As I said it's alcohol by volume. Half a pint of whisky will contain a lot more alcohol than half a pint of wine; but who would be stupid enough to drink half a pint of whisky?

I'm sure it is possible to drink a lethal dose of whisky, but it would take some doing. The poet Dylan Thomas was a heavy drinker, and died after going on a bender having drunk 18 straight whiskys. Yet the autopsy showed absolutely no sign of alcohol poisoning, brain damage or cirrhosis of the liver.

You stick to your half a bottle of Southern Comfort drunk in half an hour, and I'll stick to my bottle of Bordeaux which will last the two of us 2 - 3 days.