The problem that isn't a problem - alcohol in Bradford

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It seems that (according to the very latest statistics) Bradford doesn't have much of a problem with alcohol:

Local Alcohol Profiles for England provides data for a total of 326 local authority areas, across 24 health, crime and prevalence indicators, and ranks them in order of performance with one being the best and 326 the worst.

Data for the Bradford district places it 18th out of 326 for the number of abstainers and 27th for the percentage of higher-risk* drinkers – both in the top ten per cent in the country.

The number of binge drinkers, alcohol-specific hospital admissions for under-18s and alcohol-related crime are all also lower than average.

*Pretty sure this should read 'lower-risk' btw

So drinking isn't a major problem for the city so perhaps the public health folk will prioritise other public health problems? Seems not:

Despite a higher-than-average number of abstainers and low-risk drinkers, alcohol misuse continues to cause harm, especially to the health of people in the district and remains a priority for action...

And we get the usual gibbering nonsense - this time from Andrew O'Shaunessey, Bradford's top public health doctor about 'hazardous' (ie drinking more that two pints of lager on any given evening in a week) and 'harmful' (doing that on three nights in any given week).

When will these folk shut up?

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