Leading article: Our national drinking problem

Peter Fahy, the Chief Constable of Cheshire police, spoke some sense this week when he condemned the influence of alcohol on British society and particularly on young people. Binge drinking has long been a major social problem in Britain. And alcohol abuse, with its severe toll on health, is unquestionably one of the most serious drug issues facing the country.

Mr Fahy is also right to highlight the malign social pressures surrounding alcohol in Britain. The glamorisation of booze by advertisers and parts of the media is pervasive. It is also true that too many parents refuse to take responsibility for the drinking of their underage offspring. It is indeed "naïve", as Mr Fahy says, to regard the issue of drink-fuelled antisocial behaviour by teenagers as a problem for the police alone.

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That said, the heavy handed prohibition approach suggested by Mr Fahy is not sensible. The Chief Constable says raising the legal drinking age from 18 to 21 would "send a message" from society about the evils of alcohol. But the danger is that such a move would be utterly counter-productive. A large number of young people would be forced out of pubs and clubs. Many would simply drink on the streets, resulting in more antisocial behaviour.

Something else that should set alarm bells ringing is the fact that the main target of this crackdown would be teenagers. Young people are not the only age group abusing alcohol and behaving antisocially in this country - any trip through a town centre on a Friday or Saturday night will provide ample evidence of that. The actual message sent out by any legal age-raising legislation would be one of gross double standards.

Mr Fahy's other suggestion of sweeping bans on drinking in public places is also clearly targeted at the young. And it too misses the point. There is a chronic shortage of places for teenagers to gather in this country, hence their congregating on street corners and in parks. Some bored teenagers (although by no means all) are inevitably going to get hold of alcohol and behave badly. But the solution is not to give the police the powers to send them home, but to provide young people with places to hang out and more activities to occupy them.

Raising the price of alcohol substantially through taxes, something the Government is apparently considering, is another poor idea as it risks driving young people in the direction of cheaper and stronger spirits.

No one would dispute Mr Fahy's argument that Britain has a serious alcohol problem. But the Chief Constable's prescription is directed at the most visible symptoms, not the causes. What the country needs to treat its booze hangover is a very different sort of medicine.