Can Britains binge-drinking culture be blamed for the rise in violent crime?
An air-conditioning engineer who suffered a collapsed lung following a brutal attack outside a city wine bar thinks so. Aged just 26, Michael – not his real name – is already a veteran of two vicious assaults, which happened within two years. On 2 September, 2002, at about 2330 BST, Michael left a bar in Southampton’s Above Bar Street. He had begun walking home with a friend when a man “came from nowhere”. Drugs and drink are very much playing a part in all this violence Victim Support spokesperson “We heard him swearing, calling me a queer and then he just pounced, ” recalled Michael. “He punched me in the face, I fell to the floor and then he kicked and kicked me. I didn’t think he would stop.” His attacker eventually ran off. Battered, bruised and frightened, Michael spent a week in Southampton General Hospital with a tube in his lung to drain the fluid. He said: “I was in agony, I suffered complete memory loss because of the trauma.” ‘Panic attacks’ Michael’s attacker, who was only
