The Great British Binge Drinking Debate Guy Redden Guy Redden questions some of the assumptions behind recent measures to discourage binge drinking. O ver the last few years hardly a week has gone by without the public being told that Britain is held in the thrall of a binge-drinking epidemic. The allure of the topic for the media is obvious. Excessive drinking is a public health issue rivalled only by obesity as a vehicle for raising fears about the future tness of the nation. It also slots neatly into concerns about the anti-social behaviour of the young. Relatively little attention is given to the kind of private drinking practices more typical of older and more middle-class citizens. Instead, the media construct of ‘Binge Britain’ is a ritual repetition of the idea that night-time public space has been transformed into a violent vomitorium that is a no-go zone for all but the carousing youth who are lost to it. Many will recognise this kind of media alarm as an example of moral panic. Plenty of the coverage has been dubious. For instance, special attention is given to binge drinking among women, even though it is no more prevalent among women than men - the achievement of general gender parity in nightlife participation makes a convenient focus for conservative narratives of social decline. And images of drink-fuelled disorder take their place alongside other ways of demonising the young. Their simple presence in any numbers in public places, especially when donning hoodies, seems to signify non-specic threat, even in an era of falling 117