Fancy a drink? Go to DenmarkMick Hume

Why is Britain the alleged binge-drinking capital of the world? It might have something to do with the way that our mock-puritan authorities define safe drinking more abstemiously than the rest.

It has long been obvious that the Government’s health guidelines – no more than 3-4 units of alcohol a day for men or 2-3 units for women – are arbitrary and unworldly, equating to little more than a pint of strong lager for the lads or glass of wine for the laydees. Just double that amount, and you are officially bingeing. No wonder they think more than seven million of us drink too much.

This week, on my third pint at a do organised by the Beer and Pub Association (a sober if not neutral body), I heard it said that the UK also uses the lowest definition of a unit of alcohol in the EU. So by the standards of many countries, we do not have a problem.

Mindful of health advice on the dangers of drinking and thinking, I checked this out in the cold light of day. In the UK, a unit of alcohol equates to 8 grams of ethanol. In Ireland, Austria, Poland or Spain, one unit is 10g. In Denmark, France, Italy or South Africa it is 12g, in Portugal and the US 14g, and a Japanese unit contains 19.75g.

What is deemed safe drinking varies as widely. Several countries advise the same weekly units as the UK – no more than 21 for men and 14 for women. But whereas here that means 168g and 112g of alcohol respectively, in Ireland it rises to 210g and 140g, while in Denmark or South Africa it hits 252g and 168g. Meanwhile in, say, Italy or Spain, the limits are the same for men and women. And while the Spanish Government in Madrid tells citizens not to exceed 30g of alcohol a day, the Catalan authorities raise the bar to 50g, and the Basques add a further 20g on top of that.

These vision-blurring statistics throw some light on our Government’s prejudices and snooty fantasies about creating a “continental-style café culture”, which would mean us supping around a fifth more to match the French or Germans. Maybe we should just assume it is safe to drink more on holiday abroad? Or maybe we should take a dim view of all attempts to use pseudoscience for the political end of changing personal behaviour.