Tweaking Google, Facebook and Twitter’s ad settings can make it easier to change unwelcome habits. Here’s how. Advertising reinforces products’ attractive associations, so making their consumption seem more desirable. Google said last month it will make alcohol and gambling ad filtering … [Read more...] about How to filter unhelpful online ads
All washed up in Manchester and the Midwest
Covid has put a cruel kaibosh on hospitality businesses. Life looks bleaker without it and, in the past, it gave me some formative experiences of life and work on both sides of the Atlantic. I grew up 30 yards from a pub in suburban south Manchester. This was no cosy affair in which to take a … [Read more...] about All washed up in Manchester and the Midwest
Minimal drinking helps prepare for covid-19
Rejigging our alcohol consumption can help adapt to our current situation and prepare for the challenges ahead. The easing of lockdowns is not the end or the beginning of the end. It is just, perhaps, the end of the beginning. The UK still faces the deepest depression for perhaps 300 … [Read more...] about Minimal drinking helps prepare for covid-19
Video: Meet the 170-year-old sobriety movement
The current wave of attention might make it seem like tackling alcohol harm is a new thing, but far from it. Movendi International has been working in the area for nigh-on 170 years, with a name change from IOGT last month the latest evolution. Its president Katarina Sperkova talks with me here … [Read more...] about Video: Meet the 170-year-old sobriety movement
The personal story conundrum
As someone writing about alcohol I am often asked to tell my own story. I find it very difficult to know how to respond. It is not that I don’t have one. I do. I even wrote it down once. But it is never the right moment to tell it. Lived experiences make a huge contribution to the discussion … [Read more...] about The personal story conundrum
Get off the beaten path
A rewarding experience need not be about being in an awesome location. It can be about connecting to where we are, wherever it might be. Seen in the right way, stumbling along the bank of a stream behind the local supermarket can rival the Inca trail to Machu Picchu. This is the promise of … [Read more...] about Get off the beaten path