Is alcoholism, or indeed any other dependency, a moral failing? And is it something for which addicts should be stigmatised?

The Princess of Wales remarked last month that fear and shame about addiction should come to an end, that it is not a choice. Is she right?

My father was an alcoholic. I know others in my position may think differently, but to me his behaviour sure as hell was a moral dereliction.

First class seats don’t count for much when you’re worried that your drunken father is going to urinate in the aisle. Credit: iStock

My childhood was an unusual one. My parents’ marriage was unorthodox – our family in London was not the only one my father maintained (although that fact was unknown to me as a child). This, thankfully, meant that Dad was only around every few weeks or so.

And I grew up – until my father’s businesses failed when I was in my early teens – in what can only be described as hyper-privilege. But then that is not something that is easy to appreciate when you are eight or so.

But I don’t think either factor changes the essential experience of having a drunkard for a dad. By this I don’t mean someone who drinks 50 or 60 units a week, instead of the requisite 21 – or someone who on occasion has way too much to drink. I am talking about a proper soak whose........

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