Chat - Alcohol Question

[hamster8 at hotmail.com]

Rita said ....

Something which IIRC was said in a previous chat, but I haven't been
able to find it in the chatscripts:  the legal age for drinking 
alcohol without food in UK is 16 years old(?) but schools can get 
waivers to allow underage students to drink at school parties. That 
sounds totally implausible to my USAmerican ears, and I am wondering 
is it true, or did I dream it?
 --
           /\ /\
            + +     Mews and views
          >> = <<         from Rita Prince Winston
 
                      ("`-''-/").___..--''"`-._
                      `6_ 6  )   `-.  (     ).`-.__.`)
                      (_Y_.)'  ._   )  `._ `. ``-..-'
                     _..`--'_..-_/ /--'_.' ,'
                    ((('   (((-(((''  ((((

I love that little cat you do, btw.  These are the full UK alcohol 
laws, correct to the Summer 1998 Edition of 'The Ferret' - 

5 yrs - you can drink alcohol in private.  You can also see U or PG 
films unaccompanied in a cinema.

14 yrs - you can enter a pub (technically, this means Harry was being 
very naughty and irresponsible in PoA - but nobody really bothers 
with this law anymore - as long as the kids aren't ordering alcohol 
at the bar, what harm can it do)
At 14, it is also legal for you to ride a horse on the road without 
protective headgear

16 yrs - you may have beer or cider with a meal in a restaurant ... I 
have a feeling this is what whoever said whatever it was meant, you 
can also buy liquer chocolates, and living in a brothel becomes legal 
at 16 in the UK too.

18 yrs - you can buy and drink normally.  It also becomes legal for 
you to take part in a performance of hypnotism.

21 yrs - you can apply for a licence to sell alcohol.

Schools can get waivers??  I've never heard of such a thing 
happening, and I doubt very much any school would be irresponsible 
enough, or stupid enough to voluntarily *create* a whole bunch of 
drunk underage teens (I apologise to any youngers list-teens, but to 
someone like myself, there is nothing quite so annoying as seeing 
crowds of 14 year olds hanging around Brighton town centre drinking 
cider and pretending to be hard).  At my school's leaving party, when 
some of the younger students in the year group (incl me) were still 
17 they sold alcohol freely, but that was kind of a different 
occasion.  I would be very surprised indeed if it was possible for 
schools to get waivers for that sort of thing.

*Al saunters vaguely westwards*