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Views & Reviews Between the Lines

The cup of immoderation

BMJ 2009; 338 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.b1608 (Published 20 April 2009) Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b1608
  1. Theodore Dalrymple, writer and retired doctor

    I hardly let a day go by without a glass or two of wine, and therefore I believe strongly (because I want to) in the J shaped curve of mortality versus alcohol consumption. Teetotallers are harming their health. As for moderation, its definition is clear: it is the habitual consumption of one drink more than the number I am drinking at the time.

    Still, when I behold the scenes observable in the centre of every British town and city on Friday and Saturday nights, I begin to long for a revival of the temperance movement and for a reincarnation of the Reverend John Davis, who in 1843 delivered a lecture at Pembroke in Wales, later published in Haverfordwest, which he …

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