Like many people, I enjoy going out, and my nights out range from totally sober, to slightly tipsy, to suitably pissed. I have calmed down on the nights out lately, well since moving out of my parents’ house and having bills to pay and food to buy. When I do go out, it’s on a budget. Even without the cost of alcohol, there’s taxies and usually entrance to a club to pay for. Not to mention the pre night out purchases, such as a new top, makeup or yet more bling to add to my collection.

As if inflation wasn’t bad enough - and don’t even get me started on the price of petrol – now the Government are considering banning happy hour and cheap drink promotions in pubs and clubs.

This is, apparently, to reduce binge drinking. When I’m a bit skint, I invite my friends over, or go to one of their houses, armed with a bottle of wine or two to share before going out. When I’m out, I’m usually a vodka drinker, but when I’m watching my money it’s cider all the way. People are still going to find a way to drink more than the recommended daily alcohol intake, by changing what they drink or drinking before going out.

There are, of course, lots of people who will not be affected by increasing prices, they will still go out and easily spend £60 plus on a night out. So like many other Government initiatives, their plan to reduce binge drinking will only affect those of us on lower incomes.

Even without banning happy hour, it seems that recently people have been choosing to stay at home on Friday and Saturday nights. It is evident that local pubs and bars are suffering, with several closing in recent months in Carlisle alone. This must be to do with the credit crunch that everyone’s talking about - with everything else being so expensive these days, why shouldn’t we be able to enjoy a cheap drink promotion or three on a night out? Are the Government set on ruining all our fun? We can’t eat junk food or use our cars without being frowned upon, and god forbid we should throw a plastic bottle into our rubbish bin instead of recycling it. And we can’t smoke, but that’s not a great loss as I’m not a fan anyway.

However, having said all that, I do agree that the problem of binge drinking shouldn’t be ignored. While I do enjoy going out and, on occasion, getting rather hammered, I do appreciate the dangers and I’ve learnt from my own experiences what my limits are. I’m impressed with the latest advertisements promoting the negative effects of binge drinking. The ads show a young man and woman throwing up, ripping their clothes etc before a night out, with the tagline ‘You wouldn’t start a night like this, so why end it that way?’

Everyone knows that too much alcohol is bad for your health, but when you’re young you don’t think of the long term damage. I’m more concerned with the immediate effects, like a nasty hangover and having consumed enough alcoholic calories in one night to keep a third world family going for a month.

I think that the Department of Health have the right idea highlighting the other effects rather than telling you that you may get liver disease if you drink too much. Telling people they are making a fool of themselves, could be taken advantage of or are more likely to get involved in crime or an accident is, in my opinion, more likely to hit a nerve with party goers who are not looking any further into the future than next weekend.