AS a lifelong teetotaller, I was most grateful to your Dry Run correspondents (Echo Weekend, Feb 8) for pointing out all the things I have missed.

Health editor Barry Nelson, who gave up alcohol for the month of January, was happy just to point out the pleasures of drinking like lost sleep, obesity, not recalling how last night’s TV mystery ended and a falling bank balance.

Lucy Richardson, however, really got me going by telling of the delights of a Christmas gift from drinking of “a stonking hangover” and “red blotchy skin”, and she concluded that for her alcohol had become “a crutch which compounds the problem”.

These were only the personal affects of alcohol, of course.

Neither of them mentioned the social “benefits” which alcohol brings, like violence in our town centres, and carnage on our roads.

Surely the time has come, like it did for smoking, to ask not “why DON’T you drink?” but “why DO you drink?”.

Bill Bartle, Barnard Castle.

HERE we go again, The Northern Echo is ranting and raving on about the demons of drink (Echo Weekend, Feb 8).

This newspaper’s attitude towards drink is confusing. First of all, it promotes the idea of the great British pub and laments the fact that so many pubs are closing, and we are encouraged to go for a pint of ale to keep the great British pub alive.

Then it is screaming about cheap alcohol and anti-social behaviour. It keeps printing the views of the so-called experts, these professors, doctors and university big-wigs who are always say putting up the minimum price of alcohol won’t effect the sensible drinker.

I bet they’ve never consulted the so-called sensible drinker.

Have they not noticed that no matter how many times the price of alcohol has been raised, the only people to benefit are the Government raking in more indirect tax, and the breweries and supermarkets making big fat profits?

No matter how much the price is increased, people will still drink, no matter what age they are. All the tobacco price increases have not stopped people smoking.

If The Northern Echo and Colin Shevills, the director of Balance, are so serious about alcohol why don’t they campaign to have the legal age of drinking alcohol raised to 21 as it used to be.

It wouldn’t solve the problem overnight, but it would be more sensible than simply putting up the price, which will just spoil it for everyone.

Colin Jones, Stockton.