Against the backdrop of a long-standing British ‘binge and brawl’ pattern of alcohol-based weekend leisure and concomitant recurrent anxieties in the media surrounding youth and young adults at play, this article considers the cultural distinctions of contemporary British leisure and the evidence for a ‘new’ culture of intoxication. Four key changes are identified which together, the authors argue, suggest significant change is underway in respect of patterns of alcohol consumption in the UK. Presenting empirical data for the first time, the article considers how one might assess the evidence for a new culture of intoxication which embraces both legal and illicit drugs and which encompasses a broad social spectrum of young people. The study concludes that the pursuit of altered states of intoxication must be positioned in late modern society as behaviour which is a vehicle for consumer and criminal justice discourses, both encouraged by economic deregulation and constrained by legislative change, indicative of the ambiguities at the heart of British alcohol policy.

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Teachers obviously serve as the medium for causing the result of policy as they carry it into schools and classrooms and deliver it to pupils. They mediate between education policy and practice. Knowledge of the exact nature and effects of this vital role is limited. Drawing on a range of research and evaluation of both national and local policy in practice, carried out by the authors in England, this paper illustrates how teachers mediate policy and the resulting outcomes. Further, it proposes a typology of teacher adaptation to education policy. The paper argues that as yet the appropriate professional role for teachers within policy-making and implementation has not been achieved, and outlines what this might be. Finally, it outlines some implications for teacher education.

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