Published on January 23, 2008 at 12:31 AM
The cat is finally out of the bag with two official reports revealing those most at risk from the excessive consumption of alcohol in Britain are top bosses and children.
It appears that Britain's doctors, lawyers, accountants and other professional men are knocking back far too much alcohol and teens and younger children are also hitting the booze.
The two reports have identified health risks for professionals who are knocking back bottles of wine after work and a social crisis among children getting drunk on cheap alcohol from the corner shop.
A report from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that company directors and senior managers of big organisations have taken over from middle-income employees as the group most likely to over-indulge in alcohol.
Another report based on a Home Office-backed survey found widespread binge drinking among pre-teens and teenagers in deprived areas; parents are accused of either ignoring or condoning the habit while their often underage children drink more than 20 units a week.
The ONS report says men in the top social class consumed an average 22.9 units of alcohol a week in 2006, against a national average of 18.7 units, putting the average British boss well over the government's recommended maximum for safe drinking which is a maximum of 3-4 units a day on five days a week.
Women in the top social class also hit the bottle with many drinking an average 12.5 units a week, which though less than the men, is double the intake of women in routine manual jobs.
The ONS report shows that men are likely to drink twice as much as women and 4 in every 10 men and a third of women exceed the daily limits at least once a week; home is the most popular place for people to drink.
According to the ONS report, the English drink more than the Scots or Welsh, and almost a quarter of Britain's 42 million adults exceed the weekly limits.