Let's ban everything, and all go and live in caves like hermits. It's the only way we'll get peace from the health fascists and the PC brigade.

Don't you just love the way the PC brigade treat us all like idiots? In France parents traditionally introduce their children to wine at an early age, and from a sensible introduction to alcohol the French do not have the binge-drinking culture of our youngsters. The more we try to stop parents from being parents, the more problems we will create.

Well, I had sweet cigarettes and didn't go on to smoke. I had several cap-firing revolvers but didn't go on to real guns. I had a Swiss army knife but didn't go on to carry a blade or to stab anyone.

More control from the PC lot to take away any fun from children.

I'd be more concerned about the blatant marketing of sexy underwear to little girls, and these hideous Bratzt dolls which resemble tarts and encourage girls to dress similarly.

I was introduced to wine at an early age.
Mind you, it was of the tonic variety and I was down the park at the time.

#3 Good point Comerscroft, some of the clothes these YOUNG children are allowed to wear is embarrassing.

2 points:

1) kids don't really need any incentive or encouragement to drink alcohol - it's such an ingrained part of the culture; all they need to do is look at the example of their blootered parents

2) it's all sugary fizzy crap, like the other stuff they are bombarded with all the time and that their moronic parents fight with school authorities over as they feel it's their 'right' to ply their kids with it...

some sense, please

totaly agre with you comerscroft, those bratz dolls with bulging lips that real people only get from the surgeons needle. Why don't they ban stiletto shoes marketed for 5 yr old girls.

#2
"This study reports the persisting high alcohol-related premature mortality in the French general population, as well as in middle-aged working men. The results suggest that efforts should be paid to reduce further the consumption of alcohol in France".

Mahmoud Zureik, Pierre Ducimetière (1996)
High Alcohol-Related Premature Mortality in France: Concordant Estimates from a Prospective Cohort Study and National Mortality Statistics
Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 20 (3), 428–433.
doi:10.1111/j.1530-0277.1996.tb01070.x

#3 Totally agree. My gym has sat music channels on in the morning and when you see the provocative vids that kids could be watching at 8am in the morning it's ridiculous.

Give them Irn Bru!

What next - selling flat Irn Bru packaged to look like whisky? Or sherbet powder as cocaine?

What next - selling flat Irn Bru packaged to look like whisky? Or sherbet powder as cocaine?

I am a non-smoker, yet I ate those cigarette sweets. From the age of 7, on special occasions once or twice a year, I was allowed to sip a bit of wine, usually diluted down with sparkling water to create a spritzer. I remember also going round the Whisky Distilleries in Scotland when I was 10 and feeling cheated at being given orange juice instead of whisky. I managed to try some but my parents were glared at by the other tourists. I don't have any issues with alcoholism now. I drink occasionally but not in excess. I did not grow up with the idea that alcohol was a mysterious 'bad' thing you shouldn't even taste as a child. In my experience, anything that is forbidden instantly becomes more appealing. Maybe we should all calm down on this one and trust the parents and more importantly the children, who are more intelligent than we give them credit for.

I played Cowboys and Indians which was perfectly PC. I am now able to distinguish that I am happy to know saying Native American is correct and proper, and I have never thought about killing any in real life.

BK - I suspect you know the differance between selling Sherbert marketed as cocaine is a step too far, but don't let taking something to a ridiculous extreme stop you from flailing in making an argument.

Unlike Messrs Law and McKeganey, my job actually involves dealing on the streets with young people drinking. The reality is we send the message out to kids, you shouldn't be drinking, legally until your 18; then the day you turn 18 you can drink what you want. In the previous years, they have not been introduced responsibly to drink. If parents want their kids to have a wee drink in their presence great, they are in a safe environment, they also find out if the react badly to certain types of drink. Thats the point #2 is making, in other countries as there isn't the same taboo about alcohol, binge drinking isn't a big part of their culture; but obviously drinking in excess will cause problems anywhere (#8)

Why are kids being given fizzy drinks anyway? At that age they should be given water or fruit juice. Far healthier and far more socially responsible on the part of the parents.

Absolutely.... letting children enjoy themselves is outrageous!!

#13 i hate to point this out to you but young people today seem to lack cmmon sense. many can use computers but that does not make them clever

i will add that disney are not concerned if children enjoy themselves either all they want is profit

Ah remember the good old days sweetie cigarettes loved them and never yet have a put a real cancer stick in my 45years on this planet.

Only thing Disney guilty off is making vast profits!!!

Oh for God's sake. What a waste of ink.

Generally the PC thing is an enemy of freedome of speech. But come on, like kids need this rubbish when they're 8. Alcohol abuse is a big issue. let's not glamorise alcohol.

agree with #3 & 5. I just got home from our local mall and the little girls (from toddlers to pre teens) looked like mini hookers! As did their mothers. I am more concerned about them flaunting around in clothes way too skimpy and way too old for them than a bit of Disney drinks. ANd, I really dislike anything Disney!!!

i had cigarette sweeties (hich had red tips on them in those days), Fizzy grape juice out of champagne glasses at parties, irn bru, played now non pc games and i am a respectable and healthy teacher.

People need to wake up and realise that it is parenting that makes the difference, not what they eat.

However i agree about the bratz dolls. As a stepmum to a lovely 6 year old girl, i was incensed when i opened up her bag one weekend to find high heels, and a thong! This was when she was 3! Bratz dolls and their cartoons have a lot to answer for, my daughter asked last week if she was sexy!

Maybe the health police should look at that instead.

My son was introduced to beer very early (he took a sip and hated it). It is tradition in our house to take a sip of champagne exactly at the moment of New Year (he shook from top to bottom in disgust) - needless to say, only year it was offered. When he was 18, I bought him his first official beer. He sipped on it a couple of times, then went back to his usual - milk shake with chocolate sprinkles. He's now 31, and still prefers the chocolate milk shake. My next-door neighbor's 5 kids, on the other hand, were told that "alcohol was the devil". They were all too curious about the stuff, and not one of the 5 has remained unaffected. Give parents just a wee bit of credit - we're not all totally inept all of the time.