drinking

COMEDIAN Jim Davidson admitted “I found out what legless means” after collapsing outside a pub and being helped up by drinking buddies.

The star downed two ­bottles of wine, tequila, vodka, six pints of ­Guinness and two whiskies on an all-day session, saying: “I think it must have been that last scotch that did it.”

Ex-Big Break and Generation Game host Jim, 72, had sailed to the Isle of Wight on his £350,000 yacht Lady Natasha — named after his fiancée.

The pair dined at The Hut in Colwell Bay before Natasha, 49, called it a night and Jim ­carried on drinking with some yachtsmen.

He said: “It was boys stuff. I found out what the term legless means.

“My quote is ‘must take more water with it’.

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“We had a smashing meal at The Hut, which is the best ­restaurant in the country, then I decided to go on the p***.

“It was a bit of a harmless fun, no one died.”

Jim, who has five ex-wives, detailed his mammoth booze-up, which ended with him collapsing outside Salty’s pub in Yarmouth.

He said: “Most people leave Salty’s like that. First I had a couple of bottles of wine that made me a bit dizzy.

“I thought I better have some tequila to sober me up. After the tequilas made me feel worse, I thought vodka will kill the tequila.

“And after that six pints of Guinness. I thought well I need a wee, I’ll go into this pub and use their toilet and while I’m here I’ll have a couple of scotches.

“I think it must have been that last scotch that did it.”

Jim admitted being a binge drinker and said: “I can do that when I’m not working. I can’t when I’m working.

“Today I’ve got to drive five hours to Blackpool, do a show in the club and then five hours back tomorrow. This is the reality of showbiz. Then back to the studio to film my weekly satire show.

“When you’ve got a picture of me coming off stage in a theatre like that, then I’m in trouble.”

A SOAP star died the day after her 35th birthday party from drinking a deadly amount of alcohol, her post-mortem has revealed.

Ece İrtem, best known for playing Işıl in the popular Turkish TV series Cranberry Sorbet, died of ethyl alcohol poisoning.

She died at her home in Istanbul, Turkey, after collapsing in front of her devastated mother.

Initial findings suggested Ece had died of a heart attack, but The Institute of Forensic Medicine ruled that the star died from alcohol poisoning after an extensive investigation.

395 milligrams of alcohol per decilitre (mg/dl) of blood was found in her system, nearly eight times Turkey’s legal drink-driving limit.

This blood alcohol level is deemed medically critical and can be fatal.

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Experts concluded the exceptionally high blood alcohol level mixing with prescribed antidepressant and anti-anxiety medication caused the actress’ death.

The findings put to bed widespread rumours that Ece had died from an illness contracted from a monkey bite.

She had been bitten by a monkey on May 27, during a trip to Thailand, Ece’s lawyer Uğur Gökkoyun confirmed.

Macaques in Thailand can carry infectious diseases including rabies and herpes.

But Uğur explained that she had taken a 21-day course of preventative medication before safely stopping it after 11 days.

And the autopsy found no evidence suggesting that the monkey bite was at all linked to her death.

Ece had posted on social media just a day before her death thanking fans for their sweet birthday wishes.

Heartbreaking tributes have poured in for the young actress, saying she was full of love and happiness.

Caglar Kuru, her friend from university, wrote: “I cannot find the words. She was a person whose heart was full of love, energy and happiness.

“Living through this pain is truly very sad.”

Ece studied at Yasar University’s Opera and Vocal Studies Department before going on to train as an actress.

The soap star kicked off her television career in 2014 before going on to appear in series including Runaway Brides, That’s My Life and New Bride.

She also starred in shows including Payitaht Abdulhamid and Mr Wrong.

Ece was buried at Yenikoy Cemetery in Kusadasi, on Turkey’s Aegean coast.

But the funeral sparked a furious row after several people were spotted filming and taking photos of the coffin.

Footage of the moment went viral on social media and the fans were slammed for their disrespect towards the grieving family.

For the next five years, the Environmental Protection Agency has indicated it will not require public water utilities to test for microplastics or pharmaceuticals in drinking water, according to a proposed rule published in the Federal Register.

On Friday, the EPA submitted a list of chemicals it plans to test for under the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule, a mandatory testing program used to collect information about concerning chemicals in drinking water that could be harming human health. It did not include microplastics or pharmaceuticals.

The omissions come after announcements by EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin earlier this year that his agency was designating microplastics and pharmaceuticals priority contaminants for testing.

“This is a direct response to the concern of millions of Americans who have long demanded answers about what they and their families are drinking every day,” he said at an April news conference with Health and Human Secretary Robert F. Kennedy at EPA headquarters.

Zeldin’s announcement was seen at the time as a move to placate the increasingly disgruntled Make America Healthy Again contingent of Trump supporters.

Now the agency says it has no validated or standardized method to test for the plastic particles in drinking water, and wouldn’t be able to develop one before December, when testing is required to begin.

Among the 33 chemicals the EPA will require water utilities to test for are seven PFAS, or forever chemicals, and three pesticide residues.

It will be five years before the EPA proposes another list.

The EPA did not respond to a request for comment.

The agency noted in its proposed rule that it will collaborate with other federal agencies to “evaluate risks and exposures” of microplastics for future monitoring.

Environmentalists reacted with frustration and resignation. They pointed out that the European Union has developed methods to test for the tiny plastic particles, which have been found in people’s blood, brains and lung tissue. California has one in the works.

“The California water board has spent a lot of time and money on how to measure in drinking water,” said Judith Enck, a former EPA regional administrator and president of the anti-plastic environmental group Beyond Plastics “EPA should give them a call.”

California was required by a 2018 state law to establish a protocol for local water utilities to test for the particles in drinking water. The state has not yet begun reporting its results, but protocols were established in 2021. Blair Robertson, a spokesman for the State Water Resources Control Board, said it’s not “a fully validated, end-to-end regulatory method” yet.

At the April meeting, Zeldin announced that he would place microplastics on what is known as the Contaminant Candidate List, which acts as a preliminary “watch list” of unregulated, priority contaminants in drinking water. Like the mandatory monitoring list, it is updated only every five years. The most recent list was published on April 2 — the day he made his announcement.

“Americans have been ignored as they sound the alarm about plastics in their drinking water,” Zeldin said at the April announcement. “That ends today by placing microplastics on the contaminant candidate list for the first time ever. EPA will follow the science, will pursue answers and will hold ourselves to the highest standards to protect the health of Americans.”

There appears to be no clear association between these two lists, although the contaminant list is supposed to inform the monitoring list. Seventy-five chemicals and four chemical groups (microplastics, pharmaceuticals, PFAS chemicals, and disinfection byproducts) were listed on the 2026 contaminant list. Only seven of those chemicals were also on the proposed monitoring list (as well as seven PFAS chemicals).

When Zeldin announced microplastics as “‘a priority contaminant for regulation,’ and called it ‘a historic action on microplastics,’ he made it seem like the administration was going to take microplastics seriously,” said Mary Grant, water policy director for the environmental group Food & Water Watch.

“By not including them, they made it clear they don’t actually have plans to immediately address this crisis by getting the real-world monitoring data that we need right now to really start correcting ourselves,” she said.

Craig Davis, senior director of plastics chemistry at the American Chemistry Council — the nation’s largest trade group for chemical companies — said that while his organization supports microplastic research, it also agrees with the EPA’s decision not to include them in the monitoring list.

“National drinking water monitoring should be based on validated, standardized methods that can produce reliable and comparable data,” said Davis in a statement. He said “limited” national monitoring resources should be focused where data can produce “actionable public health information.”

The public has 60 days to comment once the plan is published in the Federal Register.

Jakob Davies, 25, suffered severe injuries after falling from a three-storey balcony during a stag do in Albufeira, Portugal, as his family launches a fundraiser to help him

The devastated family of a Brit who plunged from a three-storey balcony during a stag do in Portugal fear his travel insurance may not cover his mounting medical bills because he had been drinking.

Jakob Davies, 25, remains in hospital in Faro after suffering catastrophic injuries in a fall at a hotel in Albufeira earlier this month. His loved ones say they are still waiting to hear whether his insurer will pay out after tests showed alcohol in his system.

The factory worker, who is from Scarborough, North Yorkshire, had travelled to the Portuguese party hotspot with around 30 work colleagues for a stag weekend on June 4.

His mum, Claire Gerrard, fears the family could be left facing huge costs after doctors warned Jakob he may never walk again without urgent surgery.

The 51-year-old woman said: “He’s totally on his own. I need to know what’s going to happen to him. He was told if you don’t have this operation immediately then you won’t walk again.

“He does have travel insurance but because of the alcohol that he’s drunk it’s not looking like they will pay. We’ve contacted the insurance company and they wanted all the reports so I sent the reports.

“The doctor gave Jakob his alcohol levels with his bloods done and it did show alcohol in his system, which unfortunately they will not pay out.

“25 [years old] on a stag party he’s not going to have none is he? They’ve not said no yet, we’re still waiting on information. I think it should be made more clear to people, especially to youngsters. You’re going on holiday to a stag party and you can’t drink, they don’t listen, they just go and have a drink.”

Jakob had chosen to stay behind at the accommodation on June 5 to play football while the rest of the stag group headed out.

But when his friends returned later that day, they were alarmed to see fire engines, police cars and ambulances rushing towards their hotel.

Claire expained: “I think there were about 30 of them and it was somebody from work’s stag party. It’s all really, really vague, Jakob has no recollection of it whatsoever.

“He had been playing football with some other guys, his party were leaving and Jakob had said ‘I’m going to continue to play football’.

“I don’t even think he remembers playing football but that’s what he was doing. When the party was returning back to the hotel there were fire engines flying past and then the police came past and then the ambulances came past and had turned into their hotel so they thought ‘oh gosh something is going on’.

“When they got there Jacob was unconscious on the floor with severe head injuries and broken bones, it looked pretty horrific initially. When they got him in the ambulance, he had regained consciousness and he was speaking but he wasn’t aware of what had happened.”

Believed to have fallen from a three-storey balcony, Jakob was initially taken to a local hospital before being transferred to a larger hospital in Faro.

Doctors later discovered he had suffered a serious head injury, broken feet and ankles, as well as fractures to both his L1 and L4 vertebrae.

Recalling the moment she learned about the horror fall, the worried mum said: “I got a phone call at around 11am on Saturday morning [June 6] to say Jakob’s fallen from a three-storey balcony. My initial feelings from then on were absolute dread.”

As Jakob continues his recovery overseas, family and friends have launched a GoFundMe appeal to help cover medical expenses and the cost of bringing him back to the UK.

Travel insurance experts warn that some policies contain exclusions relating to alcohol or drug use, although terms and conditions vary between providers. Holidaymakers are urged to check the small print of their policies before travelling, particularly if they are planning to drink while abroad.

To donate to the GoFundMe, click this link.

June 26 (UPI) — Authorities in Paris implemented restrictions on drinking in public and takeout alcohol sales on Friday for the second time in five days, amid one of the most severe June heat waves on record.

In an effort to reduce stress on the capital’s hospitals, public consumption of alcohol will be banned from noon through 7 a.m. Saturday, local time, and from noon on Saturday through 7 a.m. on Sunday, and can only be sold in bars and restaurants between 6 p.m. and 7 a.m on both days.

Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said the health alert level was being raised to its highest, to boost hospital staffing and protect the vulnerable while Paris police chief Patrice Faure said the the capacity of hospitals to cope was “reaching a saturation point.”

“As you know, drinking alcohol with the sun beating down can have a devastating effect,” said Faure.

The bans coincided with a France-Norway game at the FIFA World Cup in Boston, due to kick off in the early hours of Saturday, local time.

Paris Pride, which was due to run Thursday through Sunday, was moved to September, and the Solidays music festival, scheduled to be held over the same period, was canceled because police felt going ahead with either amid the searing temperatures posed a major public health risk.

On Thursday, a three-year-old child died in a hot car in Saint-Gratien in the northern Paris suburbs.

As Paris baked in record temperatures that peaked at 40.9 degrees Celsius earlier in the week, Health Minister Stephanie Rist warned the health impacts of the heat were not restricted to the elderly, infants and other vulnerable groups.

“Even if you are young and in good health with no underlying medical issues, this heat will affect you too. Young people are also suffering from cardiac arrests,” she said, explaining that the Paris ambulance responded to a four-fold jump in cardiac arrests, compared with normal, during a 24-hour period.

Paris mayor Emmanuel Gregoire said the mortality rate was on the increase and urged people, especially the young, to suspend normal physical activity such as jogging.

“We must not believe we are invulnerable. It’s fine to take a couple of days off from exercising,” he said.

June 21 (UPI) — French police issued a ban on certain alcoholic drinks Sunday amid unusually high temperatures coinciding with one Paris’ largest street parties.

The order banned people from consuming certain high-alcohol content drinks after 8 a.m. Sunday along areas of Canal Saint-Martin and along riverside zones along the Seine.

Businesses were also banned from selling takeaway drinks after 1 p.m., with exemptions for restaurants and bars, Politico reported.

Paris hosts the Fête de la Musique (World Music Day) one of its largest street festivals, Sunday. Free concerts are held throughout the city, and residents are encouraged to play music outside in public spaces and neighborhoods.

This year’s festival is taking place during a heatwave that could see temperatures break 100 degree Fahrenheit in the coming week. The country issued Level 1 and Level 2 heat alerts Sunday for an area encompassing about 75% of its population.

“Very high temperatures are setting in for the long term,” the national meteorological service, Météo-France said, as cited by The Guardian. The agency said the heat would be of “exceptional severity and duration” and will likely break records.

Officials also put wildfire crews on alert in case of fire, and canceled some outdoor events. Some locations in France canceled concerts scheduled to take place before 7 p.m.

Mexico ‌City’s government said it is considering measures to limit ⁠the sale ⁠of alcohol in public spaces, after more than 700,000 people gathered downtown to celebrate Mexico’s football team advancing to the knockout stage ⁠of the World Cup.

Mexico’s victory against South Korea saw massive street celebrations, with fans dressed in green El Tri jerseys or wearing colourful Lucha ⁠Libre masks and dancing in the rain, waving flags, singing anthems and blowing on vuvuzelas.

The next morning, Reforma Avenue — one of the city’s main arteries — was littered with rubbish, and many of its yellow cempasuchil flowers had been ‌trampled over. Authorities collected some 40 tonnes of waste around the historic centre.

Mexico City’s government secretary Cesar Cravioto told a news conference on Friday that part of the government’s duty of care during the massive football event is prevention, and this involves controlling illegal sales of alcohol on the streets.

Cravioto said the government would ask restaurants and bars in ⁠the area to prevent customers from taking alcoholic ⁠drinks off premises and that convenience stores nearby could be asked to stop selling alcohol in the hours before a big game.

The government said it was planning on setting up ⁠seven more large screens around the centre-in addition to the current 12 — to help disperse crowds, ⁠and that it would deploy more personnel ⁠to limit the sale of beer by street vendors.

“We will keep insisting that fans have fun but without excessive alcohol consumption,” Cravioto said.

In Boston, another World Cup host city, Scottish fans, ‌known as the “Tartan Army”, drank such vast quantities of beer after Scotland’s team beat Haiti 1-0 at the city stadium that several bars reported ‌running dry.

Mexico is set to face the Czech Republic in the group stage on Wednesday.

FBI Director Kash Patel and Senator Chris Van Hollen had a heated exchange during a Senate budget hearing after Van Hollen questioned Patel about drinking allegations first reported by The Atlantic magazine. Patel called the claims “unequivocally, categorically false.”

WASHINGTON — FBI Director Kash Patel angrily lashed out at a Democratic lawmaker at a budget hearing Tuesday, calling allegations that he drinks excessively on the job and has been unreachable at times to his staff “unequivocally, categorically false.”

“I will not be tarnished by baseless allegations,” Patel told Sen. Chris Van Hollen when the Maryland Democrat confronted him about a recent article in the Atlantic magazine that painted an unflattering portrait of his leadership of the nation’s premier federal law enforcement agency. Patel has sued over the story. The Atlantic has said it stands by its reporting and will vigorously defend against the “meritless lawsuit.”

Patel shouted over Van Hollen and sought to turn the tables by accusing him of “slinging margaritas” in El Salvador, a reference to a visit the Democrat paid last year to Kilmar Abrego Garcia while he was jailed there following his arrest in Maryland.

The testy exchange occurred at an annual Senate committee budget hearing featuring Patel and other senior law enforcement leaders.

Tucker writes for the Associated Press.