Hello, it's Callum McDonald here. How are you? I hope you've had a lovely Christmas.

I hope you're resting. I hope you are with family and friends. I hope you're getting

everything that you need during this slightly odd, but hopefully still enjoyable festive

period and that you can look forward to the new year.

Now, as part of our Christmas specials, we thought we'd take a look back at some of

the very best stories of our times episodes from 2021.

No mean feet choosing these, by the way, even if we do say so ourselves.

And today our episode actually may be quite apt. As we say goodbye to our Christmas celebrations

for another year, clearly it's been a time for many of us of overeating and seasonal drinking.

We thought that we'd revisit an episode that was first broadcast in August, a really important

one to consider, particularly at a time of year like this. It's all about our relationship

with booze. We're heading to Sheffield to Josh Glancy and he went there to investigate.

As a nation, it turns out we are what we drink. It's not how much we drink necessarily

but how we drink. There's almost a cult around it at times in people's lives. That struck

me as not uniquely British but quite profoundly British.

For many of us, the essence of a good time is a glass of something and of a better time,

a second glass. We may get legless but it isn't harmless.

Heavy drinking causes NHS about £3.5 billion a year, something like 40% of violent incidents

recorded are thought to involve someone who's under the influence of alcohol.

So what for good or ill does our drink habits say about us breads?

You're listening to stories of our times from the times of the Sunday times I'm David

Ronovich. Today, booze Britain, a country on the Lash.

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