21, Writtle Road,
Danbury,
Chelmsford,
Essex.
CM1 4PQ

15th November 2014
Dear Mr. Richardson,
With regard to your recently published articles by McCartney and Farquharson, I would like to compare and contrast the articles as well as incorporate my argument.
According to your statistics, over sixty five per cent of children have consumed harmful amounts of alcohol by adult standards by the age of fifteen and a large proportion are likely to have been drunk at least once in the last four weeks. This is appalling. Much less than half a century ago this would have been unheard of. Nowadays, it is common practice for a parent or guardian to purchase alcohol for their son or daughters’ consumption at the next house party. Although there are still mixed opinions on underage drinking, a much larger proportion are supportive of it.
Farquharson’s responds to the Donaldson’s - the Chief Medical Officer - thesis with shock. He asks “Does he really believe that 17-year-olds, who are allowed to drive a car on their own and have children on their own, shouldn’t be able to drink without mummy or daddy standing over them counting the empty WKD bottles?” He believes that drinking is just another responsibility, that if you can legally drive a car and have children, you should be able to drink on your own too. On the other hand, a counter argument says that drinking is more damaging than any of those things. Alcohol is a drug. In America, more than five thousand underage drinkers per year from alcohol overdose, with 190,000 being sent to accident and emergency.
However, he does not mention that children and teenagers are much more educated on having children and driving a car than drinking alcohol. For example, before you get you licence you must take many driving lessons and thoroughly know your theory before you can even consider taking a test. This preparation give the