Soon Britons will be able to get smashed at the pub while their pint glasses won’t.
Government officials proudly unveiled the shatterproof pint glass on Thursday, saying that coming up with a glass that doesn’t double as a lethal weapon would save the country billions in healthcare costs.
However, none of the officials talked about reforming the British binge drinking culture at the root of the problem.
PHOTO: EPA
There are about 87,000 alcohol-related glass attacks each year, with many resulting in hospital visits, British Home Secretary Alan Johnson said as he introduced the two prototype shatterproof pint glasses.
“Glassing causes horrific injuries and has a lasting and devastating impact on victims and their families,” Johnson said.
“I hope these designs will help bring an end to such attacks,” he said.
Two types of shatterproof technologies are in the works: one has a thin bioresin coating on the inside that strengthens it, and the other bonds two thin layers of glass together in the same way as car windshields. Both are difficult to break and keep the shards together if they do fracture, rendering them useless as weapons.
The government is touting the prototypes as the first significant improvement in bar glassware in decades. The plan is to introduce the new glasses for use on a voluntary basis in pubs if tests show they are durable, cost-effective and safe.
Alcohol Concern, a charity working to lessen alcohol abuse in Britain, praised the new designs.
“We’re very much in favor,” chief executive Don Shenker said.
“There has been good local research showing this could reduce the use of glass in violent incidents,” he said.
Half of all violent assaults in Britain are alcohol-related and it has become common for drinkers to smash glasses and use them as weapons, he said.
“You are five times more likely to be involved in a violent incident if you are in or around a licensed bar,” he said. “There is a clear correlation.”
The government estimates that alcohol-related problems cost the National Health Service about £2.7 billion (US$4.3 billion) per year.
In the north London neighborhood of Camden, where heavy drinking bouts are commonplace, bartender Mirjam Linzie said the staff at the Elephants Head pub would welcome safer glasses.
“One time there was a big fight and 50 pints were smashed in one minute,” she said. “One man smashed a glass over another one’s head. One person’s eye was popping out. It was a bloodbath. There was glass raining. People were hiding behind the counter.”
Of course, a shatterproof pint could still be used like a club in fight — but at least it wouldn’t produce lethal shards of glass with the cutting power of a sharp knife.
Bartenders at other establishments said glass-related violence was rare but safer glasses would be welcome because so many break and shatter even in normal use.
Home Office designers worked with the government-funded Design Council to come up with the prototypes.
Design Council chief David Kester said the new glasses would be used on a trial basis by a major pub chain that he did not name.
“We are launching the redesign of a British classic, the pint glass,” he said. “We tried to find ways to make life better while saving money. We’re a creative nation.”
Plastic glasses were not an option because experience shows that drinkers are not happy with them, said Matt Cotterill, the creative director at Design Bridge, part of the design squad.
“Glass feels good in the hand, it feels cold,” he said.
“Plastic is warm,” he said.
Roger Protz, author of the Campaign for Real Ale Good Beer Guide, agreed that plastic glasses are an insult to beer drinkers everywhere. But he said he has never seen pint glasses used in a malicious way.
“I must frequent the wrong pubs,” he said.
Besides being shatterproof, the design with two thin layers of glass — called a Twin Wall — could have a hidden benefit for drinkers everywhere.
“The glass could keep the beer colder for longer,” Cotterill said.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS