`...and statistics'
'EACH Briton consumes on average 191 pints of beer a year, some 30 million pints are sold each day in Britain.' (Independent, 1 August) `EACH Briton' does nothing of the sort. Twenty-one per cent of the population is under 16 and despite the prevalence of news stories about drink- ing by those under 18 it is only those who are almost 18 who of the young have been found to drink alcohol on any significant scale. A more accurate and dramatic picture emerges if one looks at the realistic drinking population of around 45 million, whose consumption of 30 million pints each day works out at two-thirds of a pint per adult per diem, or 244 a year.
£20 goes to Charles Blackett-Ord, of Cumbria. Send examples to . . and statistics'; £20 for the best published; £10 for every other published, the first one opened if two or more cover the same example.
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