When I ask Andrew why we’re so ready to make a joke out of the way we drink that we’d buy novelty items, he says it comes back to our discomfort with being upfront about drinking, especially drinking a lot. "We use humour [to talk] about things we're not quite comfortable about. The question then would be why are we not quite comfortable about drinking? If we think we're drinking too much, then why don't we talk about that in a straightforward fashion? There's a lot to be said for enjoying alcohol up to a point with friends. People need to socialise. The potential problems come when that consumption is taking place at a level that is likely to cause you harm either mentally or physically, or where you don't feel able to opt out because you're in a drinking group of friends."