Bottoms up!

Thursday night I attended Them and Us: A Special Relationship? featuring BBC Today Programme presenter and former Washington Correspondent Justin Webb in conversation with the New York Times'  London Correspondent and author of my favourite book on the British, The Anglofiles, Sarah Lyall.

At this lecture the journalists discussed the differences between the US and the UK— the conclusion being that we may only share a common tongue, and even then, we have a hard time understanding one another.

The biggest difference between the US and the UK? Drinking. This was the frist thing Webb noticed when he moved back Washington DC to London. 

"Everyone on the bus was pissed," Webb said. "And not in the American sense."

Webb said he remembered going to his first big-wig party with Washington's elite thinking this should be a smashing good time. When he got there he was shocked to find that this was a "dry event." No alcohol. A term that doesn't even exist in the UK where bars can be found on every corner and in every establishment, including universities, movie theaters and the House of Parliament. 

Lyall, who wrote about the same phenomenon in her book, said she is surprised how many romantic partnerships start with two people getting incredibly drunk.

"There's another way?" Webb deadpanned. 

But this isn't just a joke. Britons have a serious drinking problem. 

In the 90s, the mortality rate from liver disease nearly tripled since the 1960s, at the same time the rate declined in all other European countries. 

To combat this problem the government mandated bars close shop at 12am on weekdays, and any place with an alcohol license must enforce a strict drinking age [18] and some places will not serve people who look under 21 without a license. 

MPs (members of Parliament) are no longer allowed to be drunk in Parliament— and some people have gone so far as to suggest the bars in the Palace of Westminster stop serving alcohol! [But in this country, politics without pissed MPs is sacrilegious.] Webb said on many occasions Members of Parliament are drunk when they give speechs and vote. 

Webb said this is a serious issue that continues to plague British cultures, despite attempts by government to address the issue with laws and mandates. 

Iago: Your Dane, your German, and your swag-bellied Hollander-- drink ho!-- are nothing to your English. —Othello, 2.3