The power to be considered an adult lies in a second, the line between 11.59.00 and midnight. Having the government hold a ruler over adolescents in Britain has left turning 18 notorious for being the release date , the chance for freedom and the moment to experience independence. As a minor, I too would be excited about the opportunities an adult would receive, yet in the U.K being surrounded by my friends, calendar crosses and countdown seemed like an extreme. From the word go, I was witnessing overt street scenes and explicit explosions of drunks staggering home welcoming the weekend, scantily cladding and falling off kerbs awaiting to be scooped up by others, thrown into a taxi to be soon covered in well.. their own insides. As an initial spectator judging my sights, after hundreds of evenings with friends and countless celebrations, it isn’t surprising to see the same outlook on the news and listening about the same topic on the radio, society is unable to escape the fact that this has become the norm, a traditional night out. Despite the drinking bans increase over the last few decades, the age limit augment and the significance of proof of identity across the board, it doesn’t hide the fact that the only element sky rocketing is the amount of participants in this diabolical sport- because it takes skill to perform some of those grand mighty falls, especially in six inch heels.
Last year Anne Widdecombe stated that a name and shame game should be introduced. Arresting them and printing their names in the newspapers would bring back the concept of shame for public drunkenness. But surely, this would be creating another chance to rebel against the man, feeling a sense of rebelliousness and unruliness, it could easily become a competition, how many times has your name been in the paper? for instance An easy way towards acknowledgement even if for all of the wrong reasons.
What Britain doesn’t realise though is our society is already globally famous, within Europe we are known as the party capital, the place where social acceptance is determined by how many shots can one down for example, even for the Royal wedding there was a drinking game.
Do as the Romans do, according to the europa. eu report Europeans all exposed to alcohol very early in life, sipping wine before reading books leads the Spanish, Italians and French to grow up without having the urge to drink uncontrollable amounts. Dining with my international fellow students leads me to question the cause for the loss of British culture. We may have a talent for multiplying our intake and downing pints yet I can’t help but wonder if we need to rethink our reputation. We are already considered Olympic champions when it concerns partying but let’s just try to start looking good whilst doing it.