We’ve all heard the refrain: “Britain has a drinking problem.” It’s an issue that long predates the Covid-19 pandemic, but evidence for this claim seems more stark than ever. Millions were drinking at harmful levels while stuck at home during lockdown, and alcohol-caused deaths – mostly from liver disease – soared to a 20-year high in 2020. The closure of vital support services also contributed, with higher rates of relapses and fewer referrals from doctors and hospitals, while large numbers of long-Covid patients are consuming problematic amounts of alcohol, one small study has suggested.
The causes for such patterns seem equally clear: the extreme stress, boredom, trauma and isolation of a protracted and dangerously mismanaged pandemic, in combination with Britain’s deep-rooted drinking culture and general human proclivity for the relaxing properties of alcohol. These demand-side factors are essential to understanding alcohol use here – or anywhere else. Beer, wine and spirits aren’t unilaterally foisted on to the British public, but consumed with enthusiastic participation by drinkers.
