Why I’m giving up sobriety when everyone else is giving up drinking

We drink too much, and don’t we know it. The ex-chief medical officer, Dame Sally Davies, has a cosy nook in my brain, where she sits glowering as I head to the bar, saying over and over that I need to ask myself, “Do I want the glass of wine or do I want to limit my own risk of breast cancer?” open image in gallery Kate, top left, says drinking is good for human bonding How come, given all this information, I’ve decided to fall off the wagon for good. In 2009, Nutt famously lost his job as the New Labour government’s Drug Tsar for saying, when it came to harm: “There is not much difference between horse-riding and ecstasy.” A year later he put out a harm scale, where alcohol was at the top, next to heroin, while LSD and magic mushrooms were way down the other end. Alcohol stimulates the neurotransmitter GABA, which governs our feelings of relaxation and sociability at smaller doses – such as the kind you’d get from munching on some rotting fruit.” But then early man starts fermenting on purpose, perhaps to enable food storage, perhaps to enjoy the vibe. When you come back down, you can find things changed.” So when I say I am giving up drinking, it doesn’t mean you’ll find me retching up blue WKDs into the gutter at 2am, or that I’ll be sculling pints of crap lager with vodka chasers til those little red veins burst across my face like vascular fireworks.