A monthly podcast exploring alcohol harm, policy, research, and industry influence — in the UK and around the world. From minimum unit pricing to corporate lobbying, we speak to the people behind the headlines to uncover what’s really going on.
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The Tobacco and Vapes Act – and how alcohol is being left behind
This month we’re joined by Ailsa Rutter, Director of Fresh and Balance, the northeast England programme tackling tobacco and alcohol harm. Ailsa shares the deeply personal story behind her career – including nursing her father through smoking-related COPD after he became addicted as a child – and reflects on the history of tobacco control, from the 1962 Royal College of Physicians report to today’s Tobacco and Vapes Act.
With the ‘smokefree generation’ sales ban edging closer (anyone born after 1 January 2009 will never legally be sold tobacco), we discuss why regulation on tobacco has moved so much further than on alcohol, the risk that alcohol harm gets overshadowed as attention turns to the Act, and why the northeast’s hard-hitting health campaigns remain a rarity the rest of England hasn’t caught up with.
“The big stark contrast between tobacco and alcohol is the absolute lack of national regulation, the lack of legislation there has been for alcohol.”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit instalcstud.substack.com (https://instalcstud.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)
27 Aug 2026
Power, polluters and public health – inside the world of a Director of Public Health
This month we’re joined by Peter Roderick, Director of Public Health for the City of York, for a wide-ranging conversation on what the job really involves – from advocating for marginalised communities to steering a local system through political change. We dig into the rise of the ‘commercial determinants of health’ agenda, why the alcohol, gambling and food industries increasingly find themselves in public health’s sights, and the difficult question of whether ‘polluter pays’ levies genuinely reduce harm or simply buy industries a licence to keep causing it. We also look ahead to how the new Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s devolution agenda could reshape public health at a local level.
“We’re a highly centralised county, and the more people feel involved and close to decisions made about them, the better it is for coherence of society but also health.”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit instalcstud.substack.com (https://instalcstud.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)
31 Jul 2026
SHAAP's 20th anniversary: lessons from two decades of alcohol policy reform
This year marks 20 years since the founding of Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (SHAAP), and we sat down with chair Dr Alastair MacGilchrist and founding member Dr Lesley Graham to trace its history – from spotting Scotland’s alcohol death rate spiralling in the early 2000s, to becoming a driving clinical voice behind the world’s first minimum unit pricing law.
We hear how SHAAP built the evidence base for MUP, why it took six gruelling years of industry legal challenges before the policy finally came into force, and how that fight – reputationally damaging for the drinks industry – ended up strengthening the case for other countries to follow Scotland’s lead. Along the way: why medical credibility cuts through where campaigning alone doesn’t, and what SHAAP has learned about outlasting a well-resourced opponent.
As Dr MacGilchrist puts it:
“Everything’s difficult, everything takes a long time, don’t lose heart.”
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit instalcstud.substack.com (https://instalcstud.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)
Who has been a guest on Alcohol Alert Podcast
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Professor John Holmes
Amy Pennay
Dr Will Haydock
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Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
1 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
5 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 36 / 100
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Quality
41
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
81
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