October 2025 - Alcohol alert - Alcohol harm: A hidden productivity crisis in the UK workforce [19 minutes].
On this month’s podcast we spoke to Dr Jamie O’Halloran, senior research fellow at the influential progressive think tank IPPR, the Institute for Public Policy Research. We discussed their new report Taking Stock: Counting the economic costs of alcohol harm (https://www.ippr.org/articles/taking-stock-economic-costs-alcohol). The report looks at the impact of alcohol harm on people’s productivity at work. We also spoke about why the public health economic arguments can be harder to make than the industry arguments, and what employers and the government can do to reduce alcohol harm and improve productivity. On the episode Dr O’Halloran explained that: "What we’re trying to show in this paper is that alcohol-related productivity losses are holding us back. It’s going to lead to lower growth, lower output, and then reduced profit, reduced taxable profits for government. It should be in everyone’s interest to target alcohol harm, not just for health, but then also for the economic benefits too."

September 2025 - Alcohol alert - Alcohol-specific deaths falling in Scotland; What voters think about public health; Report on health trends in England; Independent review of alcohol marketing; New research on no- and low-alcohol. 
Developing a roadmap for tackling alcohol harm in the UK [29 minutes]

August 2025 - Alcohol alert - Drink drive limit could be reduced; Licensing Taskforce recommendations; Letters to Wes Streeting and Bridget Phillipson; UN NCD Declaration weakened; and January drinking dip only temporary.
The missing policies in the UK’s 10-Year Health Plan. [36.44] 

July 2025 - Alcohol alert - 10 Year Health Plan failures; Ireland delays health warning labels; Welsh Government backs MUP; Parliament debates alcohol and cancer; Duty reform targets heavy drinkers. 
What are Alcohol Care Teams - and why are they vital for hospitals? [39 minutes]

June 2025 - Alcohol alert - Why is youth drinking declining; Industry misinformation in 2024; 'Partial' advertising ban leaked; WCRF calls for cancer labels; Ireland to delay health warning labels; Alcohol industry fights back. [49 minutes]

May 2025 - Alcohol alert - England's treatment system; SMF recommends tax to claw back MUP profits; MUP Explained film and webinar; ScotGov needs to "urgently" tackle alcohol deaths; and US alcohol-related cancer deaths double. [47 minutes]

April 2025 - Alcohol alert - Alcohol's climate impact; Threat to Ireland's health warning law; DUP blocking MUP in NI; Licensing Taskforce includes no health position; and WCRF petition for alcohol strategy. [33 minutes]

March 2025 - Alcohol alert - MUP webinar; What’s happened to the Health Mission?; Alcohol tariffs; Weight-loss drugs; and temporary takeaway system ends. [34 minutes]

February 2025 - Alcohol alert - Record alcohol deaths once again; Alcohol & Healthcare Services: Explained; Drinkaware's conflict of interest made clear; and Australia's Northern Territory repeals MUP. [38 minutes]

January 2025 - Alcohol alert - Alcoholics Anonymous podcast; Alcohol deaths rise again in England; Welsh MUP final report; AHA position on 'NoLos'; calls for lower drink drive limit; and US news. [37 minutes]