Source: Guardian, The (UK) Pubdate: Sun, 3 Jan 1999 Section: Arts Page: Page 21 Copyright: Guardian Publications 1999 Contact: http://www.guardian.co.uk/ Author: Andrew Barr HAVE ONE ON ME, A REVIEW OF: NICHOLAS LEZARD DRINK: A SOCIAL HISTORY by Pimlico 401pp (GBP)12.50 pbk As the season progresses, drinkers brace themselves for an onslaught by the fanatical, swivel-eyed minority which blames everything bad on alcohol. But this past Christmas Britain had reason to celebrate in the police's recommendation not to lower the blood/alcohol level for drivers; and in the paperback publication of this wondrous book. It's a funny old world when the police are more sensible than the Government, and one hopes that legislators can spare the time to read Barr's book. (We appreciate the aptness of his name.) For if there is one message that comes out of it, it's that if you want people to drink less, for God's sake don't try to stop them. Alcohol consumption in England actually fell after the 1987 licensing bill finally let pubs in England open in the afternoon. There is plenty here on the history of governments' attempts to tinker with drinking habits. What has made them so charmingly inconsistent, hypocritical and mad are the conflicting desires to impose order and to cream off vast amounts of tax revenue (and don't tax drink too highly: this -- for "drink" in Barr's book also means tea and coffee -- will lead to riots and the loss of your American colonies). There is also the subliminal way in which governments know that they prefer their subjects to drink rather than to think; the Russian Revolution may well have been given its spark by the banning of vodka in 1914. But there's more to it than that. Here is Frederick the Great, being even greater than ever: "It is disgusting to notice the increase in coffee used by my subjects . . . His Majesty was brought up on beer and so were his ancestors and officers. Many battles have been fought and won by soldiers nourished on beer, and the King does not believe that coffee-drinking soldie! rs can be depended on to endure hardship or beat his enemies." The point is, alcohol, at the right dosage (which in parts of Italy would seem to be five or six litres of wine a day), is good for you. This book is good for you, too. Barr's research is first-rate, his prose has notes of elderflower and cedar, and his conclusions leave a lingering aftertaste and a big shaggy nose. - --- Checked-by: Patrick Henry