- Men who have sex with drunken women risk being found guilty of rape under proposals to increase conviction rates. Ministers want to close a legal loophole which results in thousands of cases failing to reach the courts because the victims have been drinking. At present, women are deemed to be capable of consenting to sex as long as they are not so drunk that they are unconscious. However, under the proposals which could be announced as early as next month in the Queen’s speech, it will be up to juries to decide whether the woman was sober enough to know what she was doing. Times Online
- Northern Ireland has 400,000-plus binge drinkers, according to new statistics revealed on 16th October as health chiefs launched a major awareness drive to dramatically reduce excess drinking across the province. The figures show that more than 40% of Ulster men and over 30% of women here are booze bingers. They further revealed that some 246 people died last year in Northern Ireland directly as a result of alcohol. Meanwhile, Department of Health figures show that every year there are around 7,000 admissions to Ulster's acute hospitals due to alcohol misuse. Binge drinking was branded "a major problem" by Ulster's health minister. Paul Goggins was speaking as the Health Promotion Agency launched a new hard-hitting advertising campaign to warn of the health dangers of binge drinking. Belfast Telegraph
- Norwich: The number of late-night violent attacks and drunken assaults has fallen following the change in licensing laws. And although Chief Constable Carole Howlett first feared the extended hours would fuel a rise in alcohol-related crime, the first set of complete figures since the introduction of 24-hour licensing showed 584 fewer violent offences in the county during the last six months compared with the same period last year. Criminal damage, another offence often associated with alcohol consumption, also fell. Norwich Evening News
- Binge drinking by young people in Cumbria is creating a health timebomb which will fuel a sharp rise in alcohol-related illness, a hospital consultant has warned. The stark warning was spelled out by Dr Chris MacDonald at Carlisle’s Cumberland Infirmary, where doctors are treating increasing numbers of young adults – particularly women – for alcoholic liver disease. He blames the disturbing rises in alcohol-related health problems on the wide availability of cheap drink and rising levels of binge drinking. The consultant gastroenterologist made his comment as it emerged that a 22-year-old old north Cumbrian has died from cirrhosis of the liver. News & Star
- Worried staff at a children's hospital are treating five under 16s a week for alcohol-related problems. Victims can be as young as nine. One case involved an 11-year-old who had to be referred to an addicts' service for counselling. Another involved 13-year-olds falling asleep in class because they were hung over. It is such a big problem that Alder Hey hospital in Liverpool was forced to introduce a programme 16 months ago to deal with it. A&E head nurse Kim Williams said: "Our youngest admission so far was just nine. We know that if one of them has ended up here another five have staggered home." Out of 253 patients treated, 71 per cent were girls and one in ten patients had "severely decreased consciousness." Mirror
Comments