Waugh abuse
Sir: Mr Auberon Waugh is faced with the task of venting his spleen in your columns each week: in your issue of 24 September he chose to attack Action on Alcohol Abuse (AAA) which has recently been established under the auspices of the Conference of Medical Royal Colleges and Faculties. Happily, there can be few who take Mr Waugh's outbursts seriously. Lest there be any doubts, however, may I correct some of the false impressions he may have created?
Mr Waugh suggests that, despite our assertions to the contrary, AAA is opposed to alcohol. Not so: we have stressed that our concern is with the health and social consequences of alcohol abuse. Mr Waugh asserts with glib mendacity that 'most of [AAA's] figures are demonstrably rubbish'. Easy abuse, but of course he cannot and does not demonstrate anything of the sort. He also states, amazingly, that 'Britain already has very little problem of alcoholism'. It may be worth noting that even on the basis of the figures provided by Mr Waugh himself it can be calculated that in Britain there are upwards of 840,000 'alcoholics'. If he really believes that this is no serious problem, perhaps Mr Waugh should spend some time talking to problem drinkers, their families, friends and colleagues, or the victims of drink-related accidents.
AAA is not a conspiracy to deprive Mr Waugh and his friends — or, indeed, anybody else — of their pleasures. It is a serious response to a major and largely preventable cause of death, ill-health, accidents, crime and suffering. Mr Waugh's curiously aggressive reaction would be difficult to understand were it not for the problems he no doubt faces in filling a page each week.
Mike Daube
Hon. Sec., Action on Alcohol Abuse, Department of Community Medicine, Usher Insitute, Warrender Park Road, Edinburgh
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