You’re not kidding! RatWoman’s OB/GYN wrote her a prescription for two 5 oz (~150 mL) glasses of wine per week while she’s pregnant. She’s actually had to produce it a couple of times… once for the CPS folks who showed up for a surprise inspection during Friday family dinner, and once at a restaurant we go to that didn’t want to serve her. (There’s a big initiative here in CA at the moment to cut out fetal alcohol syndrome, so it gets a lot of focus right now.)
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As above: complicated guy. He was seen as a belligerent racist drunk at the time though. And a hater of the poor.
Really up until his war prime ministership his hatred of workers and non-English were kind of his defining characteristics to both his supporters and detractors. Oh, and his drunkenness. So unless you insist he be viewed solely through 21st century conservative English hagiography you should lay off on the originalist outrage…
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I didn’t see any indication of complexity here. Just a dig at the guy probably most responsible for saving the world. Seems like an arrogant comment at best. Boing Boing is a great website, but it’s editors do have a habit, in my opinion, of delving into self-righteousness.
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Really, the first line needs to be re-written along the lines of:
Also see, Yes, Minister, season 3 episode 4, The Moral Dimension.
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in 1932?
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Oh, you caught me not reading the original article. I weep in shame and run away.
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1.5 oz is a single measure of liquor in the U.S. (50 ml == 1.69 fl. oz) If you frequent the right kind of establishment and aren’t an asshole to the bartender it’s not uncommon to get twice that without even asking (or being charged) for it.
“I like to have a martini,
Two at the very most.
After three I’m under the table,
after four I’m under my host.”
–Dorothy Parker
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Well, if by “saving the world” you mean “defeating the Nazis” (which is not unreasonable), would you object to an article describing Stalin as a power-mad, murderous dictator without any reference to his, arguably equally significant, part in that?
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But not long enough to declare war on the Soviet Union himself.
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More proof some physicians can be convinced to do or say anything, with the right incentive. This may actually, in all non-snarkiness - be evidence that Churchill’s physician knew Churchill was habituated to and dependent on alcohol and, given no other alternative, he prescribed medication for Churchill that would allow him to function and not go into DTs, delirium tremens.
As I’ve often pointed out, Shakespeare’s mother would have drunk alcohol at virtually every meal, including breakfast, while pregnant with him.
In France, the equivalent prohibition for pregnant women is against raw salad and soft cheese. They don’t bat an eye at a pregnant woman drinking a glass of wine with dinner.
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That may explain the generally “chill” nature of the French I’ve met… 
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In 1932 his record was mixed. He was mostly/partially responsible for the total waste of human life at Gallipoli, so there is that. On the other hand he took responsibility, left government and went to fight on the Western Front (can you imagine Donald Rumsfeld doing that? Or any member of the British government?)
Nonetheless he was a complex character. Yes, a racist (like every other damn person at the time, though with more power), but also a prodigious writer and fascinating character.
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