First they came for the middle-class coke-heads (or not as it turned out) and now it's the turn of middle-class cabernet sauvignon drinkers.

Middle-class wine drinkers will be the focus of government plans to make drunkenness as socially unacceptable as smoking...Under the plans published today, a fresh audit is to be conducted by the Government into the overall costs of alcohol abuse to society and the National Health Service. “We want to target older drinkers, those that are maybe drinking one or two bottles of wine at home each evening,” a Whitehall source said. “They do not realise the damage they are doing to their health and that they risk developing liver disease. We are not talking here about the traditional wino.”

There are times when I feel like that Polish bloke who has just awoken from a 19 year coma. What the fuck is happening to our society? Yesterday it was reported that over 4,000 people a year are dying from infections acquired in hospital (although the MRSA support group puts the figure closer to 20,000). Does the government employ people to get out and clean our bloody hospitals? Does it fuck! It does, however, employs people to wander around the pubs, clubs and bars of England looking for people having a crafty fag. It starts a campaign warning intelligent, law abiding citizens to watch their wine  consumption levels. It sticks traffic light warnings on food. It uses mass medication (folic acid in flour) to reduce 350 neural tube defects a year and so on and on...But don't worry - it's not the nanny state:

Vivienne Nathanson, the head of science and ethics at the BMA, said: “It is not the nanny state. It is about informed choices. It is hard for the average person to work out how many units are in a drink these days. Glasses of wine are much larger than they used to be and many beers and wines are much stronger”.

Yeah, we are all too stupid to realise the difference between a small glass of wine and a large one. But, somehow, even the most gormless drinkers have always known the difference between a half pint of beer and a pint - just try buying a round.