News reaches us from London that, whereas 20 years ago they drank on average five-and-a-half units a week, women are now tossing back nearly eight units, with a rising number -- about 20% -- consuming more than the recommended maximum of 14 units a week.
Here at the Mahogany Ridge, it strikes us rather moderate. A unit of alcohol, after all, is best measured as something that can be held in one hand -- a six-pack, let's say, or a bottle of brandy.
But in Britain, where nothing ever happens, such statistics are regularly doled out to alarm and somehow scare people into believing they drink way too much and their lifestyles are unhealthy.
Again, the truth of the matter is that it's perfectly acceptable to drink until you fall asleep. That, as far as we're concerned, is the "correct" amount. More than that is probably wasteful.
I mention this because, amid the barrage of reports from the ruling party's policy conference in Midrand, one item has stood out above all else, and that is that the President has revealed to journalists that he suffers from insomnia as a result of "seeing extreme poverty", as one newspaper put it.
The initial, perhaps instinctive reaction to this was not a wholly sympathetic one.