Some time ago I gave up alcohol for good (in both senses of the word). On a few occasions since then, I’ve been asked why I no longer drink it. It’s surely the only drug where you’re asked why you don’t consume it, or no longer consume it. Does anyone ever ask another person why they don’t smoke cigarettes or inject heroin? Yet deaths caused by alcohol greatly exceed those caused by all illegal drugs combined. The WHO estimates:

• 400+ million people have Alcohol Use Disorder (Wikipedia automatically redirects those keying in the search words “Alcohol Use Disorder” to their page on alcoholism), 7% of the world’s population
• 209+ million live with alcohol dependence.

In 2024 WHO published a 334-page report, Global status report on alcohol and health and treatment of substance use disorders.

When pressed on why I no longer drink alcohol, I have a range of possible responses, depending on the circumstances, and sometimes the person I’m speaking to. My current favourite short response is:

“Because I wanted to be happier, healthier and wealthier. It’s working wonderfully!”

My current favourite lengthy response is:

“I recently had my annual medical check-up. It was very thorough and the female doctor asked me if I smoked and/or drank alcohol. and if so, how much. I’ve never smoked a cigarette in my life. I used to smoke a pipe daily but no longer do. For many years I’ve only smoked cigars, seeking – as with the pipe – not to inhale any of the smoke. She suggested I give up cigars, I smiled and I said I wouldn’t.

(I was inspired by the words of Paul Elam who wrote in his international bestseller Men. Women. Relationships. (2019):

“Men are only as mentally and emotionally healthy as their ability to say no to a woman.”)

I then gave her a sense of my alcohol consumption over the past 50+ years. She frowned and informed me I had long ago passed the maximum recommended alcohol limit for life. I stopped drinking that day.”

It’s worth relating this lengthy response to see the confused expression on the person I’m addressing. Two people have told me they weren’t aware that there exists a maximum recommended alcohol limit for life. Priceless.

Giving up alcohol has prompted me to consider my future, at 67. I remain as committed as ever to campaigning for the human rights of men and boys and challenging feminism and individual feminists, in part by maintaining this blog to the extent I do, which takes up much of my time. Beyond that, I plan to focus more of my time and energy on my creative passion, writing non-fiction books.

My first international bestseller Profitable Buying Strategies was published in 2008 by the major publisher Kogan Page. The paperback edition retails on Amazon currently for a bargain £39.99. Earlier this year Kogan Page returned the copyright to me. I am currently in the process of editing it before publishing a new edition (with a new title) later this year.

I wrote and self-published ten international bestsellers after Profitable Buying Strategies. The list of my books published on Amazon and elsewhere is here. I now plan to write and publish three books a year. In the coming year two of them will be on gender issues. I have so much more to write on the matter.

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Today’s file is here (16:29). It was recorded not long before the 2015 general election in which Ray Barry and I stood as candidates for J4MB. After graduating, Emma Pearce landed a job with the BBC. What were the chances?

Over a period of more than two years we’re posting links to one video daily from the J4MB YouTube channel. The channel includes our media appearances since 2012, 300+ videos of talks and other materials from the International Conferences on Men’s Issues (2014 – ) and other men’s issues conferences we’ve been involved with, and so much more. The individual conference playlists are here.

Our website Campaign for Merit in Business was created in the light of the considerable evidence of a causal link between increasing gender diversity on boards and corporate financial decline. Mike Buchanan, Steve Moxon and Dr Catherine Hakim (the originator of Preference Theory) presented evidence to House of Commons and House of Lords inquiries in 2012, the video of their House of Commons evidence session is here (56:50).

Finally, we run the award-winning website Laughing at Feminists. The related comedy channel (170+ videos) is here. Remember, it’s more than important to laugh at feminists, it’s a civic duty.  

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Our thanks to cp for this.

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Our thanks to Nigel for this. The start of the piece:

“Able Seaman Louise Dorsett, 30, who starred in a “Made in the Royal Navy” TV advert, did not tell the Navy she was renting out her home some 400 miles away to a tenant and claimed travel allowance dishonestly.

Because she was a landlord for her mortgaged home in Scotland, Dorsett was not eligible for the ‘Get You Home’ allowance that is intended to cover travel costs for service personnel.

It was found that she had also breached Navy rules by not asking for permission to rent out the property in Fife, in her home country of Scotland.

She has been ordered to pay back the full amount of £2,034 after she admitted fraud by false representation and failing to perform a duty.

She told the court in an emotional address that her childhood in foster care had been difficult.” [J4MB emphasis. Leaving aside the “emotional address”, the relevance to her childhood would be…?]

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Our thanks to Nigel for this. An extract:

“It comes as the RAF experiences a pilot shortfall following a disastrous diversity recruitment drive forced the head of the force to apologise.

The recruitment directive saw an email sent to senior leaders telling them to stop choosing “useless white male pilots” [J4MB emphasis.] in an attempt to improve diversity and was found to be unlawful in 2023.

In the wake of the scandal, the then Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton was forced to apologise following an inquiry into bias.

According to a leaked document, it left the service in need of a “higher number of pilots in training”, with applicant previously rejected set to be targeted.”

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An interesting new interview of Nigel Farage in Chronicles A Magazine of American Culture. My comment (the first on the piece) has been moderated and published. It should refer to 2029, not 2019, senior moment!

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Enjoy.

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Today’s video is here (19:54).

Over a period of more than two years we’re posting links to one video daily from the J4MB YouTube channel. The channel includes our media appearances since 2012, 300+ videos of talks and other materials from the International Conferences on Men’s Issues (2014 – ) and other men’s issues conferences we’ve been involved with, and so much more. The individual conference playlists are here.

Our website Campaign for Merit in Business was created in the light of the considerable evidence of a causal link between increasing gender diversity on boards and corporate financial decline. Mike Buchanan, Steve Moxon and Dr Catherine Hakim (the originator of Preference Theory) presented evidence to House of Commons and House of Lords inquiries in 2012, the video of their House of Commons evidence session is here (56:50).

Finally, we run the award-winning website Laughing at Feminists. The related comedy channel (170+ videos) is here. Remember, it’s more than important to laugh at feminists, it’s a civic duty.  

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Interesting.

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Our thanks to Graham for this. Extracts take up the remainder of this blog piece:

“A council worker in charge of housing benefit payments, including fraud detection, [J4MB emphasis] swindled her employer out of almost half a million pounds. Joella Preston fraudulently received £493,487 by setting up fake claims in the names of people she knew, such as neighbours and friends, over a nine-year period…

She had gambled as much as £776,938 and recouped £355,709 in winnings. Preston was told by a judge that a community-based punishment was “by far the best way” to prevent any risk of reoffending… [J4MB emphasis.]

Her role not only required her to set up and manage housing benefit claims but also to be alert to fraudulent applications, comply with relevant policies in relation to any suspect claims and to liaise with fraud officers. The court heard that between September 2014 and July 2023, Preston created a total of 15 false claims of her own, and used her knowledge of the system to cover her tracks…

Her lawyer, Christopher Johnston, told the court that the defendant may have “fallen prey” to her addiction after being left “with a residual feeling that something was missing in her life” as a result of being estranged from her mother and unable to conceive. [J4MB: Fair enough. She really shouldn’t have been prosecuted…]

A large number of character references written for the sentencing hearing on Monday also spoke of her “compassion, integrity and honesty“… [J4MB emphasis: You couldn’t make this s*** up…]

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