[sabrina]

On the TV show This morning topic of the day was binge drinking. Should girls be named and shamed. Can't see that it would change drinking habits. One of the things that was said that girls can spend over £100 on a night out drinking. where does this money come from. All I can think of is they must live at home and pay little or no dig money. My OH and myself both work but no way could we spend £100 on drink in a month never mind one night out. So are parents to blame for being too soft. My sons left home when they went to university, only home for holidays. Now we did help out but they did their bit by doing part time jobs. Now all have their own houses, wife, kids. I taught them from an early age the value of money. Today its all about having a good time as if its the Young's right and to heck with the rest of us.

[Penninehillbilly]

I've watched some of these 'camera cop' programmes, where they are dealing with nights out, makes me ashamed to be of the same race as these 'people'. 'Ladies' showing rather too much flesh and staggering about being sick or unconcious, I know it isn't PC but why should they expect others to look out for their safety when they get themselves in that state? (I'm not excusing the males either).
And if I had a £100 spare it certainly wouldn't be wasted on giving me a hangover and future liver problems!

[Bionic]

These young girls and men also should be ashamed of themselves but instead it seems to be 'cool' to be drunk. Apart from the sheer waste of money what are they doing to themselves.

Even when I was working and earning very good money I never spent that much on drink. Maybe I am just too stingy.

I don't want to sound holier than thou but I have only ever been drunk once in my life.  That was many many years ago and done at home on purpose so that I could see what it was all about.

It was horrible and something I have never wanted to go through again.  I had never seen my parents drunk either.

I do like to have a glass of wine and I also like to have a few cocktails when we go on holiday but I always know when to stop.

Sally

[suziequeue]

As a student when I wasn't earning much I always seemed to have enough money for a drink.

Now I'm working and earning a very good wage, there's NO WAY I could afford to go out and spend £100 in one night. That's as much as I allow myself to spend in a week on everything these days.

[Sandy]

How times have changed....i hardly drank anything until I was 40....my daughters are not drinkers either, I notice they have a drink now and again but nothing like the weekend binge drinkers.  I saw a programme with girls and boys on a holiday and was sooooo sadened by it all, how vulnerable the young people.

[anderso]

after many years of working all over the worldon my own and all money was known as beer tokens, I now look at the waste - OK I had a house and car (not now divorce)

nowadays I enjoy being with the OH and animals and the garden - still got no money - but as you say how  anyone smoke and drink these days at £3 per pint.

[MAK]

I agree completely with all the above and I am afraid to say I too am embarrassed by those TV shows that showed Brits on Holiday. My son and I did an all inclusive holiday a few years ago and daily people drank from 10:00 till midnight because they could ( and it was free). It seems that in the UK because people can then they they will -- that relates to all sorts of behaviours from drink, drugs, having a baby outside a committed relationship, cheating on a partner and even cheating each other by claiming benefits - even disability benefits of which more people are registered as disabled than any other similar country. etc etc
.
Sorry to say that it seems a UK thing - here we never see youngsters drunk  - infact you rarely see them at night as all but 3 bars are shut at night ( in our large county town) 
We never see kids or dads in football shirts - no baseball caps - no T- shirts that tell you to F off and very few tattoos unless you spot an  unbalanced mum with fascinating body piercing.  It is quite a shock to return to the UK and see  a sea of shaved heads and belly hanging out - the men are no  better   

Yours Victor Meldew

[chairmanphil]

youth will be youth and as we get old we forget what we got up to! they will be reflective about this one day and their children will be up to something they do not understand. there is a whole generation growing up now who don't even know who the clash are!

"the noise we thought would never stop died a death as all the punks grew up"

[NormandyMary]

Why oh why arent the drunks who are taken to hospital, charged a fee for their care. If they can afford to pay for their drink, they can afford to pay for their nursing care afterwards. A £200 fee should sort them out and help the poor old NHS.

[sabrina]

Sorry youth will be youth, I never once saw my parents drunk. My father did not drink and the only time my mother did was New year when everyone went in and out of each others houses. I couldn't drink a bottle of wine but the young can put away a bottle of spirits before they go out. There is something far wrong with our country when the young can only feel good about themselves drunk. lack of work, housing all adds to a nation with no future so they hide their problems by drinking. I was brought up in a normal working class family where my parents made time to teach us how to make the best of what we had. Now everything is buy now pay later lifestile which is a sure ways to stress and long term worry. So people drink to escape their problems. Its a vicious circle.

[chairmanphil]

Sorry youth will be youth, I never once saw my parents drunk. My father did not drink and the only time my mother did was New year when everyone went in and out of each others houses. I couldn't drink a bottle of wine but the young can put away a bottle of spirits before they go out. There is something far wrong with our country when the young can only feel good about themselves drunk. lack of work, housing all adds to a nation with no future so they hide their problems by drinking. I was brought up in a normal working class family where my parents made time to teach us how to make the best of what we had. Now everything is buy now pay later lifestile which is a sure ways to stress and long term worry. So people drink to escape their problems. Its a vicious circle.

everyone has reasons for what they are going through. if you believe what you read in the press or on the idiot box then you will write a generation off as all the same which is just not true. not all young people are out drinking a bottle of spirits before they go out, infact i think you will find it is a very small minority. coming out with rhetoric like that is not going to help anybody see the error of there ways.
i have a son who has just got A* on his physics and chemistry course work and is looking at straight A for all his subjects. i left school without a single exam pass and have been paid to travel the world. i owe nothing! not a penny, everything i have i worked for but as a young punk i did drink and party all night and it taught me loads valuable life skills. as for vicious circles well all timeline look vicious if you look down them long enough. i think it is important for everyone to be able to learn form their mistakes, if you can't have fun when you are young then there is no hope.

[Castle Farm]

Well! I think the some of the youth of today need a bloody good wake-up call.
I'm so sick and tired of hearing how these poor youngsters have no hope and take drugs and get drunk to just get through a day.

Bring back national service or something similar and get them off their lazy arses. Work the idle gits till they are glad to find a proper job.

Everyone in the UK gets about 13 years of free education. Hundreds of thousands of kids in the world would kill for a chance of a good education and what do our lot do...Blame society (us) for their lack of skills and education.

I blame the parents who just sit around and allow the kids to dictate what they should and shouldn't do.

This country is on a very slippery slope and no body gives a rats arse.

A major Chinese diplomate summed it up a few months ago when he said. 'The british have to many benifits and it's dragging the country down'

Having fun is all very well, but at who's expence?

[jaykay]

I work in a secondary school, so spend quite a lot of time with 'youngsters'. They vary as much as the rest of us!

Certainly the culture has changed and what goes on now is not what used to go on when we were kids - but the same can be said of every generation.

Youngsters have never been known for their moderate ways - it's in the nature of teenagers to be passionate and over-the-top about their views, fashion and behaviour. Steadiness (boringness  ) comes later. Some of 'our kids' drink a lot in the evenings. Of course I wish they didn't, that it wasn't the norm, that there were other places than pubs for them to go (no evening coffee shops, icecream parlours etc here).

Whole sections of our society are rather oafish and drunken. No point blaming the kids.

Nor tarring them all with the same brush. Many of ours are articulate and hard-working. They all raise money for the charities the school supports (Shelter, Macmillan and a school in Africa) and they all do work in the community through their time in school (Meals on Wheels, Toy Library, Playgroup). Not such a bad bunch 

[deepinthewoods]

i remember when i was in my v late teens, hardly anyone was out drinking, we were all out taking hard drugs and ravin all night!! i got very despondent about the recent riots, it was a very poor show, no coppers got battered, ahh i remember toxteth.... as for todays music, what a load of rubbish, i was right into my punk too, it wasnt a good night if you didnt come home covered in spit and battered and bruised from fighting the goths or the skins.

and drunken girlies also have their place, or my place

[jaykay]