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Surely AD deserves some credit for coming clean and writing about his problems?
How many people on here would write an article for the world to read about their biggest fears and problems?
Not many and probably not me, FSL.
I would not presume that my readers cared enough about the details of my private life to read an entire article about them.
A few qoutes from famous people who were fond of a tipple or two :
Brendan Behan (Irish Playwright) = "Im a drinker with a writing problem", " I only drink twice, when I am thirsty and when I am not".
Winston Churchill = " I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me" (said after a virtual lifetime of drinking).
William Faulkner (author) = "The only tools I need for my work are paper, tobacco, food & a liittle whiskey".
My favourite, F Scott Fitzgerald (author) to Robert Benchley (humourist) " listen Bob alcohol is slow death" whereupon Benchley took a sip, smiled and said " so who’s in a hurry".
A lot of writers find their niche in alcohol, I was wondering if Big Al’s writings will be blunted without the odd glass of wine.
Theres an eighty something old alcoholic who drinks in my local, who has been told by his doctor for the last forty years that he would be dead within a year. The Doctor is now dead.
The seriousness of AD’s situation is probably underplayed by the light-ish tone of the article.
I wish him well in what is likely to be a difficult struggle.
<br>One article in the Post might well avoid many hundreds of future invitations to ‘come and have a drink’.
Nobody seems to offer cigarettes to an ex-smoker or invite a compulsive gambler to a night at a casino – but not drinking is still regarded as a ‘bit odd’, especially in racing circles!
AP
I have enjoyed much of Down’s prose over the years. Alas, as Zorro would no doubt testify, when you’re contracted to produce a column every week, some of it will be lazy or substandard. None of the current RP journalists produce race reports of Down’s standard IMHO. In fact the race reporting in the Post has become quite poor and  probably getting poorer without the Sportsman competition.
I wish Down all the best with his 12 steps.
Surely AD deserves some credit for coming clean and writing about his problems?
He’s written about his excessive drinking plenty of times before.
For starters, there’s his annual "I got p**s
ed in Pardurbice and I think some horse racing may have taken place while I was there" article.Steve
Down obviously rates himself as a "heavyweight" (pardon the pun) and serious journalist.<br>Personally he’s never done it for me- I’ve always found his lengthy and flowery prose and his defence of the current status quo in racing somewhat tedious , though I accept his defenders have a different view so maybe I have missed something.<br>As regards his C4 TV appearances, he appears smug and self satisfied- the kind of pompous bar room bore you bump into in a Cotswold pub.<br>Certainly he doesn’t appear a healthy specimin and I was sorry to read that he had succumbed to the writer’s/hack’s malaise of the sauce and probably too many good lunches.Maybe this has affected his writing ability and I hope he receives support and sorts himself out though I have more sympathy for those who suffer illnesses which aren’t self induced.<br>Did we all need to read about his personal problems in his own column in a national newspaper? Debatable.
I’m with Burroughill on this one. AD may use thirty words when ten will do but its always eloquent, readable and above all entertaining.<br>Good luck to the guy.
I think his article was fair enough.
He may have wanted to stop any gossip about his apparent disappearance, as well as dissuade people from coming up and offering to buy him a drink, and to have to repeatedly explain his new situation.
I don’t want to read about it again, though.
It’s a very brutal country this, seemingly taking an age to be brought fully into the new Millenium. Or maybe it’s just gamblers, I don’t know.
The guy has an alcohol problem, a problem shared by perhaps 10% of the male population in Great Britain, (and a growing proportion of the female, too).
As a social stimulant, there is nothing better than a pint, but when it becomes a crutch, an alleviant for stress, for poor relationships, for despair or for low self esteem, it is a truly lethal elixir and as such, it should be discussed openly and without fear of ridicule, of judgement.
There is a tradition, as alluded to several times here, of excessive drinking in horse racing and I suspect the article was partly a nod to the dark side of the celebrations, the good life.
I admire Alistair Down for his honesty and the sooner this country faces up to – and discusses – it’s hidden problems with openness and with candour, then it will be a better place to live in. Imo, of course.;)
Surely writing about was important though, as it is another step to admitting that he has a problem. At least this way it is out in the open and it will porbably help him to write about it. Give the man a break.
And no I don’t drink myself so its not alcoholics anonymous club. And how many people can say that?
:old:<br> Al writes that he wont promise he’ll never have another drink.<br> That may be an endearment to the drinking classes,<br> or a belief that he can manage controlled drinking.
The belief in controlled drinking is the elusive crutch and final hope that many alcoholics are left with. It is a recognised therapy but many experts suggest it has been proven not to work.
Automatic remission can happen in one case out of a thousand,<br> and Down may know the odds.
I do wish him well and feel it was an intriguing and important subject for his article.
I make it a rule not to drink during the day unless someone literally forces it down my neck. Post 6pm acceptable<br>
Fiona’s funeral took place on Friday. No official from the Labour Party attended and there were no MPs present. This was the final snub to someone who had been a member of the Labour Party for the last 30 years and it’s an irony that her subscription was paid by direct debit a few days before she died.
<br>Chris Jones’ account in the Sunday  Times of his wife’s decline into alcoholism makes for very sober reading:
<br>http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article1363815.ece
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