Okay AOG/Ed - I understand...
But I still have a huge problem with the idea that we should separate women's binge drinking from men.
There can be only ONE reason to be concerned with women getting wasted...and that's men...men who take advantage of a woman's incapacitated state.
So with that I return to previous point - men do more damage sexually, socially and criminally than women whilst drunk, so why is Ms Widdicombe waving her fingers at them?
Also, there's a crazy reference to the fact that people drink more wine now. That's not because we've become a nation of boozehounds, it's a hang over (no pun intended) from the 1970s when more people could afford foreign travel and got used to drinking wine with a meal.
OUr eating and drinking habits have changed ENORMOUSLY since the early 60s.
Museli for breakfast? Bottled water? Garlic bread? Vegan restaurants? Alcopops? Curries? Gastropubs?
Our drinking habits are exactly the same as they were in the 1950s, except back then, working class men would stagger home on a Friday night, and now its not just the men, but the women.
Why?
Because women have money of their own...they have their own careers and their own circle of friends and don't need 'permission' from men to go out and have a good time.
Some will fall down drunk.
Some will sprain and ankle due to unfeasible knock-off Louboutins.
Some will have some very regrettable sex with someone whose surname is a mystery
Some will throw up on the curbside and some will lose their front door key, mobile phone or purse.
But the vast, vast, vast, vast majority won't.
They will wake up with a slight hangover, have a cup of tea, then do their weekly shop at Asda.
But that doesn't make good copy...