Luxembourg: Nation of Drunks?

While reading about the UK's imminent expansion of pub hours, I was
intrigued by the Institute for Alcohol's study of alcohol consumption.
You can see their comparative analysis he
http://www.ias.org.uk/factsheets/harm-ukeu.pdf
(It's a PDF. You need Adobe Acrobat reader to view it. If you don't
have Adobe Acrobat reader, you can damn well Google it. I mean, who
the **** doesn't have Acrobat nowadays?)

So anyway, still leading the pack with the world's highest per capita
consumption of alcohol is little Luxembourg. They literally shame the
US and Canada, and even manage to make the UK and Germany look like
amateurs. How do they do it?

Luxembourg is an enigma to me. Nestled between France and Germany,
with no seaport whatsoever, one might assume that they are doomed. But
the *******s have a stunning GDP, low unemployment and a stable
democracy. What gives, O' Luxembourg?

I think I may have to go there one day and shake hands with some truly
world-class tipplers.

And Mexico! What happened to mighty Mexico? Their alcohol consumption
levels are in the basement! I guess all those presumptive images of a
fat Mexican snoozing under a sombrero with an empty bottle of cerveza
in his hand are utterly shattered by the cold sober reality of
Mexico's dry, dry national identity. Who'dathunkit?

The IAS mentions some meaningful consumption habits that tend to skew
the total consumption picture. For instance, France has higher numbers
than the UK, but the French tend to drink daily and with moderation,
while the Brits drink themselves stupid at the weekend. They have
similar annual consumption numbers, but the actual level of alcoholic
damage is not quite the same.

This is all very interesting to me, particularly America's place
somewhere in the mediocre middle of alcoholic depravity. I now think
an interesting holiday may be one week in Mexico followed by one week
in Luxembourg.

Either way, Salud and Prost!

- TR

Citizen Ted wrote:
While reading about the UK's imminent expansion of pub hours, I was
intrigued by the Institute for Alcohol's study of alcohol consumption.
You can see their comparative analysis he
http://www.ias.org.uk/factsheets/harm-ukeu.pdf
(It's a PDF. You need Adobe Acrobat reader to view it. If you don't
have Adobe Acrobat reader, you can damn well Google it. I mean, who
the **** doesn't have Acrobat nowadays?)

So anyway, still leading the pack with the world's highest per capita
consumption of alcohol is little Luxembourg. They literally shame the
US and Canada, and even manage to make the UK and Germany look like
amateurs. How do they do it?

Could be based on purchases rather than consumption. People from
neighbouring countries may buy booze from Luxembourg because for lower
prices.

And in Mexico if the booze is made unnofficially it would not show up in
the numbers.

Am Thu, 17 Nov 2005 22:14:16 -0800 schrieb Citizen Ted:

Luxembourg is an enigma to me. Nestled between France and Germany,
with no seaport whatsoever, one might assume that they are doomed. But
the *******s have a stunning GDP, low unemployment and a stable
democracy. What gives, O' Luxembourg?

It is a banking haven, lots of companies are based there - can be compared
to places like Cayman islands.

I think I may have to go there one day and shake hands with some truly
world-class tipplers.

When I was there a few years ago, I could take a photo of the Grand Duke of
Luxemburg, while he was there climbing out of his Rolly Royce (With "1" on
the licence-plate) to go into one Hotel to meet up with what looked like an
Arab leader. Funny thing, you could walk quite close up and take photos,
just a few guards standig around, and some tourists. The city center is
very small, so chances are good you literelly bump into someone like this
(I was only there for 3 hours on a trip to France when I "bumped" into the
Duke).

The IAS mentions some meaningful consumption habits that tend to skew
the total consumption picture. For instance, France has higher numbers
than the UK, but the French tend to drink daily and with moderation,
while the Brits drink themselves stupid at the weekend.

In France it is common to have a glass of wine or two with your meal, even
with lunch.

This is all very interesting to me, particularly America's place
somewhere in the mediocre middle of alcoholic depravity. I now think
an interesting holiday may be one week in Mexico followed by one week
in Luxembourg.

As someone already mentioned, I think the statistics on Luxemburg is
somewhat wrong, as they have big Liquor-stores that cater to foreign
tourists. Alcohol is cheaper there than in France or Germany, so people
drive over the border to shop.

Regards,

Frank

On Fri, 18 Nov 2005 10:38:18 +0100, Martin wrote:

On Thu, 17 Nov 2005 22:14:16 -0800, Citizen Ted
wrote:

Luxembourg is an enigma to me. Nestled between France and Germany,
with no seaport whatsoever, one might assume that they are doomed. But
the *******s have a stunning GDP, low unemployment and a stable
democracy. What gives, O' Luxembourg?

Luxembourg is a home of black money, like Switzerland.

But they declare every drop they drink. How about that!
--
---
DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com
---
--

In article ,
Martin wrote:

On Thu, 17 Nov 2005 22:14:16 -0800, Citizen Ted
wrote:

Luxembourg is an enigma to me. Nestled between France and Germany,
with no seaport whatsoever, one might assume that they are doomed. But
the *******s have a stunning GDP, low unemployment and a stable
democracy. What gives, O' Luxembourg?

Luxembourg is a home of black money, like Switzerland.

You mean money laundering for illicit enterprises?

martin the expert
hes evleth"s foster son, by the way

"Martin" a écrit dans le message de news:
...
On Fri, 18 Nov 2005 21:45:52 -0800, poldy wrote:

In article ,
Martin wrote:

On Thu, 17 Nov 2005 22:14:16 -0800, Citizen Ted
wrote:

Luxembourg is an enigma to me. Nestled between France and Germany,
with no seaport whatsoever, one might assume that they are doomed. But
the *******s have a stunning GDP, low unemployment and a stable
democracy. What gives, O' Luxembourg?

Luxembourg is a home of black money, like Switzerland.

You mean money laundering for illicit enterprises?

I meant numbered bank accounts for tax dodgers.

Luxembourg lost some credibility as a haven for tax dodgers, when
redundant bank staff provided Dutch and Belgium tax authorities with
detailed info about customers' bank accounts.
--
Martin

"A346" wrote in message u...
Citizen Ted wrote:
While reading about the UK's imminent expansion of pub hours, I was
intrigued by the Institute for Alcohol's study of alcohol consumption.
You can see their comparative analysis he
http://www.ias.org.uk/factsheets/harm-ukeu.pdf
(It's a PDF. You need Adobe Acrobat reader to view it. If you don't
have Adobe Acrobat reader, you can damn well Google it. I mean, who
the **** doesn't have Acrobat nowadays?)

So anyway, still leading the pack with the world's highest per capita
consumption of alcohol is little Luxembourg. They literally shame the
US and Canada, and even manage to make the UK and Germany look like
amateurs. How do they do it?

Could be based on purchases rather than consumption. People from neighbouring countries may buy booze from Luxembourg because for
lower prices.

I doubt that that is the reason.
The study looks very detailed and serious in other respects and
that would really be a ridiculous beginners mistake.
The survey includes many other data on drinking habits that could
only really be gleaned by detailed surveys and interviews.

What surprised me (amongst other things) was the relatively
low per capita consumption in Russia and some Eastern European
countries, where according to any number of accounts alcoholism
really is rampant and a major social problem.

David

http://www.who.int/substance_abuse/p...4_overview.pdf

Shows in table 4 Luxembourg as #6 in the top 20 boozers.

In table 3 (total per capita 15+ alcohol consumption) they are even #2.
Table 4 does suggest that wine is their top drink though, perhaps it is
more a widespread culture of drinking at mealtimes that brings the average
up rather than rampant alcoholism.

On Mon, 21 Nov 2005 22:18:39 +0100, "David Johnstone"
wrote:


http://www.who.int/substance_abuse/p...4_overview.pdf

Shows in table 4 Luxembourg as #6 in the top 20 boozers.

In table 3 (total per capita 15+ alcohol consumption) they are even #2.
Table 4 does suggest that wine is their top drink though, perhaps it is
more a widespread culture of drinking at mealtimes that brings the average
up rather than rampant alcoholism.

I heard an interesting statistic recently (from a friend involved in
AA). A study in the US showed that 11% of Americans who consume
alcohol are deemed "alcoholics", but that these 11% consume as much as
50% of all the alcohol consumed annually! It makes sense that the
alky's would be the ones who are statistically packing it away, Thus,
it's the alcoholics - not the recreational drinkers - who are driving
the consumption stats.

Granted, places like Luxembourg likely have more capita consumption
because their culture features restrained daily intake by a wider
spectrum of the population, whereas the US is more like the UK in
their binge drinking. Nonetheless, it's my belief that, for some
reason, Luxembourg has unusually high numbers of both social drinkers
and raging alcoholics.

There's only one way to be sure - I will visit Luxembourg and bring my
drinking legs with me.

- TR