Skipper

Aldous Huxley in his Brave New World- that seminal novel all university students used to read as a matter of course in the sixties- introduced the notion of 'soma', an officially sanctioned drug which made everyone happy and banished low spirits. Since then some Marxist leaning political theorists have suggested that governments effectively do something similar by allowing drugs like alcohol to be freely available-i.e. while they are happy people are not aware of how they are being exploited and bamboozled. Unfortunately alcohol has nasty side-effects like hangovers, enormous beer bellies and death (if you consume too much too regularly).

But maybe this unhappy state of affairs is about to end and the Huxley utopian vision achieved...(yes I know the novel described a DYstopia but stay with me). In today'sGuardian , Ian Sample tells us of a new development involving 'partial agonists'(PAs) which, according to Professor David Nutt from Bristol University, will provide all the advantages of booze without any of the nasty bits. Neurologists have apparently cracked the processes involved in inebriation and reckon they can produce a drug which simulates only the good side of being squiffy.

'You could design one chemical', says Professor Nutt, 'to replace all the benefits of alcohol in drinks and it would save hundreds of thousands of lives.' Sounds good? Even better is the fact that at the end of an evening (presumably) swigging back pints of the old PA, you could take an antidote called 'flumenazenill', sober up and then drive home! Problem is with all these 'breakthroughs' is that we only hear of them at the theoretical stage when some publicity seeking scientist issues a press release. Then, somehow, we never hear of them again. I do so hope this one is not merely a ruse by some professor to attract more research funding for his cash strapped department. I always empathise with Philip Larkin who reflected ( approximately) that 'sexual intercourse was invented in 1963/ which was far too late for me. Just hope I make the cut on this one to enhance and delight my later years.