During the election campaign, I have not heard one candidate say that they would fight the drink culture. Indeed the opposite is true because licensing laws have been relaxed. In view of this it was a pleasure to read the thoughts of a Christian student published in his university magazine. Here’s a summary of the article.

Traditionally students consume copious amounts of alcohol, but I’m leaving booze alone. No, I’m not mad, and haven’t been brainwashed by some loony cult, but my chosen level of alcohol intake is a big fat zero! You drink away your precious cash, wander around as a semi-conscious idiot, wake up with the mother of all headaches, then your friends show you photos of what you got up to the night before!

Ah, but alcohol is a social lubricant, you might argue, but I’d rather be my ordinary self than a drink, addled parody of whom I actually am. Every article in fresher magazines shout that boozing is part and parcel of a whole student. But drinking has passed its prime. It’s unoriginal, even dull. So be a rebel and take fruit juice! You’ve read many articles about binge drinking and the scare stories about conked out livers, so avoid alcohol like the plague.

University is a time when you begin to get set in habits of adult life. Do you really think it will be easy to stop having a life-style heavy on booze because you’ve graduated? I hesitate to mention such dirty words as self-control and self-discipline but you might one day decide that they are pretty nifty things. So I challenge you to have vomiting and hangover free fun. Enjoy fizzy pop and fruit juice instead! I’ve made my choice, now you make yours!