Alcohol Abuse in Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK Strains NHS
Help us caption and translate this video on Amara.org: http://www.amara.org/en/v/B3z4/
Well, it is a season to be merry, but some of us perhaps a little too merry. With the Christmas period once again upon us, drinks awareness campaigns are warning people to be careful about how much they drink over the holiday period. Now in the last couple of years we’ve seen the figures increasing for the number of alcohol-related injuries and we continue in the UK to pay too high a price for alcohol abuse. Now every year it is costing the NHS millions of pounds in dealing with the people who are coming through the hospitals. And in the build up to Christmas it really puts a strain on services such as the police and such as our ambulances. Now that is a very sobering thought indeed.
We’ve come to the North of England, to Newcastle, to go out on the town. Viewers of a sensitive nature might want to look away now, because we’ve been joining some people getting into the festive spirit a little earlier this year to find out whether they are going to be drinking responsibly.
VOXPOP: woman (speaking English):
Q: What’s a typical night out in Newcastle?
A: [censored]. Sorry, but it is. I don’t normally come out.
Q: Really?
A: Yeah.
Q: And there’s a thing with underage drinking. Do you think that young people here drink responsibly?
A: No, do they hell. No, every one just gets absolutely mortal.
Q: Why do you think that is?
A: Because they’re stupid.
Q: Do you yourself drink responsibly?
A: Yeah, well sometimes. Not tonight like. I am not tonight to be honest with you.
VOXPOP: man (speaking English):
“Newcastle is a good night out. We do drink responsibly but on the odd occasion you let your hair down, you just go wild.”
VOXPOP: man and woman (speaking English):
M: I am from New Zealand and this is a long way from home.
W: You are from Scotland.
M: No, but I stay in New Zealand, do you want to see this?
W: You are from Scotland, you are Scottish love. This is a norm.
VOXPOP: woman (speaking English):
Q: What’s a typical night out in Newcastle? We are trying to find out whether people…
A: Typical night out in Newcastle is going for a drink, getting yourself [censored] as whatever, out of your brain, dancing whatever, have a good laugh.
VOXPOP: two men (speaking English):
1st man: Can I say hello to my mum? Before these [censored] dickheads…
2nd man: See apart from these guys do you want me to do a proper interview? I will do one if you want?
VOXPOP: woman (speaking English):
Because I think you are more responsible over the age of 25.
Q: Are you more responsible when people are over the age of 25?
A: Not really, but …
Some of the people that we’ve been speaking to here tonight have told us that the weekend before Christmas they have a day nicknamed black-eye Friday — a reference to the number of fights that break out here due to excessive drinking. This is why campaigners are calling on the government to really tighten up their policies, to make sure that we don’t keep seeing these increases in alcohol abuse in the UK. For their part, the government this year have really tried to target the sale of cheap alcohol, but of course many other problems persist. A lot of the young people we were speaking to here tonight saying that they are drinking before they come out on the town, that’s called pre-loading, when you are getting drunk before you even go out.
So once again in our build up to Christmas we are going to see our ambulance staff, we are going to see our police services really overworked having to deal with these problems, part of the reason campaigners are really calling on people to be very careful about how much they drink over the festive period.
Sara Firth, RT, Newcastle Subscribe – never miss a video! http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=alunhill