October 2015 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| 17
EndnotE
FROM AN IMPROMPTU PLANNING SESSION
in his
regular hostelry, via some of London's more obscure
bookshops, Andy Stonard invites you to join him and
his friends on a tour of Britain's ancient monuments…
and public houses.
In a very different publication to his last book on
alcohol harm reduction,
A Glass Half Full
, this latest
offering is a light-hearted ramble recounting tales
from road trips that took him to some of the UK's
oldest historic sites.
With school history lessons leaving them with only
a loose knowledge of pre-Roman history, Stonard and
his group of regular Wednesday night drinking buddies
set out on a quest to find out more about the ancient
civilisations of this island. With a narrative that
weaves between the Council of Nicea in 325 AD, the
last ice age 10,000 years ago, and Everton football
teams of the ’80s, this book educates and entertains in
equal measure.
Often battling farmers’ efforts to hide footpaths
and rights of way, their own sometimes inept map
reading, and several ale-induced hangovers, the friends
visit the world famous Stonehenge and several lesser-
known examples of the architecture of ancient Britain
in order to broaden their understanding of who the
ancients really were.
Peppered with interesting, well researched facts and
information on pre-history, as well as entertaining
discussions from the meaning of life to fish-related
bands – Pike and Tuna Turner – this book will provide an
insight into both ancient history and the working of the
minds of the modern middle age man. For those who
have met Andy, this book will bring back memories of
nights out and anecdotes told. For those who haven’t,
don’t miss this chance to get to know him.
Andy Stonard was a social worker and former head of
Rugby House ARP (now part of Phoenix Futures). He lives in
France and spends his time writing and organising events.
Ancient evenings
DDN regular Andy Stonard pens an entertaining tale
of ancient history and middle-aged mayhem
In Search of the Ancients
A quest to find the spiritual
source of the English nation on
the paths of Albion… and the
best ale houses on the way
Andy Stonard, published by Quartet
Books. Available on Amazon
A DECADE OF DDN
In October 2005William Pryor, ‘ex-heroin addict, writer,
film producer and entrepreneur’, introduced his concept
of ‘unhooked thinking’
THE ADDICTION INDUSTRY IS AN ODD ENTERPRISE
because it is
concerned with a shell, a mythology, a drama of symptoms, not a thing
in and of itself. It is not an illness that can be caught or inherited.
Addiction is the map, not the territory. When I was a junky, I learnt to
present addiction, to be labelled an addict, because what lay beneath
was too difficult, too unacceptable to express or deal with.
So medicalised has become our inner life, so distanced and handed
over to figures of authority, that we find it hard to go beyond the map to
find the territory within ourselves. So we have this burgeoning industry
of carers, doctors, social workers, psychologists, policemen, gaolers and
therapists all spending vast amounts of time and money on ‘solving’ the
‘problem’ of ‘addiction’, when this ‘solving’ is, in fact, no more than a
metaphysical bandaid.
Yes, the mythology of addiction is so entrenched, so powerful, that
we have to deal in the apparent and pressing reality of the miseries of
addiction, but the more it gets treated, the more policies are developed,
the tighter the grip of the mythology. As Virginia Woolf wrote, no doubt
in reference to her own mental affliction: ‘On the outskirts of every
agony sits some observant fellow who points.’ The addiction treatment
industry is pointing in the wrong direction.
DDN back issues are available
to search and read online at
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
‘So medicalised
has become our
inner life, so
distanced and
handed over to
figures of
authority...’
