How do we tackle alcoholism? First, stop denying that it's part of the culture of poverty

The best of Voices delivered to your inbox every week - from controversial columns to expert analysis Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. As the country recovers from its corporate-induced over-indulgence during the “Festive” period, figures released in late December by the Nuffield Trust showed a 63 per cent rise in the number of alcohol-related hospital in-patient admissions since 2005, coupled with a 104 per cent rise in the number of A&E attendances due to alcohol poisoning in the past 6 years. Rates of A&E admissions due to alcohol poisoning were 3 and a half times higher among those living in the 20 per cent most deprived areas of England than those in the least. A study for the BMJ showed that people with the highest SES generally consumed alcohol more regularly than the most deprived in society; however, when the pattern of consumption was studied, the poorest were the most frequent and heaviest “binge drinkers” – and bingeing accounts for the majority of alcohol-related A&E attendances, of which over 50 per cent are on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. “Social Contagion” is another aspect – that is, mimicked behaviours spread rapidly across social groups, carried from one person to another, without criticism or, necessarily, intent.