We need to take a sober look at our binge drinking

But that was New Year. That Bacchanalian blip aside, I see scant evidence that we're in the grip of a rampant 24-hour drinking binge. Quite the opposite. Pubs round my manor still bolt their doors at 11pm sharp. Gordon Brown's decision not to reverse all-day drinking legislation doesn't seem so extraordinary - and the official statistics back him up. But it's impossible to escape the uncomfortable fact that we're inhabiting an increasingly drink-soaked culture. And it's nothing to do with opening hours.

Just turn on the TV and flick to any soap opera. Of course they all focus round a pub, but recently the drinking has become heavier - and for direct commercial reasons. EastEnders is now centred on not just the Queen Vic, but also a new nightclub. Characters knock back double vodkas for breakfast and tequila slammers after dinner. It's all part of their new drive to connect with a younger audience - which saw the high-profile introduction of a pair of hard-drinking, hardpartying blondes.

Our heavy-drinking culture is starting younger. Over Christmas my niece and nephew - 14 and 16 respectively - told of regular police talks on alcohol at their school. The friendly officers gave them a checklist to complete using examples from their classmates - with instructions such as "has anyone needed hospital treatment for drunkenness?" It is taken as read that kids this age are already binge drinking.

We could tackle this. The police could toughen up on drunken behaviour; we could curb advertising, and we could clamp down on the sale of alcohol to minors, but it won't stop the children who have access to their parents' booze cabinets.

And that's the crux of the matter. However much we tut about displays of drunkenness, most of us are complicit to some degree. The standard reaction after an office party is to congratulate each other on our excesses.

Until middle-class professionals stop acting this way, how can we be censorious about the behaviour of ladettes? It was the field hospitals set up in the City to mop up our senselessy drunk highest-paid workers that most shocked me.

We don't need our drinking hours restricted. We need to take a long, sober look at ourselves.