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The Good Drinker: How I Learned to Love Drinking Less

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The prose is quite chatty, but that is to be expected for what is effectively someone's memoir of their relationship with alcohol. I was almost averse to labelling this an autobiography, but there are some allusions to the slightly tougher parts of his life, both on and off the screen. Chiles tends to avoid the potential of it being self-indulgent and distracting from what is a rather consistent and well-constructed argument for moderation.

JR: If you go online and ask: “Am I an alcoholic?” you get these long questionnaires: has alcohol ever affected your work life? Have you ever missed work due to alcohol? Has your family ever worried about your drinking? The questions are ridiculous because they are so broad. There’s not anyone who has ever been drunk, who wouldn’t be able to go, “Yeah, I lost a day to a hangover. Yes, it’s affected my mental health.” And, in some ways it doesn’t matter; your liver doesn’t care if you’re an alcoholic or a heavy drinker. But the real difference between us is that if we went to the pub and had two pints and then went home, you would be fine, and I would be in hell. Because I’d turned the machine on, the machine would want me to keep on going. My issue has always been that if you can stop, then you drink with impunity. That was very damaging, because it meant that I could go on drinking 100 units a week, thinking that was fine Adrian ChilesJR: The difference between us is that you’re moderating to change a habit. Whereas I was, unbeknownst to me, moderating to try to control an addiction. You describe alcohol as a handrail. I would say alcohol was the handrail, the stairs and the destination. JR: Well it does exist dear, you’re sat across from one, but I guess you’re saying the fact that you could say to yourself that you weren’t an alcoholic gave you permission to continue drinking to that level? JR: I just want to be very clear: I’m not anti-moderation. I’m just saying that for an alcoholic, it might make things mentally worse for them and for those around them. The analogy I’d use is a 40-a-day smoker. Give them two cigarettes a day, they will be much worse company. If I was stranded on a desert island and there was one can of Guinness on there, it would still be there the day I was rescued. Because the idea of drinking one can would be horrible, I would be in such a state. JR: I would get to a wedding where they would greet you with a glass of prosecco, and I would immediately be in a bad mood. It’s midday – I don’t want to start with prosecco. Is there a bar? No, not til four. Four hours of prosecco.

Whilst I'm sure for a lot of people abstinence is the only way, cutting down and being more thoughtful about my drinking of wine works for me.

I really enjoyed the "moderators" he includes as real people with their own tactics to keep consumption at a healthy level. I also enjoyed Adrian's personal stories which made this far less like a medical self help guide and more just about his own journey with Alcohol, which many should relate to. He never ignores arguments for people choosing to go completely teetotal and he also seems honest about the fact that there is no right answer for everyone and in some circumstances, moderation just isn't an option.

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