Don’t tell us how much to drink, say women

THEY are happy to admit enjoying a glass – or two – when in company. What they don’t enjoy, however, is being lectured about it.

Now female social drinkers have branded Whitehall guidelines on alcohol limits ‘ridiculous’ and are fighting back.

They have formed Drinkers’ Voice, a group to represent people who ‘enjoy drinking as part of a healthy lifestyle’ and want to ‘counter anti-alcohol campaigners who want to stop you enjoying a drink’.

It hopes to have 10,000 members within a year and has already held a poll which claims 70 per cent of the population ignore alcohol guidelines, which rises to 80 per cent among 18 to 24-year-olds, The Sunday Times reported. In January last year the official

advice was changed to reduce the limit for men from 21 units down to 14, the same as women.

It came after Dame Sally Davies, the chief medical officer for England, said: ‘There is no safe level of drinking.’

But Amy O’Callaghan, one of the founders of Drinkers’ Voice, said: ‘It’s ridiculous. People that are significantly different in weight and stature carry alcohol differently. Women respond to alcohol differently, so it doesn’t make sense.

‘There is no one speaking up for the man and woman on the street. We want to represent people who are saying, “I know my limits and I don’t need them to be dictated to me” and “I don’t want to feel guilty for having a drink”. ’

The Department of Health said: ‘The guidelines give people the information they need to make informed choices.’

‘I don’t want to feel guilty’