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Title: New Year's Heave
Source:
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URL Source: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepag ... -Brits-defy-chill-in-2010.html
Published: Jan 2, 2010
Author: ALEX PEAKE
Post Date: 2010-01-02 10:45:04 by Jethro Tull
Keywords: None
Views: 48
Comments: 1
Experts reckon Brits got through a staggering £100million of booze as revellers drank pubs and clubs across the country dry - resulting in thousands being violently ill. An estimated 40 million were out partying, many until dawn. It brought about appalling scenes with youngsters hell-bent on welcoming in a new decade by getting totally plastered. The girl in the snow had collapsed face down on a street in NEWCASTLE. Wearing a mini skirt and leather jacket she eventually came to - but still had to be dragged to her feet by a pal. Hours earlier fights had broken out between gangs in the city's famous Bigg Market where many of the most popular clubs and bars are located. Similar scenes were being played out across the country with emergency services stretched to breaking point as they struggled to cope. Officials in university city CAMBRIDGE set up a field hospital to provide treatment for drinkers. The medical tent was open between 9pm and 4am and was staffed by a team of 15 TA soldiers. During the early hours of yesterday dozens of party-goers piled into the tent for treatment for alcohol related injuries, many barely able to stand or speak. Staff cleaned up cuts, wounds and grazes and helped revellers who were vomiting violently. The TA team also spent the night treating women in skimpy outfits who were suffering from hypothermia as temperatures reached minus three. Captain Ann-Marie Harmer, 44, who is a trained nurse, said: "When the pubs kicked out it was a case of mopping up the walking wounded. We treated people who had been fighting or stumbled in the street drunk." Similar field hospitals were set up in LONDON where 18 people were arrested for being drunk and disorderly and 16 for assault. Two people were rescued from the Thames in separate incidents by the Met's Marine Support Unit and the RNLI. Both were taken to hospital. Security staff also had to haul people out of the freezing fountains of Trafalgar Square as the clock struck midnight. Police and paramedics in CARDIFF were rushed off their feet controlling and treating partygoers too and there was similar mayhem in SOUTHAMPTON and NORWICH. In the WEST MIDLANDS the Ambulance Service said they dealt with an emergency 999 call every nine seconds in the first three hours of 2010. Overall, New Year's Day was the busiest in their history dealing with a staggering 1,418 calls. There were 606 emergency alerts in BIRMINGHAM alone. Meanwhile cops in NORTHUMBRIA said they were called to 1,295 incidents and took 2,000 calls during the night. But the over-the-top celebrations caused another headache. Experts reckon treating binge-drinkers during the New Year cost the NHS £23million. Think-tank Policy Exchange said £1million an hour was spent on booze-related injuries during a 24-hour period between December 31 and January 1. Henry Featherstone, from Policy Exchange, said: "Alcohol misuse in Britain is at a level where it constitutes a public health epidemic. The Government should now commit to a review of its entire strategy for tackling the harms from alcohol misuse. We recommend that the costs of being admitted to hospital to sleep off alcoholic excess should be met by individuals, not the NHS - the tariff cost for their admission of £532." Overall, the cost of treating drunks has almost doubled in just five years, rising to £2.7billion in 2006/7 compared with £1.47billion in 2001/2. Experts blame the increase on round-the-clock drinking, which began in 2005, and the availability of cheap alcohol in supermarkets and pubs. Meanwhile, a man aged 34 was shot dead and another aged 26 was last night fighting for his life following a shoot-out in the street outside a New Year's Eve party in Thornton Heath, South London. Officers from crime task force Trident are investigating.
Poster Comment: Empire Lost
A SCANTILY-clad girl lies sprawled semi-conscious in the snow early yesterday as the UK celebrated New Year with yet another night of drunken shame.
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"America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system, but too early to shoot the bastards." — Claire Wolf: 101 Things to Do 'Til the Revolution (1996)
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