Asking questions at the Dispatch Box is like a 400 metre race. You need a punchy start, a solid middle performance and some energy in reserve for the very end.

And so I began. "Mr. Speaker, I do not know whether your drinking habits have changed over the past 10 years." Risky to involve the Speaker directly in your question - but thought I would be brave. "But that is certainly the case for a growing minority of younger Britons."

I continued. "A decade ago, the Government promised a renaissance in the approach to licensing and responsible drinking: town centres would be tamed, binge drinkers would be brought to heel, and councils would be empowered to create the so-called new café culture of Britain. The reality could not be further from that rosy picture.

Does the Minister agree with recent reports which show that since 1997, teenage lawlessness has increased by 300%; one in three girls now admits to binge drinking and there is around a 30 % increase in alcohol-related obesity?"

And onto my crescendo; "All this proves that, under this Government" I exclaimed "binge drinking is slowly becoming the norm. Labour is giving Britain a beer belly and a worrying taste for alcohol-fuelled antisocial behaviour."

Surely the Minister, in his reply, would struggle to get out of the starting blocks? He did not even bother. He just curtly remarked that the Speaker was a teetotaller and avoided the question completely!