At risk of thread-creep I did of course take fees whilst alcoholic- it doesn't go away, you know.

To use a well-worn metaphor : once I had crossed the invisible line between heavy drinking and alcoholism, there was no way back. Once a cucumber has become a pickled gherkin,it cannot be transformed back into a cucumber.

Not every alcoholic is a drinking alcoholic.

My original point was that some people blackguarded Ewan McColl having never met the man.

Some people blackguarded Alex Campbell for being a piss-head.

Every fucker is blackguarding me for making the comparison :-)