how much one should drink in a week, and what happens it you exceed the recommended 14 units.

Having watched that programme, I am so very glad my husband and I are feather weights where alcohol is concerned. Neither of us has ever been drunk in our lives.

[Humph Warden Bennett]

My husband and I watched a programme about alcohol, and how much one should drink in a week, and what happens it you exceed the recommended 14 units.

Having watched that programme, I am so very glad my husband and I are feather weights where alcohol is concerned. Neither of us has ever been drunk in our lives.

I have. Lots of times. And I enjoyed every minute of it.

It was what happened afterwards that I didn't like.

[Shaker]

My husband and I watched a programme about alcohol, and how much one should drink in a week, and what happens it you exceed the recommended 14 units.

... it having been 21 units until all of a few weeks ago.

It's 35 in Spain. I suppose they have different livers over there

[floo]

I have. Lots of times. And I enjoyed every minute of it.

It was what happened afterwards that I didn't like.

I would detest feeling out of control, and would certainly not like a hangover

[Harrowby Hall]

When I have alcoholic drinks I enjoy them, but they don't actually mean anything to me and if I never have another alcoholic drink in my life then I would not miss it. I have been drunk a few times (when I was younger) and I did not enjoy the experience but it did not prevent me from drinking the next time I was with my mates.

And this, for me, is the nub of the matter.

I see drinking essentially as a social experience. I dine with others and I have wine - and I enjoy it. Since my wife is dead and my children have left home, being at home is not a social situation. If friends come round then I'll open one of twenty or so bottles of wine I have in my larder and enjoy it with them. Drinking the wine just because it's there is a non-starter.

People seem to think that because I own a house in France it must be because of the availability of wine. I don't really understand that mode of thinking.

[floo]

We have never been to pubs just for a drink, it just isn't our scene. We have only gone to a pub for a meal, and whoever wasn't driving might have a drink.